to defend their ancient and accustomed Liberty Regiment and Laws they may not well be countod Rebells So he But this by the way But I have somthing more to say about the shaking of the Foundations of Faith and Good Manners though I mentioned it before but now upon this occasion And that is concerning Ceremonies of humane ordinance in Gods worship which being imposed upon mens Consciences is not onely a shaking of the Founâ—ation of Faith but an overthrowing of it for thereby Christ is denyed to be the onely King of his Church And therfore as the Kings of Israel did nothing in reforming of Religion and the worship of God but what was expresly commanded and prescribed in Gods Law so Christian Kings and Magistrates ought not to doe any thing no not to impose any one humane Ceremony or Ordinance in Gods service besides that which is written in Gods word otherwise the Foundations of Faith is overthrown Of such moment is the least Ceremony in Gods service that it is of the substance and Foundation of Faith L. p. 210. But 't is time to return For A.C. in this Passage hath been very carefull to tell us of a Parliament and of living Magistrates and Iudges besides the Law books Thirdly therfore The Church of England God be thanked shines happily under a Gratious Prince and well understands that a Parliament cannot be called at All times and that there are visible Iudges besides the Law-books and one supreme long may he be and be hapâ—y to settle all Temporall Differences which certainly he might much better perform if his Kingdome were well ridde of A. C. and his Fellows And she beleeves too that our Saviour Christ hath left in his Church besides his Law-books the Scripture Visible Magistrates and Iudges that is Arch-bishops and Bishops under a Gratious King to governe both for Truth and Peace according to the Scripture and her own Canons and Constitutions as also those of the Catholicke Church which Crosse not the Scripture and the Iust Laws of the Realme But she doth not beleeve there is any Necessity to have one Pope or Bishop over the whole Christian world more then to have one Emperour over the whole world P. It were time indeed for you to return from your Course when once there is mention of a Parliament For thriving If you mean that your Church of England hath of late dayes well thriven in her prevailing for the seting up of Images and Altars for bringing in more Superstitions into your Service for puting down sincerity Purity and power of the true Religion and of the Preaching of Gods word for suppressing the Doctrines of Grace forementioned for hampering the Puritans as you call them by puting down suspending and silencing of Godly and painfull Preachers and by crying down both the Doctrine and Practise of the sanctification of the Sabbath or Lords day and by smothering in the birth all sound and Orthodox Books against Popery and other Heresies not suffering them to be Printed and by licencing of Popish Books to be Printed and Publâ—shed and the like and if this be the way of the well thriving of your Church whomsover you have cause to thanke yet surely you have small cause to thanke God whose Name herein you doe abuse and blaspheme as perhaps your own Conscience may tell you as if he favoured such practises of yours because for a time he patiently suffers and winks at them and that in judgement to a sinfull Land and for tryall of his own servants and people and for a preparative to your certaine ruine if speedy repentance prevent it not For God is not mocked with such thanks though he be mocked but whatsoever a man soweth that shall he reape How then doth it concerne all Christian Magistrates to look to it least if they suffer Christs Kingdome to be betrayed into the hands of Antichristian Usurpers by giving way unto them to doe what they list while themselvs seem to sleep they provoke God too much For as Samuel sayd to the People If ye doe wickedly you shall perish both you and your King For my part though I will not joyne in Prayer with such a Profane Hypocrite as you are and an enemy of Iesus Christ and his Truth no more then the Apostle Iohn would be in the same Bath with that Heretick Cerinthus yet my dayly Prayer is and shall be that God would more and more let the King see how miserably he is abused and the Peace and safety of his Kingdome distracted and indangered both by the late violent practises which have been held in Church-affaires and now by the publishing of such a Book as this so notoriously perillous or rather most pernicious and so much the more in these times of troubles about Religion lately sprung up in the Iland of Great Britaine Which Book though it make many faire pretences for Peace yea Peace and Truth yet in truth it will prove the greatest troubler of Israel and the falsest friend to true Truth that the light hath seen these many yeares This I speake not by conjecture much lesse out of malice to the Authors Person but from the cleare evidence of the word of Prophecy in Scripture in such cases But how comes your Church of England to be so well seen in State-Mysteries I pray you as so well to understand that a Parliament cannot be called at all times Or by the Church of England doe you not meane the the Chaire of Catnterbury as the Church Collective or representative of England For you should better understand such State-matters especially for the not calling of Parliaments at all times or suppose it were at Notime or Nevermas least perhaps it might prove as a Frost to nippe your thriving and overforward spring then your Lordship For my part I am no States-man and so I leave State matters to States-men who should best understand them But if your A.C. and his Fellows be such troublesome fellows why doe you trouble your selves with them when a good honest Parliament might ease the King and Kingdome â—oo of that trouble provided that good Laws already enacted and by the next Parliament if ever there shal be any quickned by a new Law to put them in better execution there may be also a good season to bring forth such Visible Iudges as without straining the strings either of their Purses or Consciences coming clearly to their Benches and not making them as Banks but siting Rectè in Curia they may without feare of any Prepotent Prelate or Partiality in respect of Persons do Justice I passe now from the understanding of your Church of England to her Beliefe which you also tell us of She beleeves too What doth she beleeve That our Saviour Christ hath left in his Church besides his Law-books the Scriptures visible Magistrates and Iudges that is Arch-bishops and Bishops How Is this come already to be an Article of the Faith of the Church of
Church of Rome and of the Church of England And that the greatest too And I am perswaded the Church of England since it professed the Gospell never had such a monstrous and Bayeyard-like bold misleader as this Great worth of Canterbury hath proved to be or will certainly proove in effect if it find as blind Disciples to deale witthall as it selfe is a Master Although it is much hoped that if any Man hath conceived such an high Opinion of your worth as to account you for the most Profound Divine the most Pregnant Politician and the most potent Champion of the Church of England the very Reading of this your Book with a corrected judgement will either convert him from this errour or at least prevent that this errour of your Doctorship shall not Commence or Proceed to the degree of Heresie L. p. 303. 'T is safest to beleeue the Article of Christs Descent into hell as both the Churches of England and of Rome do agree upon that is That he descended into the place of the damned And this is the truth P. Surely if this be the truth that Christ descended locally into hell the place of the damned it were safest to beleeve it whether you and Rome consent in the beliefe of it or no. But because you beleeve as the Church of Rome beleeves will you thereupon conclude This is the truth Certainly we have the more cause to suspect that truth for a falshood wherein you and Rome doe both agree But how true your beliefe with Rome is and how true this Truth we have before sufficiently discovered But will this hold for a good Rule that in what you and Rome agree it is safest to beleeve it You agree in Altars Priests Sacrifice all manner of wil-worship Antichristianisme and many things more forespecified Ergo is 't safest to beleeve these things Or for whom safest safest for all those that affect to be of your Church Tryumphant here and would not come under your persecution But how agrees this with that which you adde ibid. that Rome will not indure this that Christ descended into the place of the damned but onely in Limbum Patrum a Region in the upper part of Hell Ergo rather then faile if Rome will not beleeve as you doe That Christ discended into the place of the damned you will beleeve as she beleeves that he dâ—scended in Limbum Patrum For agree you must and that 's the safest beliefe L. p. 307. I my selfe have heard some Iesuites confesse that in the Liturgie of the Church of England ther 's no positive errour P. 'T is a signe then your Liturgie agrees pretty well with the Romish Messal as is noted by the way before For surely such a Testimony from a Jesuites mouth gives us the more cause of suspicion that all is not so well in your Liturgie as it should be As Diogenes sayd when the people applauded him he began to suspect himselfe that he had committed some absurdity or other saying Wherein have I miscarryed my selfe that this people doth so commend me L. p. 318. Though Dr. White late Bishop of Ely was more able to answere for himselfe yet since he is now dead and is thus drawn into this Discourse I shall as well as I can doe him the right which his learning and paines for the Church deserved And I grant as well as he that there must be some one Church or other continually visible P. First for Dr. White he being now dead which he was long before I will say no more but this For his deserving pains for the Church the Church of England you meane as now it stands the same Church with that of Rome and of the same Faith with her and of which Faith he also declared himselfe to be when he told a Minister that the Difference between the Church of Rome and of England in the Doctrines of the sixt Session of Trent and by name of Grace and Justification was little or nothing how great it was his Works extant can witnesse as namely his Approbation prefixed to your now Brother of Chichester his Appeale to Caesar wherein is maintained the whole Body of your Arminian Heresie together in all or most of the grossest points of Popery as worship of Images at least with Doulia and the like and assaying to prove the Pope not to be Antichrist as if he would solem è coelo tollere also Dr. Whites Book of the Sabbath to prove no Sabbath to Christians and the fourth Commandement not to be Morall for the keeping of one day in the weeke as the Lords Day allowing also of vaine sports and profane pastimes on that Day and commending of praying towards the East where your Altar is placed and such like stuffe in all which he so well deserved of your Church of England as he scarce had his fellow onely if he were now living againe he would yeeld the Bucklers to your Lordship as the bravest Champion of the now Chuch of England that hath risen up in this latter Age or yet succeeding times may hope to produce But let us now heare the right which your Lordship does him and which his paines for the Church deserved But first let me tell you you forget here to give him his Title of Lord Bishop which you indeed gave him in the very first page of your Booke But now his Lordship is dead let not Lord and Bishop be separated in any case no not by death it selfe For indeed Lord-Bishop is a peculiar Title differencing you from all true Bishops indeed as the Scripture commendeth for the onely Bishops as is shewed before yet I know not how it is come to passe that in the best Reformed Churches beyound the Seas the Pastors are never called Bishops I suppose it is because as Kings of old were stiled Tyranni and that in meliorâ—m partem untill degenerating into Lawlesse Tyrants indeed good Kings would thereupon never after be called Tiranni but Kings so the Reformed Churches seeing how the name of Bishop grâ—w to be odious the Office and Calling of it being changed 〈◊〉 that of a Parochiall Pastor into a Diocesan Lordship and so 〈◊〉 have for this cause layd aside the Name of Bishop though otherwise the Name is good as it pertaines to the true 〈◊〉 and Presbyters over particular Congregations as is before shâ—wed so as the Reformed Churches doe herein as the Ancient Romans did who when their Kings turned Tyrants the lâ—st wheâ—of was Tarquinius surnamed Superâ—us for his extreme 〈◊〉 they for ever banished both the name of Kings and 〈◊〉 out of their Commonweale But let us see how you recompense the omission of this Lordly Title in this place to such a well deserving man You adde And I grant as well as he that there 〈◊〉 be some one Church or other continually visible Aâ— well aâ— he This then may seem to be some recompense by way of honour and 〈◊〉 some doing of him Right for indeed his main
professed in the Church of England is nearest of any Church now in Beeing to the Primitive Church Therfore not a Religion known to be false And thus I both doe and can prove were not the deafnesse of the Aspe upon the eares of seduced Christians in all humane and divided Parties whatsoever P. You doe wisely to put it to the judgement of the indifferent Reader who unlesse he be a most indifferent man between your Church of England and that of Rome and so undifferent from you both in judgement and affection to whom this which you say shall appeare to be true For no such thing can appeare to any Reader that is not so affected as to beleeve your bare word so soon as ever it sounds in his eare or whose eyes doe not looke through the false glasse of your Perspective Indeed you have proved to all men sufficiently both by this your Discourse and by your Practises that you and Rome do not set up a different Religion We all beleeve it And consequently we beleeve that herein you come full as neare to the Primitive Church as Rome doth alwayes excepted Romes lineall Pedegree from Peter and you know you are a Degree once removed And how neare you both come to the Primitive Church of the Apostles especially the primest and purest we have before shewed sufficiently And if you come nearest who I pray you are furthest off Surely the most pious the most religious the most zealous the most painfull and faithfull preachers of the Gospel the greatest contemners of the world the most humble and meeke the most patient in suffering persecution for the truth the most pure and precise in their life and conversation the most exact conformist to the onely Rule of Faith and true Religion the word of God such as are not ambitious covetous carnall and worldly minded envious malicious cruel haters and persecuters of Gods word of his Ministers and people Such such I say must be furthest off from the Doctrine and practise of the Apostles and of the most pure and Primitive Church in their time if you the Prelates and Churches of England and Rome come the nearest unto them L. p. 377. But is there no superstition in Adoration of Images None in Invocation of Saints None in Adoration of the Sacrament P. Yes and grosse Heathenish Idolatry too yea and infidelity to boote though you would mince it never so small into a matter of superstition onely And may not I say to you But is there no superstition yea no Idolâ—try in your Adoration of Altars yea and worse then that of the Papisâ—s for they worship their God you the Altar None in your Adoration of the Name IESVS None in bowing before your Crucifixes over your Altars No inducement at least to Idolatry in your goodly Images erected in your Churches No 〈◊〉 smell of Popish superstition and Idolatry in yâ—ur Adorations in the presence of such Imâ—geâ— The Iewes would not â—o much as stoop to tye the latchet of their shooe in the place where an Image was least their bowing might seem to be to the Image And who knoweth with what mind you do your humble and lowly Dâ—votion before such sacred Reliques And to summe up all together is there no superstion yea no Idolatry in all that will-worship of yours and of the Church of Rome attended with so many Rites and Ceremonies of mans invention For what is all Will-worship but Idolatry yea and the highest kind of Idolatry As Vincentius saith What are strange Gods but strange errours for that Hereticks reverence their Opinions no lesse then the Gentiles doe their Gods And Augustine saith It is the vilest and 〈◊〉 kind of Idolatry when mâ—n worship their own fancies observing that for a Religion which their erronious and swelling minds imagine Thus we see as a learned Divine of the Church of England and of great Eminencie said that a corrupt and vicious Religion such as Popery is and such as you have made yours of the Church of England not a different Religion 〈◊〉 an inward and ghostly worship of Idols which saith he Prince ought not to 〈◊〉 at or tolerate seeing no man and therfore no Prince can 〈◊〉 two Masters For saith he if God be truth they which presume to worship him with lyes as in contrary faith must needs come to passe serve now not God but the Devil a lyer himselfe and the faâ—her of 〈◊〉 whose service no Christian Prince may so much as 〈◊〉 so he Thus our Divines of the Church of England in former ages shall 〈◊〉 up as witnesses to condemn you in the day of Judgement who teach and maintain things contrary to that truth which they delivered L. p. 378. What not prove any superstition any errour at Rome but by pride and that intolerable Truly I would to God A.C. saw my heart and all the pride that lodgeth in it P. This you speake to A.C. as to a Jesuite or some Frier or some Priest All is one such a one being a Ghostly Father you may safely sub sigillo Confâ—ssionis or sub stola under the seale of Confession or under the Friers frocke under the Rose as we say open the windows of your Brest and let him look in and view all the Roomes and corners of your heart to see what pride hath taken up her lodging there and so the world shal be never a whiâ— the wiser for it But you need not to wish any such thing The pride of your heart cannot so easily be hid as that you need wish with Momus if there were a glasse window in your Brest for men to look in and see it much lesse a subtile prying Jesuite Alas though the glaring light of it blind your own eyes that you cannot see it your selfe yet any other that is but purblind may through the Glasse or spectacles of this your Book see the monstrous multiformious shape of it had they not seen it before expressed in the Capitall Characters of your most insolent and all daring practises And that you yet see it not there is not a more infallible argument or signe of a more monstrous proud heart which is ever selfe blinded But look to it What saith Ieremie The heart is deceitfull above all things and desperately wicked who can know it I the Lord search the heart and try the reynes even to give every man according to his wayes and according to the fruit of his doingâ—s L. p. 379. I hope God hath given the Lady mercy P. Namely that same Lady who formerly had been either brought unto or confirmed in that Romish Religion by that which you resolved her in namely That she might be saved living and dying in the Roman faith and Religion wherein it seems as she lived so she dyed Now truly my Lord If God did give her mercy it is little God hamercy to you But what ground have you for this your hope Even as much as for
this Relator professeth and teacheth a blind Charity sutable to his Faith which he boldly affirmeth to be not a mistaken Charity in granting that a silly ignorant Papist so living and dying may be Saved by his Ignorance in that Religion conforming himselfe to his Religious life and on the contrary condemning such Protestants of stiffenesse and churlishnesse that are not of the same Charity with him though the Replyer proveth that there is no true Charity without true Faith and Verity And whereas the same Relator is shewed in this Reply to give much more liberty to your Majesties Protestant People to goâ— to the Romish Masse as being with him one and the same undiffering Religion with that of England then the Jesuite doth to his blind Romanist to come to the English Church And whereas the same Relator hath many passages wherein he makes a Generall Councell of Prelates Iudge in all Controversies of Faith ascribing unto them an Infallibility and in case they shall erre and that even in grosse things and points of Faith yet that all men are bound to yeeld obedience at least externall till another Generall Counsell equall to the former reverse those Errours whereupon by Consequence of this Prelaticall doctrine as the Replyer doth instance the Church of England it self is bound to observe the worship of Images and the forbearance of the Cup in the Sacrament c. decreed in Generall Councels and not yet reversed by other Generall Councels equall to those And whereas the Relator calls Transubstantiation Purgatory and the forbearance of the Cup but disputable and Improbable Questions the nature of which is to be taken indifferently Pro and Con And whereas he never once in all his Relation calls the Romish-worship of Images and of the Sacrament or any other Idolatry in all the Romish Church but onely by the name of Superstition abstaining altogether from the name of Idolatry as if with him the Roman Church were no Idolatresse And whereas he much lamenteth the Seperation and rent between the Protestants and Rome with the continuance of it although with the Iesuite he confesse that errour in Faith is just cause of separation And whereas he the same Relator doth cunningly yet palpably enough in sundry passages of his Booke as also he hath openly done viva voce at the High-Commission-Board exclude all the Reformed Protestant Churches beyond the Seaes as no Churches of Christ as not admitting the Hierarchy Finally also in his Book quipping Luther and in him all the Reformed Churches as having made a rent not onely from Rome with her corruptions but even from the Catholick Church it selfe which indeed in the Relators sense and difinition of the Catholicke Church is most true to wit from the universall Hierarchy And whereas he the Relator doth every where highly extoll his Ceremonies in Gods worship as without which he saith there is no light left to shine before men that they may see his Devotion and so glorify GOD therein most foulely and odiously perverting and abusing the holy Text of Scripture uttered by CHRIST to a cleane other purpose as the Replyer hath noted all which Ceremonies being a will-worship after the Tradition and Commandement of men the Apostle doth utterly condemn as wherby the very merits of Christs death are made of none effect who in his death destroyed All Ceremonies in Religion obliging the Conscience and not onely the Leviticâ—ll but all other whatsoever of humane Ordinance as the Replyer clearely proveth So as it is not left to any Power on Earth to impose the least Ceremony yea though it be of nature indifferent to bind the Conscience in the service of GOD seeing all such imposition is Antichristian Tyranny And whereas all Prelaticall Hereticall and Antichristian Faction erected by the Prince of darkenesse against Iesus Christ and his Kingdome as is apparent both by their profession and practice wherein they have nothing at all yea not any one thing to show wherein they resemble either Christ or any one of his Apostles except Iudas Christs Kingdome being altogether spirituall and not of this world but the Hierarchy a meere carnall and worldly Kingdome onely guilded over with the bare name of spirituall And whereas the Relator throughout his whole Booke bewrayeth his most palpable and profound ignorance and notorious blindnesse in the whole mystery of Faith and all true divinity in so much as when ever he Cites Scripture he still perverts it to a wrong sense and is not able to bring any proofe either from Scripture or Common Reason except from some of his Jesuiticall Authors for any of his Paradoxes and strange doctrines delivering all without Book tanquam è Cathedra as but of some Papall unerring Chaire upon the Authority of his bare word and upon meere trust And whereas the Relator saith That worth once misled is of all other the greatest misleader and who of greater worth in the Church of England and in the Esteem of Great ones too then the Great Primate himselfe whose very word with many is taken as a divine Oracle So as if the Church and State of England will but pin their soules upon this Leaders sleeve he will not fayle to lead them in that way the issue whereof seem it never so right in the eyes of credulity will certainly prove to be as Solomon saith the wayes of death And whereas by the Relator sundry occasions are ministred to the Replyer of instancing divers practises charged upon the Prelate as the principall Agent or Instrument of setting up sundry Innovations in Religion in the Church of England all which have been done under his Primacie as The republishing under your Majesties Name the Book for liberty of profane Sports on the Lords day with pressing Ministers to read the Sayd Book in their severall Congregations and upon refusall extreamely persecuting them and thrusting them from their Ministry and meanes with their poore wives and children The authorizing and licencing of some Doctors Books which cry down the Morality of the 4 th Commandement for the Sanctifying of the Lords Sabbath day The setting forth of a New Order to restraine Preachers from Preaching in the Afternoones on the Lords dayes much pressed by the Prelates and their Officers in all their visitations The setting forth of a Declaration in your Majesties Name prefixed to the Articles of Religion which the Prelates practises plainly interpret to be for the restraining and prohibiting altogether the Doctrines of Saving Grace to be preached and wherein the genuine sense of those Articles touching Grace which formerly were universally interpreted to have but one sence agreeable to the Scripture is confounded with the heterodox hereticall doctrines of the Pelagians and Arminians so as none can tell what to make of those Articles saving that by this meanes the Orthodox Ministers must not preach the truth and the Adverse party and Faction may find footing and countenance for their groundlesse and gracelesse heresies and all this to the manifest
Replyer 23 24. A notable Prophecie of Scripture against the Anti Sabbatarians in these dayes 24. How the Prelate takes Gods Name in vain 25. Difference between Romes Fishermen and Christs 26 to 30. The Prelates subtile laying all the Load upon the King what ever be amisse 29 30. Good Laws may sleep ibid. What he meanes by the wakening of Discipline ibid. 12. The Prelates meaning of Anglers in a shallower water fished out 29. And how they differ from Romes Fishers The Prelates Councel to the King how perillous in his sly and subtile inticing him against godly Preachers The Prelates sly Speeches in some Cases how best interpreted by his Practises And how and what he Councelleth the King 29 30. Perillous Consequences of Prelates practises in altering of Religion how considerable for States 30 31. The Prelate put to his proofe whether he loves the Kings Crown or the Prelates Miter better 32. 13. Prelate how condemned of the Same Scripture by himselfe alledged 32 33. How the Prelate is an Enemy to the Gospell and to the preaching of it 33. What be the Prelates Foundations of Faith and how shaken 34. How the Prelates Practises not onely shake but quite overthrow the true Foundations of Faith and that by his own Instances wherein he is selfe-condemned and his palpable hypocrisie detected 35 36 37 38 39. Altars overthrow the Foundation Christ 35. 13 14. The Prelates comparison of the Church to a Hive of Bees Scanned so as nothing is left him but the Sting 40 41 42 43. Prelates and their Clergie no true Order of Priesthood 41. The Prelate calls his Hypocrisie Integrity and Sincerity The great difference between the King and the Prelates Priest about the Bee hive 41 42. And how perilously they are joyned together by the Prelate 43 44 What Integrity of the Church in Doctrine and Manners we may expect when the Prelate or his Priest is joyned to the King in Reformation 45. Two places of Scripture vindicated from the Prelates perverting of them and whereby himselfe is stung for being too busie about the Bee-hive 46 47. For what good Service the Prelates Priest medling with the Bee-hive is stung by the true Bees 48 49. The Prelates Church in England together with Rome wherin fallen from the ancient Catholick Faith in maintaining Doctrines of Devils And what the true Catholicke Faith iâ— 51. The Prelaticall Church in England how Antichristian and what Antichristianisme is 52 53 54 55 56. The Mystery of Iniquity in the Prelacy ibid. The place in John 1 John 2.22 vindicated against Jesuites and Prelates and thereby Prelates proved to be Antichrists in that they deny Jesus to be the Christ that is King Priest and Prophet distinctly proved 56 57 58 59. No Priest but Christ ever had power to forgive sins 58. The true Reformed Churches beyond the Seas vindicated to be true Churches of Christ against the Prelate 62. And Prelaticall Churches proved to be false Churches ibid. 16. Who have cause to cry out of persecution the Prelat's Jesuite Or his Seperatist 63. What Cause the Prelate gives of Separation from his Church which he saith is the Same with Rome 64. And wherein ibid. The Prelates Riddle 65. In how many paritculars these two Sisters are alike yea one and the same 64 66 67 68. And so how the Prelates Church in England being one and the same with that of Rome must needs be a false Church 69. How the Prelate overthroweth all the learned works of the Orthodox English Divines ibid. 17. The Prelates blasphemous putting a most notorirus lye upon Christ 70. What Interpretation of Scripture we may expect from Prelates whereof his Church consisteth 71. The Prelate selfe-condemned as a most notorious forcer and perverter of Scripture where ever he doth but touch it with his finger ibid. What need there is of the Prelates Oracle in setling the true sense of the 39. Artcles which under his Primacy have been declared doubtfull and of a double sense 72. What cause we have to expect an Index Expurgatorious from the Prelate to purge the writings of all our Oxthodox Divines against the Church of Rome ibid. 18. How the Prelate without his Prophecying doth by his practise hale in Atheisme and Irreligion 73 74. What we are still to understand when the Prelate names Truth c. 74. What he He calls an unworthy way of contending for Truth which we must contend for notwithstanding against such Adversaries 75. What is that Atheisme and Irreligion properly which the prelate nameth and meaneth 75. 19. The Prelates externall will-worship what it is a Great Witnesse of 76 77. The prelates swelling pride and conceit of His Will-worship 77 78. All Will-worship expresly forbidden in the Scripture It is no Service of God but of mans lust ibid. The prelates upright heart down right hypocrisie 79. The prelates notorious and bold perverting of Christs words to His own blind Devotion 78. How God is dishonoured by the prelates will-worship 79 80 The prelates Sincerity in Religion how it drives consciencious men from Communion with His English Church 81. The prelate how clearely he deales with His Majesty 82. What is with the Prelate Decent and what orderly Settlement in the worship of God 83 84 85. Sundry Innovations or rather Renovations under the primat ib. Of Ceremonies in Gods worship Of Naturall Morall and Religious Actions how they differ in point of Ceremony 87. Prelates Ceremoniall worship Hereticall 88. What Heresie is ibid. Christ the onely Master of Ceremonies in Gods service 88. How this is an Article of our Faith 8â— Christ never imparted this His Prerogative or any part thereof to any Humane Power 90. The Apostles words for Deceny and Order 1 Cor. 14.40 cleared from Prelaticall perverters 90 91 92 93 94. Prelates Pretence for Antiquity of His Ceremonies absurd 94 95 96. Prelates Cerremonies will fit neither Time nor Place but as they are forced wherin the Prelate is too zealous and forward 97. What rubbes and tough knots the Prelate meets withall about His Ceremonies 98. And how He hath been crost since his Crucifying of His Three bitter men and why and how 99. The Prelates practise not so politick as Julians was 98. Even Mediocrity in Ceremonies is an Extreme 99. So as the very least overburthens the Church of Christ ibid. How the Prelate had need to fit His Ceremonies some for Sommer and some for Winter for overburthening His Priest 100. The Replyer requireth of the Prelate a just number of so many Ceremonies so as they may neither overburthen nor leave his Service naked 100 101. The Prelate like the Pharisees in binding burthens on others ib. How the Prelate needs many Ceremonies as Herbs to straw the way to the celebrating of the marriage betweene England and Rome ibid. How the Prelates Service is naked without his Ceremonies 1â—2 Prelates pompous Service condemned by the Heathen 102 103 The Leviticall Pompe as a Type altogether abolished by Christ 105. Adam more glorious
Kingdome meerly Temporall 283. Their Government Oligarchicall ibid. Christs Congregations have no need of Prelates to visit them having their own lawfull Pastor to feed them 285. The Govenment of Christs Church is most perfect of all other as consisting of the 3 States of good Politie or Government to wit the Monarchiall the Aristocraticall and the Democraticall 286. Prelates Lordly Tyranny expresly condemned by Christ as Heathenish 287 to 290. 204. The Prelaticall Church in England no lesse Tryumphant then the Prelate taxeth Rome to be 290 291. 205. By the Prelates own allegation nor Kings nor Priests may doe any thing in Reformation of Religion besides Gods prescript Law 291 292. And so by his Confession implicitly where the foundation of Faith and Good Manners are shaken therein Magistrates are not to be obeyed in which respect the Prelate is shrewdly put to it in sundry instances 293 to 297. 210. The Prelate againe blasphemeth Gods Name as if a favourer of the Prelaticall practises in England 297. A blasphemous Article of Faith of the Prelates pinning upon the Church of England ibid. Prelaticall Canons yea and Papall too yoaked and equalled by the Prelate with Scriptures in Governing the Church We must not joyn in Prayer with notorious profane Hypocrites and Enemies of Christ and of his Truth 298. A speciall Prayer for the King in these perillous times ibid. King and State abused and indangered by the Prelates practises and putting forth of this his Booke ibid. The Prelate proves all his Speculations with his bare word 199. What a Polititiant he Ch. of Eng. is grown under such a Primate Prelates no visible Judges of Gods Institution proved at large against the Prelates Blasphemy 399 300 301. Prelates Canons such Law-books as wherewith Christs Law-book cannot consist but is made of none effect They are Antichristian bondage ibid. No more necessity of one Primate over all England then of one pope over All 302. A Speciall duty of Christian Magistrates ibid. 212. How uniny and certainty of Faith is preserved by the Prelates 303. 194. The Prelate makes the Scripture a blind dumb and dead Judge 303 304. Of Generall Councels sundry notable Passages scattered along his Booke and collected by the Replyer and detected to be some of them ridiculous and all of them most impious and detestable from 304 to 324. How by the Prelates Doctrine both himselfe and his Church of England are bound to worship Images and to forbeare the Cup in the Sacrament as being decreed by Generall Councels and not yet reversed by any other equall to those 312 313. The Apostles Assembly Act. 15. no Precedent for Generall Councels in after Ages to be Judges in Controversies of Faith 314 315. and therfore that example not prudently but surreptitiously taken up by the Prelaticall Church The Prelate confesseth that Generall Councels have no Authority by Christs Institution 312 313. How unlike Prelaticall Councels are to that Act. 15. whereof not only the Apostles but the Presbyters and the Brethren the People of God were the Body 313 314. How the Prelate holds the Difinitions of Generall Councels to be infallible and that there is no more question to be made of the assistance of the Holy Ghost in them then that the Holy Ghosts assistance is without errour 325 326. The Prelate boldly professeth that he absolutely maketh a Generall Councel Judge of Controversies 327. Wherein he is abolutely fallen from the Catholick Faith His sundy assertions some ridiculous some contradictorious some blasphemous some darke riddles which he propounds and leaves unresolved and can never Resolve 321 322. He is catcht fast in his own Net And the more he struggleth to unwind himselfe out the mâ—re he is intangled 213. Though the Councel of Trent were not Generall yet it is so Generall as the Decrees thereof do bind all Papists under Anathema 328. 227. Another Reason of the Prelates why a Generall Councel erring yet should stand in force namely for the peace of Christendome confuted He is content to forgoe the Truth for Peace sake 328. The Prelates Heresie in holding it a branch of Heresie to say The Church Militant is without spot or wrinckle according to Ephes. 5. confuted 329 330. The Prelate overthrows an Article of the Faith 331. The Prelates Key of Doctrine primely in the Church wherewith he shuts out Truth and lets in Errour 329. He makes it but a supposition for the Key of Doctrine to let in Truth ibid. The Prelates subtile but futile and vaine Distinction of Transubstantiation confuted 332. He makes Christs Institution not to be cleare against Transubstantiation as against Communion in one Kind Confuted fully 333 334. Romish Adoration of Images minced by the Prelate set forth by the Replyer in its full proportion and shewed to be more grosse Idolatry then that of the Heathen 334 335 336. 280. The Prelates notorious hypocrisie in confessing Images in Churches and other Romish Superstitions to have given great Scandall to many so as to drive them quite away from them detected and selfe-condemned by his practises 337 338. Will-worship in Altar-Service and the like a Service of the Devil 340 341. The Prelates hot zeale in pressing more of Romes Ceremonies makes the old justly suspected as smelling ranke 341. Ilustrated by a similitude ibid. The Prelates Ceremonies condemned by the Same Testimony which he alledgeth 343 344. the By beâ—ng put for the Maine See before 280. The Prelate stands stiffly in this That a silly ignorant Papist living and dying in the Romish Faith may thereby conforming himselfe to his Romish Religious life be saved with his Reasons his so learning of Christ and his Charity not mistaken confuted 345 to 350. That which the Prelate calls Churlishnesse in the Protestants is better then the Prelates Charity ibid. 294 295. The Prelates quoting of 3. Martyrs for the Name of Reall Presence which he would faine have to be brought in use answered 350 351 352 353. Reasons why we ought not to name the Reall Presence in the Sacrament 351. 297. The Prelate dallies with Transubstantiation Purgatory Forbearance of the Cup in saying they are Disputed or Disputable and Improbable Questions 353 354. Romes Tyranny confessed by the Prelate the Image whereof is proved to be in the Prelacy of England 356 357. How he dawbes with the Jesuites about their Salvation 357 358. 299. The Prelate contradicts himselfe and so overthrows his Faith and Charity concerning a silly Papists Salvation in Saying That as a Romanist he cannot be saved 357 358. The Prelates vaine ridiculous and absurd hope of the Salvation of some Papists living in the Church of Rome 358 to 363. The Prelates confession of the Romanists Faith crosseth his hope of their Salvation 372. The Prelate still hath a Reservation for the Salvation of his silly ignorant Papists 302. The Prelates worth misled the greatest misleader 363. The Prelates Rule 'T is safest to beleeve the Article of Christs Descent into hell as both the Churches of England
that principally They came about him like Bees Who The High Priests the Scribes and Pharisees who also hooked in the secular power Caesar and the Priest these came Swarming about Christ like Bees which they did first in the Garden where they apprehended him then in the High Priests hall where they accused him then in the Praetorium before Pilate where they condemned him as before Herod where they mocked him and last of all they Stung him to the heart with a Roman Speare his hands and feet fast nayled to the Crosse. Thus the Great Master Bee of the Hive was stung to death by the Hierarchies instigation And thus indeed GOD grant it never be our Kings case as it was Christs Thus I hope you see by this time what a Divine you are in your application of Scripture If you heare but the buzzing of a Bee presently that 's the Bee that stings you Whereas in truth you and all such as you who are persecuters of Christ and murtherers of him in his Saints and Servants are those Bees that David and in him Christ complaines of They came about me like Bees But take with you what followes They these Bees are quenched as the fire of thornes For in the Name of the Lord I will destroy them The Second place which I wonder at more and yet I will now cease to wonder at any thing you either doe or dare to speake which you quote is Rev. 22.12 Behold I come quickly and my reward is with me to give to every man according as his works shal be Now this you apply to your selfe as a medicine to cure that sting which you say the Bees have given you Why what Bees doe sting you If any are they not and that by your own confession the Bees of Gods own Hive his true Church And why doe they sting you Is it not for your slapping of them and smoaking them out of their Hive But how or wherewithall do they sting you Alas poore soules they have no other stings but Prayers and Teares and the sting of Truth which they preach and professe These are their proper stings Perhaps as they have cause enough they pray against you as a most cruell persecuter of the poore painfull Bees of Christ his Ministers and an overthrower of their Hives and a destroyer of the Bees But such stings you little care for as which you are not affraid to provoke more and more against you every day But beleeve it their Prayers like winged darts or arrowes fly swiftly and pierce deep and will deadly wound where they light though as yet ye be not sensible of it But all this while I heare not a word of the Hornets-Selfe stinging Why doe ye not yet cry out of the deadly sting of your own Conscience For all the innocent blood of Gods Servants which you have shed and for all the havock you have made in his Hive Nay rather your heart is so hardned with sinne and blinded with Romish zeale that instead of remorse you look for a reward And a reward you shall have of him whose words you feare not to cite who Saith Behold I come quickly and my Reward is with me to give to every man according as his works shal be But you tell us immediately before this that you are stung of the Bees many times for no offence nay sometime for Service done them would they see it Many times for no offence Therfore it seems sometimes it is for offence done them by you But can you name any one time when they sting you without being extreamely provoked by your offence given them Shew it if you can Nay sometimes you say for Service done them Somtimes When And what Service Your oppressing and burthening their Consciences with more and more Romish rites and Ceremonies Your fetching them up to your High-Commission and there undoing of them clipping their wings that they can now no more doe their office and bring any more honey to the Hive and so muzling their mouthes that they cannot dare not so much as humme What other Service can they see you doe them Or do you your selfe know any that you do in private for these Bees Do you now and then whisper a good word for them in the Kings eare That were a good heareing if you did it on the right side But this service we confesse you do them You drive them closser to their GOD make them pray the more earnestly and fervently and to be the more provident in the well husbanding of that poore stock of honey they have got both because you have stocked up all those flowers on which they should gather more and least that which they have you should take from them For a Conclusion of this your similitude of the Bee-hive the Church of Christ upon earth you compare to a Hive of Bees And when the Priest putteth his hand to the Hive he shal be sure to be Stung and there is no Honey for him This Priest is the Prelate an Hierarchicall man And as I noted before the true Bees of Christ his true Church cannot brook such Priests such Hierarchicall men to meddle with them Ergo hence I conclude that the Hierarchy consisting of Priests and such like men as Prelates or an Hierarchicall Church is no true Church of Christ is not this Hive of Bees to which you compare the Church of Christ upon earth How so For your Prelaticall Church is such a Hive of Bees as the Priest may put his hand to the Hive without any feare or danger of stinging at his pleasure For in that Hive all the Bees are so conformable to the Priest their Master-Bee as they yeeld all subjection to his dictates neither doe they or dare they at any time offer to sting him But if this Priest offer to meddle with Christs Bee-hive and to impose his Cannon Law and Ceremonies upon Christs Bees to inforce them to conformity to his Rules the Bees doe no more acknowledge such a Priest or Prelate for a Master then Christs Sheep which will not heare the voyce of a strange Shepheard And if he will needs force them he must not blame them if they sting him For as Christ said to the Jewes Ye are not of my Sheep So such Priests with their Hierarchy are none of Christs Hive Prelaticall Churches therefore are none of Christs true Churches And thus much of the Bee-Hive L. p. 15. The Church of England is in a hard Condition She professes the Ancient Catholick Faith and yet the Romanist condemnes her of Novelty in her Doctrine She practises Church Government as it hath been in all Ages and places where the Church of Christ hath taken any rooting both in and ever since the Apostles times and yet the Seperatist condemnes her for Antichristianisme in her Discipline P. It matters not so much who they be that thus condemn your Church of England as how true it is whereof you are condemned Doth the
Romanist condemn you of Novelty in Doctrine And what defence have you against this charge You say She professeth the Ancient Catholick Faith Is this your best Apology for your Church of England Is profession sufficient when you are departed from the Ancient Catholick Faith And is not the Ancient Catholick Faith that which Christ and his Apostles taught and have left recorded in the Scriptures Dare you deny this Now in what particular the Romanist condemnes you for Novelty in Doctrine I know not Surely not in those wherein themselves are equally condemned I will instance in two Doctrines wherein both you and they are Apostatized and departed from the Ancient Catholick Faith in your Novelty of Doctrine The first is your Forbidding of Marriage wherein thus farre you goe with the Romanist in forbidding Marriage to all sorts of persons for certain times in the yeare in all amounting to upon 20. weeks wanting not halfe a quarter of halfe of the yeare The Second is Forbidding Certain Meates on certaine dayes and weeks in the yeare And your Zeale in the observation hereof showeth plainly that you make it a matter of Religion as the Romanist doth and not a meere civill thing as the Statute makes it Now let us see what the Adostle saith of both these for he couples them together Now the Spirit speaketh expresly that in the latter times some shall depart from the Faith giving heed to seducing Spirits and Doctrines of Devils speaking lyes in hypocrisie and commanding to abstain from Meats which GOD hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which beleeve and know the Truth For every Creature of GOD is good and nothing to be refused if it be received with thanksgiving For it is sanctified by the Word of GOD and Prayer If thou put the brethren in remembrance of these things thou shalt be a good Minister of Iesus Christ nourished up in the words of Faith and good Dâ—ctrine whereunto thou hast attained So the Apostle Where we may observe these particulars First That these two Doctrines Forbidding of Marriage and certaine Meates are Doctrines of Devils Secondly they proceed from lying Spirits Thirdly they are lyes spoken in hypocrisie as if some times were more holy then Marriage it selfe which is honourable amongst all and at all times or as if some meates were holyer then other or some more uncleane then other at some times Fourthly such as teach hold and practise these Doctrines have cauterized or seared Consciences which instead of remorse glory in these Doctrines and stiffely maintain them and out of which your Prerogative Courts and other Episcopall Courts sucke no small advantage making a rich merchandise of them Fifthly That the holding of these Doctrines is a departing from the faith Apostâ—sonta tines some shall apostatise or be Apostates from the faith such as hold these Doctrines And this faith is the true ancient Catholick Faith which they depart from Sixthly These Doctrines are the markes and fruits of the last times perillous times times of Antichrist and Antichristian Apostacie and therfore they are Doctrines of Novelty Seaventhly For the truth and confirmation of all this The Spirit speaketh it expresly So as it admits of no doubting or gainsaying Eightly and lastly That it is the duty of every good Minister of Iesus Christ nourished up in the words of faith and good Doctrine to put the Bretheren in remembrance of these things So as it were to be wished that the Church of England had some good Ministers of Iesus Christ that durst and would cry out against these Doctrines of Divels practised by the Prelates and their Disciples and learned from Antichrist himselfe and upheld by his Canon Law against the expresse word of God Thus then doth not the Church of England justly lie under the Apostles sentence of condemnation for Novelty in Doctrine yea holding Doctrines of Devils and that by the expresse testimony not of Romanists but of Gods Spirit that cannot lye I could give many more instances of novelty in your Doctrine though not as yet generally professed yet practised preached and printed by Authority though if ye be charged home with it either that Book shal be burned and the Printer blamed or they will prove but private mens opinions as you say in your Book As Invocation of Saints Iustification by Charity Erection of Altars with many other Popish Doctrines as also New Arminian Heresies old Pelagianisme newly raked out of hell againe whither they had been long agoe remaunded which to entertaine and maintaine in your Church of England you have made your Articles of Religion and that by an Edict or Declaration prefixed before them to be of a dubious sense and to equivocate having a mentall Reservation of sense for the adverse party while the Orthodox imagineth the letter to be on his side and as it hath ever so been taken till you altered the case But the two former Instances shal be sufficient witnesses against you for the present that you are departed from the Ancient Catholick Faith being justly condemned of Novelty in Doctrine yea Doctrines of Divels So as here ye may have a sounder Answer to stoppe the Romanists mouth charging the Church of England with Novelty in Doctrine then to say She professeth the Ancient Catholick Faith Tell the Romanist by way of Retortion That in some things the Church of England is no more to be condemned of Novelty in Doctrine then the Church of Rome is nor altogether so much We come now to your discipline wherein the Separatist you say condemnes her the present Church of England of Antichristianisme A sore Charge and sufficient if true to seperate from you But what defence have you for this Surely you say She practiseth Church-Government as it hath been in use in All Ages and all Places where the Church of Christ hath taken any rooting both in and ever since the Apostles times and yet the Seperatist condemnes her for Antichristianisme in her Discipline Here you say something indeed and to some purpose could you make it good For to say you professe is nothing but to professe and practise that 's matter of cleare evidence And yet I say could you prove it so it were but to some purpose and not sufficient to acquit you from Antichristianisme which is the maine Point For Some things were in use even in the Apostles times and have continued ever since in all Ages and all Places too where the Church you meane of hath taken now in tract of time a deepe rooting in the Earth yea even there also where Christs true Church hath taken rooting and yet all this is no sufficient Argument or warrant for the true Church of Christ presently to imbrace them For instance The Mystery of Iniquity began to worke in the Apostles time as he affirmeth 2 Thesse 2.7 And an example hereof St. Iohn notes in his third Epistle of Diotrephes who was ambitious of Prelacie hee loved to have The
about Altars Prelates Calling Ceremonies Now if they should consult your Lordship Siting in the Chaire of Canterbury to resolve them in these difficulties what would be your finall determination of them For the first would you not alledge Heb. 13.10 We have an Altar For the second Psal. 45.16 Princes in all Lands that is Prelates For the Third to wit Ceremonies 1 Cor. 14.40 Let all things be done decently and in Order Ergo what Ceremonies the Bishop shall injoyne you must observe These are your Glosses and such interpretations as these we must looke for of your Church Such as the Church of Rome is very dextrous and expert in As This is my body Ergo The Bread is transubstantiated into Christs very body I have prayed for thee Peter Ergo the Pope cannot erre Launch out into the deep Ergo the Pope may fish all the world Arise Peter Kill and eat Ergo the Pope may kill the Venetians As it were by fire Ergo there is a Purgatory Thus the Scripture where 't is plaine should guide the Church otherwise not but in doubt and difficulty the Church should expound the Scripture that is guide the Scripture Ergo the Church is above the Scripture because onely where 't is plaine it guides the Church but where difficult the Church must guide it interpret it In difficulties then the Scripture it must not guide the Church Ergo in difficulties and doubts the Church may interpret as She pleaseth No not so for you adde ibid. Saying Yet so as neither the the Scripture should be forced nor the Church so bound up as that upon just and further evidence She may not revise that which in any Case â—ath slipt by her P. Here be two things enterfeerinch each other First a Caution Secondly a Condition The Caution That the Scripture be not forced Take heed of that But who shall Judge of that Even the Same that forceth it the Church And who shall defend that Scripture from forcing if it be left to mens interpritation and those men in matters of doubt and difficulty are not guided by the Scripture but the Scripture by the Churches interpretation But in no Case let the Scripture be forced You will have a care of that But why then doe you show your selfe so expert in forcing and misapplying the Scripture and that most pittifully as both hath been shewed and will all along appeare But however the Condition will helpe all Forcing or not forcing the Church must not be bound but that upon just and further Evidence She may revise that which in any Case hath slipt by her Now what is this just and further Evidence Or what this Revising And what this Sliping by her I take the Sense and Summe of all to be this That here you lay your ground to make way for an Index expurgatorious to revise But is that all Nay 't is implyed that some thing els be done as to correct and expunge or at least more clearely interpret but indeed to expunge with a Deleatur let it be blotted out whatsoever in any Books formerly Printed by Authority in England hath in any Case slipped by her or if the maine Subject of the Book be not Catholick and consonant to the Doctrines of the present Church that they may be censured as Prohibited Bookes and so una Litura cancelled And withall whatsoever you find in any Books which you do not very well resent to declare which be the Doctrines of the Church of England and which private mens opinions And 't will be requisite in my judgement that you hasten this worke to dispatch it in your time least if you die such another Phoenix will hardly arise out of your Ashes that will have the courage to adventure upon these things But among all other things leave us not in that perplexed estate whereinto you have brought us by your Declaration before the Articles of Religion but make us a New Declaration to certifie us what to beleeve and rather resolve us plainly that the Articles are to be taken in that sense which agreeth with your own opinion then that they should give an uncertain sound for then who shall prepare himselfe to the battell And there may be great reason why we should preferre your Lordships opinion before the judgement of all other those learned men that have formerly lived in the Church of England because the Church may now see more and further into a Milstone then of old as a Dwarfe upon a Giants shoulders And so what slippes have formerly passed by the Church of England your Lordship with your Chapleins and Divines will so revise and repurg as there shal be nothing left upon record whereby it might appeare to Posterity that there is any such difference between the Church of England and of Rome as to hinder their most wished and desirable reconciliation And I think I am not in this farre wide of your Project The Wardens of the Company of STATIONERS can tell what you lately gave them in Charge about such a matter for the revising of Puritan Books that so when you have purged out the Puritanism there may be neither Purity nor Verity left As I remember the Orator said of a certaine Roman that he alwayes had his head and eye-browes Shaven that men might take him not to have one haire of a good man Thus when you have given such Books a dry shaving you will make them to appeare as ridiculous as Davids Messengers whom the young Ammonitish King took and caused halfe their beards to be Shaven off and their garments to be curtalled to their bare buttocks But herein you prudently follow both the example of Rome and the Counsell of Franciscus â S. Clara who commends you for seting afoot this Project But I hope the Stationers will look a little better to their tò méros â—rgasÃa the gaine of their Trade and that which is their Freehold and Livelyhood as well knowing that if the good Books be guelt of their masculine vertue and verity none will buy them except perhaps Chandlers to stop their Mustard pots and put about their Candles And then should the Company of Book sellers and their Posterity be deprived of the benefit of their Coppies which are as a Coppy-hold of Inheritance to them and theirs But time will try all things L. p. 18. And though I cannot prophesie yet I feare that Atheisme and Irreligion gather strength while the truth is thus weakened by an unworthy way of contending P. Cannot you prophesie being the High Priest of England as that High Priest did that it was necessary Christ should dye that the whole Nation perish not So cannot you prophesie That it is necessary that all Puritans Christs members should perish that the whole Generation and Hierarchy of Priests perish not But though you cannot no more then Balaam prophesie or bring an Inchantment against the Children of Israel that God should
not see our inward Devotion towards God And say not you Our externall worship is that light without which men could not see our Devotion Iust as the Pharisees All they did was to be seen of men But you would perswade us you doe it to a higher end which is Gods glory For you Say Take this away and what Light is there left to shine before men that they may see our Devotion and glorifie our Father which is in heaven So here be two ends of all your externall worship and solemne service and great pompe and humble expressions of Devotion First that men may see your Devotion for els it were not worth a rush Secondly that they may glorifie God As I noted before these words of Christ you falsely apply to your blind Devotion which he Spake concerning the Light of faith shining forth in good workes to the glory of God Whereas your externall worship as it is a fruit of your blind Devotion so it is that whereby God is greatly dishonoured and that both actually in it selfe and effectuâ—lly in the beholders First Actually in it selfe all false worship or will-worship for both is one is a dishonour to God In vaine they worship me teaching for Doctrines the Precepts of Men. Now God is not glorified or honoured with any vain worship Nay on the contrary he is greatly dishonoured by it For such will-worship is a high presumption derogating from the Majesty of God who wil be worshiped no otherwise then as himselfe hath expresly commanded in his word As the Prophet saith And shalt honour him not doing thine owne wayes nor finding thine own pleasure And such is all will-worship Secondly God is greatly dishonoured by such externall will-worship effectively in the Beholders First because when they see such a great Prelate as your selfe use such gestures in Gods Service they are apt to imitate you and so to partake of your sinne as too many doe Secondly because in such false worship the neerer they think to approach to God in imitating of you the further off their hearts are from God as the Prophet Speaketh And they whose hearts are farre removed from God cannot glorifie God Now your will-worship which is taught by the Precepts of men though it seem to be very humble and so to draw neere unto God yet it drawes away mens hearts farre from God as there the Prophet sheweth And such as behold and affect and imitate your devises in externall worship they are as much puffed up with vaineglory that they imitate and so please such a great Man as your selfe as they never think of glorifying God And lastly God is not glorified by blind and Superstitious worshippers but by good works springing from the inward light of Faith Now your blind Devotion is not to be reckoned and ranked among good works For good works are such and so done as God hath commanded but your externall worship as you call it being a will-worship and so a false worship which God no where hath commanded but every where expressely forbidden are no good works but as Aug. Saith Splendida peccata a glaring false worship But it seemeth this your externall worship the fruit of your Devotion is all the good works you have to show that men thereby may See what Kind of light is in you which is not any true but a false light I proceed But how hath this ignis fatuus of yours carryed me so out of my way that I have over Skipt one Passage in the same Page a little before But yet coming in here it will the more fitly usher in the next which we shall note in the Same Page L. ibid. This I have observed further that no one thing hath made Conscientious men more wavering in their own minds or more apt and easie to be drawn aside from the Sincerity of Religion professed in the Church of England then the want of uniform and decent Order in too many Churches of the Kingdome P. A little before you commended unto us the Integrity of the Church in Doctrine and Manners and but now how right your hearts stand in the Service of God here you use a third word Sincerity of Religion and that professed in the Church of England By this time we are sufficiently acquainted with your Sincerity of Religion professed in the Church of England For we have your externall worship as the GREAT WITNESSE thereof of which your Sincerity so much is spoken as we have left a great hole in it And the nature of that your Sincerity of Religion professed in the Church of England duely considered can we marvaile if most mens minds in the Kingdome fall a wavering yea and if they be truely Conscientious men indeed not such as you meane to wit meere Formalists or Newters no marvaile if you find multitudes of them if multitudes of such be left to fall quite off from the Sincerity of your Religion professed in the Church of England But if any of your Conscientious men be drawn aside what 's the Cause Want of uniforme and decent Order in too many Churches in the Kingdome But doe you not see on the other side a whole Nation driven aside and that as they Say by your too much pressing upon them your uniforme and decent Order in all Churchs for the erecting of the Sincerity of Religion professed in the Church of England And yet you complain that you cannot set up your uniformity in too many Churches in England Surely ye might have done well first to have made all uniforme at home before you pressed too hard upon your Neighbour-Countrey And if too many Churches in England be not uniforme whose fault is that Not yours I dare say Have not you and your brother Prelates done pretty well to it in Suspending Silencing Excommunicating Casting out of their Ministry and Living so many Ministers Witnesse Norfolke Suffolke Essex Kent Surrey and other Diocesse and Shires Will not these Examples terrifie all other Churches in England But yet if nothing els will doe it the publishing of this your Book anew will certainly effect it or nothing And therfore you adde L. Ibid. To deale Clearly with your Majesty these thoughts are they and no other which have made me labour so much as I have done for Decencie and an Orderly Settlement of the externall worship of God in the Church Now no externall action in the world can be uniform without some Ceremonies And these in Religion the ancienter they be the better so they may fit Time and Place Too many overburthen the Service of God and too few leave it naked c. Ceremonies are the hedge that fence the Substance of Religion from all the indignities which Profanesse and Sacriledge too commonly put upon it Weaknesse it is not to see the Strength which Ceremonies things weake enough in themselves God knows adde even to Religion it selfe but a farre greater to see it and yet to cry them down All
and without choyse by which their most hated Adversaries Climbe up and could not cry up themselves and their Cause as they doe but by them P. I shall have here occasion and that in sundry respects to be more large upon your words First for the Substance of the matter being of such moment Secondly for the Circumstance of the Person to whom you speak his Sacred Majesty which makes your matter of the greater Consequence and Lasty in respect of the Excellency of the Person Iesus Christ whose honour and regall Soveraignty is here undermined by you For when Kings are misinformed and miscounselled in matters of Religion especially and that by those whom they repose greatest confidence in and whose judgement they most rely upon and have that high opinion of both for Learning and Sanctity which they conceive to be in them 't is a matter full of weight And when we see the glory of Christ and of his Kingdome troden under foot it will ought to stirre up and kindle the Zeale of every true Servant of Christ to vindicate his Masters honour to the utmost of his power Now to your words And to deale truely with your Majesty What els Surely one of your honourable place and in whom such trust is reposed should deale clearely with Kings at all times and in all things But wherein doe you deale clearely with his Majesty In this as you say in telling him These thoughts are they and no other which have made me labour so much as I have done for Decencie and an Orderly Settlement of the externall worship of God in the Church Is it so Why a little before if you remember you told his Majesty that you put forth this worke wherein you have bestowed so much paines for the vindicating of your Reputation And now you tell him that your thoughts for Decencie c. and no otherâ— made you thus to labour And no other then Then what 's become now of your Reputation Yea and pag. 9. before cited doe you not tell his Majesty expresly saying I have thus acquainted your Majesty with all occasions which both formerly and now againe have led this Tract into the Light All But how all where here is one more comes in the Reare not mentioned before which excludes all other Saying These thoughts are they and no other which have made me labour so much as I have done for Decencie and an Orderly Settlement c. And herein you say you deale Clearely with his Majesty Did you not then deale Clearely in the rest You have occasion now to cleare your selfe But to let this passe we can easily beleeve that setting your Reputation aside these thoughts of yours were of greatest force with you to set upon such a worke For I beleeve you have been no small time in hammering this Project how to beat and fashion it to such a Decencie and Orderly Settlement of the externall worship of God in the Church of England as you speak of But what doe you call Decencie Certainly that onely is Decent in the worship of God which God himselfe approveth and that is onely That which himselfe commandeth in his word But you account and call that onely Decent in the worship of God which either your selfe or that Whore of Babylon hath devised for Decent as the seting up of her pompous Devotion and voluntary humility in Rites and Ceremonies in Gods worship as ye pretend And can you Say that your decencies are not just the Same with those of Rome Perhaps you cannot yet attain to all hers And if not hers how could they with you be Decent But She being That Whore and marked out for such even by her very attyre Rev. 17. Will Christ trow you aporove that for decent in his Spouse which is the Whores Fashion Is not this enough to provoke his jealousie and if he knew it not to suspect your Church of England for Scarce an honest Woman Yea an honest Woman for her Credit sake will not goe in gaudey and garish garbe proper and peculiâ—r to such as are notorious Strumpets and such too as whereby famous Whores are known from honest and vertuous Matrons But let it be the Decencie of your Church of England to be suited like her Sister Rome that so they may be the better known for Sisters and both of one House and to prove your words true both one and the Same Church But decencie is not all Your thoughts are also for an Orderly Settlement of the externall worship of God in the Church Why what Settlement Were not all things sufficiently settled yea and upon the Lees too in the Church you speake of before you were settled in the Throne of Canterbury Was there not settled an universall conformity to those Ceremonies prescribed and limited by Act of Parliament Are not all Non-conformists Silenced and casheered Was not all quiet then Yea so quiet that the Church of England was fallen quietly asleep and so securely setled I say againe upon her Lees. What hath now then made the disturbance and unsetled the State of things Did not that begin with your Primacie How so For just then when you were Scarce warm in the Chaire began there not to be republished with an Addition that Edict to dispense with the due Sanctification of the Lords day by giving liberty for profane Sports wherein also Gods people whom you call Puritans were marked out as not worthy to be suffered in any Countrey Then also began there not to be published a Declaration with and before the Booke of your 39. Articles prohibing all Disputes about all the Controverted Points in those Articles and commanding to keep to the letter of the Text which yet as it saith might be taken either way So as was not this a most grosse unsettling of the Doctrines of your Church and a strowing of the way to Fr. a S. Clara his Booke wherein he goes about to prove that the Doctrines of England and Trent are one and the Same or with but small difference which Book coming forth was much Graced by you in Court And so that Declaration because also a Shelter to Shroud your Arminian Faction against a Storm if ever it should come yea and to defend their Heresies and defeat the truth had it no surer footing then your prevaricating Articles when once you could make your party good Began not then an Order to be a new set forth with an Inlargement of restraint reaching even to Deanes and Prelates and the greatest Rabbies of your Church not to meddle in their Sermons with those controverted points as of Predestination Election c. but strictly to observe the said Declaration Under your Primacie began there not a more remarkable restraint of writing or at least of Printing against the Pope and a larger licensing of most notorious Popish Books As Shelfords five Sermons or Treatises wherein among many other like things he indeavours to prove Iustification by Charity and the
destroyes spirituall communion with Christ and with the Holy Ghost and consequently the Article of faith concerning the Communion of Saints For Christ saith to his Disciples I tell you the truth it is expedient for you that I goe away for if I goe not away the Comforter will not come unto you but if I depart I will send him unto you So as to beleeve Christ to be corporally present on earth and that men have by that meanes a corporall communion with him doth debarre such men from all communion of the Spirit of Christ. And If any man have not the Spirit of Christ the same is none of his He hath not Christ that hath not his Spirit and he hath not Christs Spirit that rests in the beliefe of Christs corporall presence on earth as before For except I depart saith Christ that is except I be absent from you as concerning my corporall presence the Comforter will not come unto you And thus by a false beliefe of the very manner onely of Christs presence in the Popish Eucharist Christ the Foundation is overthrowne And this errour de modo of the manner of being onely overthrowing the Foundation must needs be a Fundamentall errour if any errour may be said to be Fundamentall My Second Instance is about Christs humane Nature de modo Subsistendi of its manner of subsisting in the Person of the Son of God For to beleeve that it is either after the manner or way of Commixtion or by adherence as one thing cleaving to another or Inherence as an Accident in the Subject or by Conversion into the divine nature or by Concomitancie as Bellarmine saith Christs divinity and soule is present with his body in the Eucharist by Concomitancie all these manners doe destroy the personall union of Christs two natures in one person As those two Hereticks Nestorius and Eutiches the one condemned in the Councel of Ephesus the other in the Councel of Chalcedon the later for holding that Christ had but one Nature the humane converted into the Divine Nature the other that Christ had two Persons both these destroyed Christ the Mediator who is not a Mediator unlesse he be both God and Man in one Person Christ. So Bellarmines devise in holding Christs divine nature and humane soule to be present in and with that body which they frame unto him in the Masse by way of Concomitancie as being inseperable companions destroyes the Sacrifice of Christs Passion wherein the soule of Christ was in death seperated from his body untill his Resurrection Now the Papists say they offer up Christs body in the Masse as representing the Sacrifice of his death and Passion Which how can it be when they say his soule is by concomitancie with his body offered up So as all this while there is no representative or Commemorative much lesse a propitiatory Sacrifice of Christs death Seing in that body as they say Christs soule is inseperably present And againe to say Christs divine nature is present with that body of Concomitancie this destroyes the Personall union For Concomitancie is no personall union of the two natures concomitancie being but an accompanying of each other Whereas the divine nature of Christ doth not accompany the humane nature but assumes it and the humane nature doth not accompany the divine but subsists in it Thus it is cleare that the Consideration of the manner of being onely may possibly prove to be Fundamentall in the Faith L. p. 37. All which pertaines to Supernaturall Divine and infallible Christian faith is not by and by fundamentall in the Faith to all men P. You told us before That things not fundamentall yet to some mens Salvation are necessary and here that all that pertaines to Christian faith is not fundamentall in the faith to all men It seems you have some peculiar way to heaven which is not common to all But take heed least leaving the common road-way of true Saving Faith attended with a holy life you fayle of heaven I am the way the Truh and the Life saith Christ. And is not Christ this way Truth and Life to all that are Saved Is not he to all such as are called both Iewes and Greekes Christ the Power of God and the Wisdome of God But what doe I speake to you of Christ or what doe you speake of Christian faith that know not what Christian faith is otherwise then as you discerne in it some thing for which in whomsoever you find it you persecute it to the death L. p. 39. If new Doctrines be added to the old the Church may be changed in Lupanar errorum which I am loth to English P. Nay are you not ashamed to English it For this you Speake of the Church of Rome and you have told us that the Church of England and of Rome are one and the Same Church And now you Say If new Doctrines be added to the old the Church may be changed in Lupanar errorum And this the Church of Rome hath done as you elsewhere affirme She hath added new Doctrines to the old and such new as She doth with the old aâ— men doe when they put on a new suit make the old a Cast suit But because you are loth to English in Lupanar errorum for the reverend respect you beare to that Venerable Apostolick Sea I will doe as much for you as to English it If new Doctrines be added to the Old as the Church of Rome hath done the Church may be changed into a Stewes of Errours This Phrase you take out of Vincentius Lyrenensis his Sentence quoted in the Margent which is this in English The Church by adding new Doctrines to the old becomes a Stewes of impious and beastly Errours which was before a Sacrary of chast and undefiled verity Whence I note how you not onely smother some of his words but smooth others Saying for The Church becomes a Stewes The Church may be changed So as herein you falsify the worthy Saying of Vincentius when you make but a May be of his Is made But let the Conclusion be If a Church be turned Whore 't is good that all should know her to be so in plain English that they may avoyd her and as Salomon saith remove their way farre from her and not come neere the dore of her house And for this Cause have I taken the Paines to be your Translator L. p. 39. Some Decisions yea and of the Church toâ— are made or may be if Stapleton informe us right without an evident nay without so much as a probable testimony of holy writ But Bellarmine falls quite off and confesses in expresse termes that nothing can be certaine by certainty of Faith unlesse it be contained immediately in the word of God or be deduced out of the word of God by evident consequence And if nothing can be certain then certainly no Determination of the Church it selfe if that Determination be not grounded upon
the well-beeing of a Christian. A true Christians life is full of affliction more then other men For this he hath the greatest need of comfort Now wherein hath a Christian most solid comfort Surely in the Scriptures David a man of afflictions can tell us this by his own experience Remember Lord Saith he the word unto thy Servant wherein thou hast caused me to hope This is my Comfort in my affliction for thy word hath quickned me And v. 52. I remembred thy judgements of old ô Lord and have comforted my selfe And v. 54. Thy Statutes have been my Songs in the house of my pilgrimage Gods word is that which supports Faith in prayer to God in affliction As v. 76. Let I pray thee thy mercifull kindnesse be for my coâ—fort according to thy word unto thy Servant And v. 80. Let my heart be sound in thy Statutes that I be not ashamed And v. 92. Except thy Law had been my delights I should then have perished in my Affliction And that excellent Psalme which Aug. so much admires and not without cause calling it Magnificum Psalmum it is his own word is full of such meditations and consolations grounded upon Gods word And the Apostle also sheweth this where he saith Whaâ—soever things are written aforetime were written for our learning that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope Now how could a Christian in affliction comfort himselfe in the Scriptures had he not a full demonstrative knowledge by Faith that the Scripture is Gods word and therefore all his promises therein are most true and in Christ yea and Amen I say a full demonstrative knowledge by Faith which is ' élenkos the demonstration of things not seen as before Not that this full demonstrative knowlâ—dge in â—aith hath in it the full perfection of Degrees which is not attained in this life but it is such a full demonstrative knowledge such a sure trust and confidence in God according to his word such a hope in his Promises in Christ that although his â—aith be sometimes assaulted with temptations of feares and doubtings arising either from infirmities and corruptions within or from Satans suggestions without yet the beleever sticks closse and will not let go his hold but as Iob saith though God kill him yet will he trust in him Then then being so your assertion is very bold and blasphemous in saying God in his Providence hath kindled in the Scripture no light for that namely full demonstrative knowledge wherof we have made sufficient demonstration to the contrary And your own next words will confute you for you say He requires our faith of it and such a certain demonstration as may fit that Doth he so And what is that faith but wherin there is such a certain and demonstrative knowledge as gives a man full assurance that the Scripture is the word of God And this is that faith which God especially râ—quireth in hiâ— people as without which they cannot beleeve unto righteousnes and confesse unto Salvation But this is not that faith with its certain demonstration which you mean For as you adde yours is such a faith as is begotten of Reason and ordinary Grace which is ever the burthen of your Song where the soule is morally prepared by the Tradition of the Church Of which enough before Neither can your morall faith probably perswaded by your Tradition ever become to be élegkos a demonstrative assurance that Scripture is Gods word So as hereby you overthrow both the beeing and well-beeing of a Christian and leave him stript of all means and hope of Salvation and consolation by the Scripture L. p. 88. Hooker gives a very sensible Demonstration It is not the word of God which doth or possibly can assure us that we doe well to think it is his word For if any one Book of Scripture did give testimony to it yet still the Scripture would require another to give credit unto it So that unlesse beside the Scripture there were some thing that might assure c. And this he acknowledgeth saith Buerly is the Authority of Gods Church Certainly Hooker gives a true and sensible Demonstration P. First for your Author here alledged he was we all know not onely a Creature but a Champion for your Hierarchy and Ceremonies And besides that his Book was guelt in some things before it could have its passeport to travaile abroad However as you say of Others so I of him he was but a private man And if you take his words to be the Doctrine of the Church of England you may seeing the Jesuite doth so approve of it as also your selfe doth Well let Hookers words be so as you alledge them yet give me leave to detect in them a mixture of some absurdity and some impiety together As in these words It is not the word which doth or possibly can assure us that we doe well to think it is his word And so in that sense which is the onely sense a sensible man and sound Christian can make 't is true that the Scripture neither doth nor possibly can assure us that we do well to think onely it is his word For as the Scripture cannot lye so it cannot assure us that we do well when we come short of our duty as in thinking which is but opinion when we should beleeve which is Faith For the Scripture requires a firme Faith in us and approveth not of thinking as sufficient But now for his sensible Demonstration which is this That if any one book of Scripture did give testimony to all yet still the Scripture would require another to give testimony to it and so we can never come to assurance this way I answere The Scripture is a compleat body in it selfe and every part of it an uniforme and homogeneall member to the making up of this body So as the Scripture is to be taken first in the whole lumpe or body as bearing full witnesse to it selfe and every part or Book of Scripture hath a witnesse in it selfe and for it selfe and for the rest too there being such a sweet and full harmony in the whole and all the parts Gods Spirit speaking and breathing in it as the Animall Spirits in mans body moving the whole and every part and shewing that it is Gods word And we must never in this notion fever the Spirit of God from the Scripture his owne word which it filleth in every part as the life-blood doth the veines So as there is not a Book of Scripture wherein the Majesty of GOD and his Wisdome and Goodnesse and Righteousnesse and Holinesse doe not in some degree more or lesse shine forth And Mr Hooker might as well have reasoned thus It is not the whole frame of mans body that can perswade us that we doe well to thinke that it is a mans body for though one member by its motion doth beare witnesse to the rest that they are
Rule of Faith the Scripture Implying that to hold the Scriptures to be the Rule of Faith is one speciall note of A true Church But now you confesse againe that Rome holds not this Rule but as a partiall and imperfect Rule And therefore denying this Rule of Faith she ceaseth to be a pure Church of Christ And which is the more this the Church of Rome doth ex professo solemni Decreto professedly and by solemne Decrees ratified as irrefragable and that under Anathema to be received of all And this is farre more then to doe it by Practise onely And yet in Practise to destroy and overthrow but onely some speciall Doctrines of Scripture though otherwise the Scripture be professed and confessed in this or that particular Church to be the intire and onely Rule of Faith is de facto to disclaime the whole Scripture and to unmake it the perfect Rule of Faith and so thereby such a Church possessing such and such Errors as are Fundamentall that is against the Foundation is fallen from Christ as hath been formerly proved Now if but any one part of Scripture in this or that Doctrine of Christ be overthrown so as therein it is not made the Rule of Faith and this overthrowing such Doctrines being once professed and maintained generally in any one particular Church makes that Church to cease to be a true Church of Christ as not holding the Scripture intirely but professedly overthrowing it in such and such particulars then how much more the Church of Rome professing and maintaining gumne kephale with a whores forehead that the holy Scripture is not the onely Rule of Faith intire and perfect but partiall and imperfect as your Lordship confesseth doth thereby proclaime her selfe to all the world to be fallen away absolutely from Christ and so ceaseth to be a true Church of God And denying the Scriptures to be the Rule of Faith she denyeth the Foundation of the Apostles and Prophets Iesus Christ himselfe being the chiefe corner stone and so is fallen quite from the Foundation Nor onely thus by Addition of another Rule doth the Church of Rome overthrow the onely Rule of Faith the Scriptures but also by denying the selfe Authority of them as also you doe and withall by tying the sense of Scripture to the interpretation of the Church as also you doe at least in difficult places and by holding and maintaining false Doctrines against the Scriptures which overthrow Christ and wherein they will not be regulated by the Scriptures as you also doe in your Altars and forbidding the Doctrines of Grace to be Preached and other things which if the Church of England hold with the Church of Rome and with you you and both your Churches are fallen absolutely from Christ and so cease to be true Churches of God As also your very Hierarchy makes you to be no true Church of Christ were there nothing else as before is sufficiently proved And if you desire any further proofe that the Church of Rome is no true Church of Christ I still referre you to the forementioned Book Babel no Bethel And though you supprest the Book yet ten to one but one of your Hounds will hunt it out for you Next for the Sacraments which is your second Reason you say The Church of Rome holds both the Sacraments as instrumentall Causes and Seales of Grace though they adde more and misuse these Ergo she cannot but be a true Church in Essence For Answere First she holds them not absolutely to be Sacraments but dependently upon the Priests intention which you mention elsewhere And so hath the Councel of Trent defined of the Sacraments so Vega so Bellarmine Secondly if she be sure the Priests intention be not wanting or going a wool-gathering in his Consesecration then she makes the Sacraments to be not Instrumentall Causes of Graces but aitia kúria Principall and efficient working causes of Grace ex opere operato as they barbarously speake by the immediate vertue of the worke wrought So the Councel of Trent also So as they shut out the Holy Ghost from this worke as the Principall Efficient worker and sealer of Grace Thirdly For Baptisme which you make to be an Infallible Marke of that Church to be Christian besides their infinite corruptions of the Element of water which the Apostle calleth pure water with their spittle salt creame exorcismes or conjurations of the Devils insultations and the like they hang the very beeing not onely the vertue of this Sacrament upon the Priests intention which intention of the Priest is so uncertaine as Vega one of the prime Sticklers in the Councel of Trent as aforesaid in his Booke upon the Councel of Trent especially the sixt Session where he treateth of certainty of Faith in Iustification Confesseth that there can be no certainty of Salvation to a man because he cannot be certain whether he hath true Baptisme or no and that in regard of the Priests intention whereof he cannot be certaine So as by this their own Doctrine no one Papist can be sure that he is a Christian and so consequently neither can all the members of that Church severally nor conjunctly the whole Body it selfe be sure whether they or it be Christian or no and so the Church of Rome upon this very ground cannot resolve certainly whether she be a Church of Christ or no unlesse your Testimony will help her out at a dead lift And that not onely in regard of the Priests intention in the Sacrament of Baptisme but also in their Additionall Sacrament of Orders one of these more which they have added to the two So as for default of the Popes intention in ordering of Prelates or of the Prelates invention in ordering one another and in ordering of Priests and of Priests intention in Consecrating their Sacrament of Baptisme as themselves Vega and others do argue the case they are all put to the stagger whether they have in that Church either Priesthood or Sacraments For all hangs upon that weake pin or haire of the Priests intention So as another of their Primipili a Standard-bearer of the Dominicans in the same Councell Dominicus Soto forementioned in his Book de natura gratia saith that Deus in potestate Sacerdotis posuit Populi salutem GOD hath put the peoples Salvation in the Priests power Now all this considered and withall the time when this was made a Decree in the Councel of Trent a matter of 100 yeares agoe and when it was but new and the Pope and Prelates and Priests could not perhaps of a good while learne their lesson perfectly and so get a habit of it but that in all their Consecration of Prelates and Priests still intention was to seek and where it breakes off as in the Pope and Prelates in their Consecration of Orders there followes a meere nullity in succession of the whole Generation of Priests downwards and so through that whole body no Priesthood now no Sacraments
so fit as his own Day of Rest which he hath Commanded to be sanctified weekly of us if we be his people and he the Lord our God who hath redeemed us in his holy and eternall Law and in which day we resting do partake and communicate of his holy and eternall rest begun here by Christ and consummate in heaven in that pangúrei solemne Generall Assembly and Congregation of the first borne written in heaven Heb. 12.23 And to conclude if the ten Commandements belong to us Christians under the Covenant of Grace then certainly the 4 th Commandement which commands to keep the Sabbath of the Lord our God which is the Lords day Now by this which hath been spoken you may examine how farre you and your Church of England have erred in the foundation that is in this and other fundamentall points of Faith at least if those Acts â—dicts and Books that have been published against the aforesaid Doctrines shal be avowed for the Doctrines of the Church of England as they are pressed And if with Rome you be thus fallen holy you are not by your own confession nor onely so but Hereticall yea more then that Infidel For in the same page you say If the Church can erre quite from the Foundation then she is nor Holy nor Church but becomes an Infidell Now we have proved that to erre in one or more though not in all fundamentall points of Faith is to fall quite off from the foundation But if you thus cease to be holy how are you the Church of Christ still as you say For holinesse is essentiall unto and so is of the Difinition of the true Church of Christ I beleeve the Holy Catholicke Church And so of every particular Church if it be a true member of the true Catholicke it is holy For Eadem est ratio totius partium If the whole be holy so every member and part But the whole true Church is holy For 't is Christs body mysticall whereof he the Head he the root and we the Branches and if the root be holy so are the branches as the Apostle saith And he saith againe The Temple of God is holy which Temple ye are And I say Christ being the Head and the Church hâ—s body the spirit of holinesse and sanctification flows down from the Head to all the mâ—mbers as the Oyle powred on Aarons head went down to the skirts of his clothing which was a type of the holy anoynting oyle of Christs spirit powred on him which he communicates to all the members of his misticall body even as a mans head communicates of Animal spirits of motion to all the parts of his body as we touched before Except with Bellarmine you will have a dead member to be a true member Indeed a dead member of a dead body is a true member of that body And certainly if a Church cease to be holy it ceaseth to be a Church of Christ any moreâ— But I pray you what should move you to say thus Though the Church ceaseth to be Holy yet ceaseth not to be a Church of Christ. You have it not from the Schoole of Divinity not scarce can you rake it out of the puddle of the Iesuites themselves But haply you might suspect that the Church of Rome might be proved to be fallen quite from the Foundation as hath been already proved before and therfore your Charity would provide one refuge for it that though thus she ceaseth to be holy yet not to be a true Church still But you may doe well to study this point a little better how to make it good How a Church may cease to be Holy becoming Hereticall and yet be a Church of Christ still L. p. 141.142 Those Errors that are dyed in Graine cannot consist with holinesse of which Faith in Christ is the very Foundation And therfore if we will keep up our Creed the whole Militant Church must still be holy P. This confirmes what before I concluded of the Church of Rome as no Church of Chhist because by your own verdict not holy For her Errors and that in the fundamentall points of Faith are all dyed in graine so as they will never change colour nor looke of another hue For both they are of no small antiquity and since their first hatching they have been by sundry Councels confirmed and at last most irrefragably in the Councel of Trent as hath been shewed For as those things which you elswhere instance Worship of Images first erected in the 2 d Councel of Nice the seventh Generall Transubstantiation first Decreed in the Councel of Laterian under Innocent the third and the taking away of the Cup in the Sacrament first decreed in the Councel of Constance so the Title of Antichrist of Vniversall Bishop and Head of the Church obtained first by Boniface 3. above a thousand yeares agoe with many or most or all the Rest of Popery have been ever since their severall erections upon all occasions more and more ratified never any corrected and by generall practice upheld and against all opposition and conviction stiffly maintained Are they not dyed in graine then And if so you confesse they consist not of holinesse But say you if we will keep up our Creed the whole Melitant Church must still be Holy Here you enterfere againe For notwithstanding all that is said or I suppose can be said you will have the Church of Rome to be holy still as being a member of the Church Militant in despight of the Pope But let her be a member of your Church Militant is she therfore holy Say not you your Church Militant may fall into errors so as to cease to be holy And if the Church of Rome hath thus fallen hath she not for her part ceased to be holy But not if she keep up the Creed What call you that To hold the letter of the Creed and to deny the Faith of it so we have proved before She hath lost the Faith of Christ the foundation of Holinesse Ergo she hath lost Holinesse Ergo lost the Essence of a Church Ergo she is not in the compasse of your Creed I beleeve the Holy Catholicke Church L. p. 142. I say it and most true it is That it was ill done if those who ere they were that made the seperation P. It should be most true if you doe but say it Yet we find not all to be most true you say How true this is I know not yet Let us here I remember a little before you performed a thanklesse office for the Protestants in making an Apology for them as not the first in the fault of this seperation Which I answered And here you put the fault on those that made the seperation who ere they were which might be aswell the Protestants as the Papists But speake out L. p. 145. For my part I am of the same opinion for the continuing of the Schisme that I was for
works as you may read in Binius his Councels And therfore I say had you indeed perused well those Tracts and yet had persisted such a tanter of that Heresie which Arminius of late hath raked out of hell which Augustine and the Orthodox Fathers and Councels had remaunded to hell you for your part and so others too might truly call it That Great Bewitching Heresie And that the Councel of Aurang as you say did set the Church right in those Doctrines of Grace and Free-will wherein they followed Augustins judgement before them how have you set the Now Church of England right of being one Instrument at least if not the greatest if not sole of seting forth such an Edict no Decree of a Councel so much as Provinciall wherein those Articles of Religion concerning the foresaid Points and Doctrines of Grace which were set so Right before you unset them as the whole Church of England maintained the Orthodox truth of them according to the Scriptures and so Augustine and the Fathers and that unanimously and universally are made like Ianus with two faces the one looking but frowningly upon the Orthodox party who are forbid to preach the Orthodox Doctrines the other looking upon your Arminian Favorites and that with an Amiable aspect as who may find their opinions in your Articles and so not onely impunity for preaching them but Dignities in your Church for but affecting and holding those Opinions so Great a bewitching Heresie is it O blind Guides of the Church of England and thou qui Primas tenes the Pilot that steers the stern if you be capable of any shame and have not drunk of that Circaean Cup blush at these things And dost thou after all thy notorious practises in suppressing the Preaching of the Doctrines of Grace and the Printing of Books written in defence of Gods saving Truth in the Church of England too intollerable to be borne and which the earth groaneth under and for which the wrath of heaven is already kindled now come thinking to blanch all by telling us a tale of this and that Councel and of St. Augustine and of that Great bewitching Pelagian Heresy Dost thou think the world is such a Baby grown or the Old Mother Church of England come to that Dotage as to beleeve because her Arch-Prelate tells her such a Provinciall councel wherein S. Augustine was condemned the whole course of the Great bewitching Heresy of Pelagius and another Provinciall set the Church right in those great Controversies of Grace and Free-will therfore her Arminian Pilot is no Pelagian Thinkest thou I say to bewitch the world with these thy inchantments which thou workest by the golden cup of thine hypocrisie Surely heavens patience cannot long brooke these darings and deep dissemblings which yet are so grosse as they are not of a thread fine enough for Hypocrisie to make a veyle of L. p. 155. To these two to wit Our Princes and the Clergy Principally the power and direction for Reformation belongs P. You told us before how the King and the Priest more then any other are bound to looke to the Integrity of the Church in Doctrine and Manners and that in the first place Here you tell us of Princes and Clergy This is some inlargement For Clergy is not one Priest except one Priest be so great as that of Rome or Canterbury that he is equivalent to the whole Clergy or is in himselfe the Clergy Collective And yet suppose your whole Clergy of Priests were assembled in Convocation what relation have you to the Princes you doe not meane I dare say the Princes assembled in Parliament Beware of that No you are content but to obtaine a Congè or License from the King to have your Convocation and then let you alone for Reformation The Princes shall not need to trouble themselves further That 's your sole worke But yet this agrees not with your two Patterns which you set in the Margent touched before to wit of King Ezechiah 2 Chro 29. and King Iosia 4. Reg. 23. though you might as well have cited 2 King 23. according to our English but you love the old latine vulgar better Now as we noted before the Kings of Israel in their Reformations of Religion did not mate themselves with the Clergy but together with all the Princes and chiefe Fathers in Israel like a Parliament for all the world commanded the Priests to execute their office according to the expresse Law of God and they also looked strictly to have it done And this you confesse elsewhere That those Kings reformed no otherwise but according to the prescript Rule of Gods Law Ergo The Priest reformed not but was himselfe to be reformed by the King and all according to Gods prescript Law But now if the Prince and Clergy or rather as I said the Clergy by the Princes leave which you can no where shew Gods prescript Law for should be the Principall or rather sole for Reformation I pray you what Reformation should we have or could we expect The Church of England once thought her selfe to be under Reformation as you tell us before although at the best it was but as one calls it in his Sermon preached in Queen Elizabeths dayes at Pauls Crosse and published in Print by Authority a halfe Reformation because as the Author of the Hunting of the Fox saith the great Fox the Pope had but his eares cropt but his whole body remained still in England in the Prelacy yet this was called a Reformateon 〈◊〉 which the Church of England thought her selfe well separated from Rome yet this is not that Reformation that gives you content And much lesse that Reformation beyond the Seas Well what Reformation is it then which you mean here Surely the same which you meant before by sincerity and integrity in Doctrine and Manners in the Church to which I referre the Reader where he shall find this Reformation clearly expounded And in summe your Reformation here will differ from the former Reformation of the Church of England in this that as that was but a halfe Reformation because it retained the Prelacy with some of Romes Ceremonies so this your Reformation shall make that up in reducing the Church of England to the Integrity and sincerity of the Church of Rome in Doctrine and Manners full and whole A thing indeed which can no otherwise but be expected so long as the Hierarchy stands in its full ruffe as it doth now in England For like will to like as you know who used the Proverbe to the Colyer Or as the Philosopher saith Every thing aspires after its perfection And the Perfection of the Hierarchy is at Rome and thence All Hierarchy and Prelacy now adayes hath and had its first Rise and Originall And therfore no mervaile if Prelates naturally affect their native Countrey Rome As the Romane Poet said in his banishment Nescio qua natale solum dulcedine cunctos Ducit immemores
Conscience Whether the High-Priest Azariah did transgresse or no when King Vzziah in the Temple burnt Incense on the Altar he with fourescore Priests of the Lord that were valient men went in after the King and withstood him saying It perteameth not unto thee Vzziah to burn Incense unto the Lord but to the Priests c. Loe here was a withstanding the King But I will not presse you for your Judgement for I find in the next verse Gods own Judgement of the Case for Vzziah with the Censer in his hand being incensed even while he was wroth with the Priests the leprosie even rose up in his forehead before the Priests in the house of the Lord from beside the Incense-Altar And Azariah the Chiefe Priest and all the Priests looked upon him and behold he was leprous in his forehead and they thrust him out from thence yea he himselfe hasted also to goe out because the Lord had smitten him And Vzziah the King was a Leper unto the day of his death and dwelt in a severall house being a Leper for he was cut off from the house of the Lord and Iotham the Kings son was over the Kings house judging the people of the Land Now to apply this to the present purpose You make your self as the High-Priest of the Church of England Now suppose the King of England should doe that whereby the foundations of Faith and good Manners were shaken what would your Lordship doe I aske not what you would doe in case you should be the Chiefe Agent and Instrument a Counceller a Promoter and a Contriver of such a thing For then it were a vaine Question But suppose you had no hand nor head in it at all and were a man zealous of Gods glory and truly pious and found in the faith and one that knew well what the foundations of Faith and good Manners are and when they are shaken and one that respected more the Kings good and Honour then your own private ends and more Christs Kingdome then any Hierarchy or spirituall-Temporall Principality on Earth and one that loved more to speake the Truth to Kings though you were sure of displeasure then to flatter and speake pleasing things to the ruine of the State and Kingdome though for the present it pleased suppose I say all this for even impossibilities may be supposed then tell me what your selfe a man of such high Place and Grace in Court and of so great Power to perswade and disswade would doe when you should see the Foundations of Faith and good Manners to be shaken by the King or supreme Magistrate For the very Name of shaking the Foundations of Faith and good Manners is enough to shake a Mans heart and cause him to abhorre the very thought of it if he were not either altogether senselesse and ignorant what the Foundations of Faith and Good Manners do meane or knowing them were not either an open or secret enemy unto them For what is such a shaking but a mâ—king way for the sodaine precipitation of the state of all things into inevitable Destruction a dissepating of all humane society a mingling of heaven and earth together in one Chaos of all Confusion And therfore now that we are upon a point of such Moment as it were the Center wheron the worlds Globe is pitched or as the two Pillars in Solomons Temple Iâ—chin and Boas stability and strength Faith and good Manners being the stability and strength of all true Religion of humane society and Civil Politie it wil be worth our Inquiry a little what it is to shake these Foundations or when these Foundations are shaken And it is possible that these Foundations may at this very time be shaken in the Church and state of England and so threaten if not hasten Ruine in somuch as a speedy remedy for prevention upon the discovery may be required You will say God forbid What God forbid that in such a Case a speedy remedy should be used No not so by your leave Well what say you then to your Articles of Religion wherein the Doctrines of Faith of the Church of England and those of them that are according to the expresse Scriptures as Gods Grace in Election Predestination Salvation c. are shaken Are they not shaken and that terribly too by an Edict or Declaration so as they doe at the least nutare et huc illuc fâ—luctuare so reele too and â—ro like a drunken man as no sober man knows to which side they will fall And are not those Doctrines of Gods free and saving Grace in Christ the foundations of Faith which are contained in those Articles Can you deny this Again what say you to the Two Tables wherein are contained the Ten Commandements of Gods Morall Law Are they not also Foundations Yea and Foundations both of Faith and Good Manners For the Foure Commandements of the First Table concern Faith and Religion the Six of the Second Good Manners So much all confesse and your selfe too And you say Emperours and Kings are Cussodes utriusque Tabulae They to whom the Custody and preservation of both Tables of the Law for worship to God and duty to man are commited And That a Booke of the Law was by Gods own command in Moses his time to be given to the King Deut. 17.18 So you Is it so then What say you then to those two Great Commandements the Last of the First Table and the First of the Second Do they not stand closse together as those two formentioned Pillars in Solomons Temple Iachin and Boaz Is not holy Obedience to God in his worship on his own day as Iachin the stability of the the Church and Temple of God And is not Civil subjection to superiours as Boaz the strength of the Common-wealth So as when these two Commandements are shaken are not two maine Pillars and Foundations of Faith and good Manners shaken and so the Foundations both of Church and Common-wealâ—h shaken What say you to this ô Great High Priest Is it true or no For I must now put you to it You give just occasion But you answere nothing siâ—ence in this Case is consent and such as proceeds frâ—m guilt of Conscience And how ever Res ipsa clamat The thing it selfe proclaimes it and cleare evidence proves it For doth not the Edict for Sports so often upon fresh occasions mentioned declare as much And doth it not shake the Fourth Commandement for the sanctification of the Lords Day the Lords Sabbath-Day Which Dispensation of such profane and madde sports can it consist with sanctification or any holinesse or common sobriety of a Christian or with Christian Profession or with our Baptismall vow to the Contrary much lesse with the direct and expresse immediate solemn sanctification of that day commanded in that Fourth Commandement Is not here then a Foundation of Religion and so also of Good Manners too shaken For what Good Manners doth our May-pole-dances and
sufficient Images and Crucifixes which when you doe honour and homage to your Altar canâ—ot but participate of it And againe the Councel of Constance being a Generall Councel and the Decree therof for the Cup being not yet reversed by another Councel equall to that And seeing your Church of England is one and the same with the Catholick Church when it was represented in that Councel why doe you not presse your Doctrine unto Practise in your Church of England telling them that they are all bound to the obedience of that Decree of the Councel of Constance for the taking away of the Cup in the Sacrament at least they are bound to externall obedience not to drinke of that Cup till another Councel equall to that shall reverse that Decree which hath not yet been but on the contrary the Generall Councel of Basill since that hath ratified that Decree of Constance notwithstanding all the Bohemians supplications and demonstrations to the contrary But you will say you have here in your Book made a demonstration both against worship of Images and the taking away of the Cup. But this will not free you from externall obedience to the Decrees of the said Councels till another Councel thereupon equall to those shall reverse them Therefore by your own Doctrine you have put upon your selfe and Church a necessity of externall obedience to the said Decrees from which because you cannot otherwise be exempted how doth it concerne you and your Church of England too if indeed you desire to be freed from the obedience of those Decrees to use all meanes for the expediting and speedy calling of a Generall Councel to reverse the said Decrees And so much the rather now when you have made such Demonstrations against those said Decrees as being against Truth which therfore you cannot obey without offering manifest violence to your Conscience And if your Protestants of the Church of England shall aledge that these Errours Heresies Idolatries Sacriledges have been cryed down by one unanimous voyce of all Protestants and in particuler by the established Doctrines of the Church of England yet your Doctrine tells them still that being never yet reversed by a Generall Councel equall to those wherein they were Decreed and seeing that the Reformed Churches beyond the Seas are no true Churches for fault of Prelates And the Doctrines of the Church of England are declared to be doubtfull therfore your Doctrine stands in force still that externall obedience at least must be yeelded of all Otherwise it cannot stand with any Government as you tell us here But how stands it with Faith with Conscience with Scripture with the Apostle that a man is bound knowingly to obey an Errour in the Faith For the Apostle saith whatsoever is not of Faith is sinne that is whatsoever a man doth against his Conscience is sinne So as you hereby teach men directly to sinne against their Consciences and all to uphold the Credit of your Prelaticall Government and Decrees Thus the Church of England may see what an Oracle she hath got in the Chaire of Canterbury To the Fift A Generall Councell hath not power from Christ immediately to be Iudge in Controversies Imediately No nor mediately neither nor any way at all For it is denyed that your Generall Councel of Prelates are lawfull seeing all the members of the Councel are neither visible Iudges nor Vice-Roys appointed and allowed by Christ to Governe his Church as hath been proved Now if all the members of your Generalâ— Councel be of no Authority Divine then neither your Generall Councel it selfe with all the Decrees of it For there is â—he same reason of the whole and of all the Parts Christ then will not have his truth to receive Testimony much lesse subject his word to the Judgement of those who are usurping Tyrants and enemies of his word and especially since Antichrist hath prevailed Christ would not receive testimony from the Devils that they knew him No more doth he allow any of Sathans Ministers false Apostles to be Iudges in Controversies of Faith And you confesse A Generall Councel hath no power from Christ Immediately at least to be Iudge in Controversies Whence then hath your Generall Councels this power Thâ— Church say you prudently tooke it up from the example of the Apostles Acts 15. Prudently tooke it up Nay surely rather you craftily stole it You took it up where it was not layd down for you to take up and so to abuse But you have Prudently that is Politickly and presumptuously taken up that is usurped that power which was never given you nor yet by any Apostolicke Legacy left unto you seeing you are neither their hâ—ires nor successors nor Executors nor Administrators nor Assignes of the Apostles but in one word for all meere Usurpers Yea though by the Name of Church we should understand which you doe not the true Church of Christ successively after the Apostles in all Ages yet she hath learned another gates Prudence then to take up such an example from the Apostles as is neither warrantable for her to doe nor imitable For the Apostles aâ— they had their Immediate Calling from Christ so by him they were immediately inspired with the Holy Ghost so as then judgement in all matters of Faith was infallible But the succeeding beleevers had not the like fullnesse and abundant measure of the Spirit as to make them competent and sufficient Judges in matters of Faith on whose judgement men might infallibly rest their faith and settle their Conscience Yea it pleased the wisdome of Christ to give that fullnes of his Spirit to his Apostles that being thereby led into all Truth they might not onely preach that truth to that present age wherein they lived but also leave the same truth written to all succeeding Ages of the Church of Christ to be guided and directed by that Truth in the Scripture as the sole competent and every way sufficient and compleat Iudge in all controversies and matters of faith whatsoever Againe that particular Example of the Apostles Acts 15. was an A per se. It was a particular Act proper onely to that present occasion and not to be stretched to aftertimes when the Church should be settled For that very determination of the Apostles was but proskairos for that very season to compose some Differences arising between the Iews and Gentiles newly converted to Christianity And the Apostle Iames layes this for the ground of the Determination or Decree Moses saith he of old time hath in every City those that preach him being read in the Synagogues every Sabbath day Here is the occasion of this Assembly the mixture of the Iews living amongst the Gentiles And though the Gentiles converted were free from Jewish ordinances yet the Iews being offended at it and not yet strong enough in the faith and pressing the Gentile Christians with Circumcision hereupon the Assembly met and by the speciall and immediate assistance and
the end of the world Whereas by saying Peter represented the Person of the Church you must meane that the Church is wholly contained in the Ministers For you usually call your Clergy the Church as if you had no Church but that whereas the Congregation or society of all the Faithfull is the Church of God as is shewed before So as in no respect did Peter receive the Keys in the person of your Priest and Prelaticall Church L. p 258. Where 't is said That Christ makes to himselfe a Church without spot or wrinckle Eph. 5. That is not understâ—â—d of the Church Militant but of the Church Tryumphant And to maintain the contrary is a brand of the spreading Heresie of Pelagianisme P. That speech of the Apostle includes as well the truâ— Church Militant as the Tryumphant both which containe and consist of all the Elâ—ct onely And these Elect that in the Church Militant live by Faith though they have enoikouâ—an kì euperÃstton aâ—mratÃan as the Apostle saith sinne dwelling in them and easily besetting them yet they are in Gods sight through Faith in Christs blood that fountaine set open for Israel washed from all the spotâ— of sinne being in Christs imputed Righteousnesse and holynesse presented and accepted in Gods sight as most pure without spot or wrinkle As the the Apostle Iohn saith The blood of Christ cleanseth us from all sinne And Christ saith to his Spouse his Church Militant Thou art all faire my Love there is no spot in thee Concerning that place which you cite out of Augustine where he saith The whole Church prayeth forgive us our debts 'T is true speaking there of the visible Church quae in toto terrarum orbe clamat ad deum which over all the earth crys to God And if he meane it of the Elect onely which are the onely true Spouse of Christ in all the world their praying forgive us our debts hinders not nor interrupteth their perpetuall purity in Gods sight notwithstanding For we may be and are through faith in Christ accepted for pure in Gods eyes when in our own eyes through sin and manifold corruptions still dwelling but not raigning in us we are impure And therfore we pray forgive us our debts because we have dayly failings and infirmities whereof our Consciences accuse us and the confession of them with deprecation is a meanes to have that stain and guilt cleaving to our Conscience and corrupt nature wiped off Faith still renewing the application of Christs merits as a Balme to heale our wounds and to assure us that our sinnes are blotted out in his blood For as Iohn saith If we confesse our sinnes he is faithfull and just to forgive us our sinnes and to cleanse us from all unrighteousnes Now as for the Pelagians One of their errours was in Arrogating purity to their own sect and that they had no Originall sinne but that they were Justi by a selfe-Righteousnesse calling those of their own sect Justi Righteous as Augustine tells us But where you name the spreading Heresie of the Pelagians I know none to whom that is more beholden then to him your selfe I meane who hath given it a footing and rooting too in the Articles of the Doctrines of the Church of England and under whom it hath shot forth its branches both in height and breadth that it dare both overtop and overdrop the Truth without controule But I had almost forgot one thing and that is this you allow not Purity in your Church Militant in this life If therfore there be not a full purgation of the Church and her Children here in this world where will you have her purged Purged she must be and that thorowly that she be without spot or wrinkle before she come into heaven For in thither no unclean thing entâ—eth Me thinks then I smell here the smoke of some Purgatory fire after this life which must purge away all the reliques of sins spots And upon this very ground that you goe on it is that the Papists have very prudently as in a case of necessity devised their Purgatory to cleanse all after this life seeing here they say there is no Perfection of Purity But perhaps you thought not of this consequence when you writ those words That the Church Militant is not without spot or wrinkle But so how will you avoyd the consequence of Purgatory So as while you pretend to avoyd the Pelagian Rocke you fall into the Roman fiery Phlegetom or Purgatory-Gulfe According to the old Proverbe Incidit in Scyllam dum vuâ—t vitare Charâ—â—â—in But you seem afterwards not to allow of Purgatory telling some stories of it but bringing not one Argument from Scripture against it as That the blood of Christ doth cleanse a true beleever from all sinne in this life and the like But hereof in its place Againe In saying That Christ doth not make the Church Militant in this life to be without spot or wrinkle you doe 〈◊〉 overthrow that Article of Faith I beleeve the holy Catholicke Church Now doth not the holy Catholicke Church 〈…〉 Church Militant Is not the Church Militant 〈…〉 if holy is it not then without spot or wrinkle 〈…〉 But this is no Article of your Faith because your Catholicke Church is not thus holy without spot or wrinkle L. p. 275. In and by the Councel of Trent the Pope 〈…〉 of Saints and Adoration of Images to the 〈…〉 of Christianity and as great hazzard of the weake P. What no more but so First In the Councel â—f 〈…〉 the Pope teach no more but these two And these two he could teach long before the Councel of Trent There they had the Pâ—pâ— confirmation but not their Christendome But you tell us not â— word in all your Booke of the Popes teaching of 〈…〉 mans works and merits and of his Anathematizing of 〈…〉 by Faith onely which the Scripture teacheth Nor a 〈…〉 teaching the Masse to be a Propitiatory sacrifice for 〈…〉 quicke and dead Nor how he teacheth a New order of sacriâ—â—â—cing Priests Nor That Originall sinne is no sinne saying Although the Apostle define it to be sinne yet the holy Councel of Trent decreeth it not to have the nature of sinne And all these and many more such the Pope teacheth in the Councel of Trent Secondly Are Invocation of Saints and Adoration of Images no more but a great hazzard to the weake Are they not so also to the strong while they make the strongest to stoope to them and therfore so much the more hazardous Except you meane that to the strong they are damnable not onely dangerous But is plaine Idolatry in both these both adoration of Images and Invocaâ—iâ—n of Saints onely hazardous to the weake Is not Idolatry damnable Nay is it not damnation to Idolaters Doth it not shut them out of heaven For no Idolaters shall inherit the Kingdome of God Know ye it not saith the Apostle
that day or any other day but admonishing Christians to abhore them as Heathenish and is this the faith and practise of the present Church of England at this day wherein you resolve to live and dye Fourthly The Apostles and ancient Primitive Church in their dayes taught held and professed all chose excellent saving Doctrines of Election Predestination Redemption of the Elect their Effectuall vocation and conversation by Gods saving and Omnipotent Grace their assurance of Salvation by Faith and their certaine perseverance in Grace unto Glory and none of these Doctrines were forbid to Ministers to be preached but they were commanded of God to declare the whole Councel of God to his people Is this your faith and practise of the Church of England wherein you resolve to live and dye Fiftly The Apostles and the ancient Primitive Church in their dayes taught professed and practised that Discipline which was according to Christ forbidding all wâ—ll-worship and imposition of humane Ordinances as snares upon mens Consciences whereby that Christian liberty is overthrowne which Christ purchased for his people with his own blood Is this the Faith which you and the present Church of England professeth and practiseth and wherein you resolve to live and dye Sixtly The Apostles and the ancient Primitive Church in their time condemned the forbidding of Marriage and of Meates as a Doctrine of Devils taught by seducing spâ—riâ—s and a departing from the faith of Christ Is this that faith and Religion which you and the present Church of England hold professe and practise and wherein you resolve to live and dye O ye Prelates O thou Church of England blush and be ashamed of that Faith Profession and Practise of yours so 〈◊〉 contrary to that Faith which the holy Apostles taught and that pure and Primitive Church in their times imbraced and professed and be not so desperately bent as being so clearly convinced of these thy foule practises to professe and vow notwithstanding to live and dye in them least herein your condition prove as it must doe infinitly more desperate and damnable then that of the Jesuites themselves whose knowledge by your own confession of their wicked and damnable Fâ—â—ours with their obstinate persisting in them and resâ—sting the truth yea even the Holy Ghosts Testimony therein leaves them as without excuse so without all hope of salvation as to whom nothing remaines as the Apostle upon the like occasion saith but a fearefull expectation of Iudgement and of fiery indignation which shall devour the Adversaries L. p. 338. Yea but he saith againe That I acknowledge there is but one Saving Faith and that the Lady might be saved in the Roman Faith which was all the Iesuite tooke upon his soule Why but iâ— this be all I will confesse it againe The first that there is but one Faith I confesse with St. Paul Eph. 4. And the other That the Lady might be saved in the Roman faith or Church I confesse with that Charity which St. Paul teacheth me namely to leave all men especially the weaker sex and sort which hold the foundation to stand or fall to their own Master Rom. 14.4 And this is no mistaken Charity P. This you confesse that as there is but one saving faith so this faith is in the Church of Rome as in and by which the Lady may be saved And of this one faith with the Church of Rome you and your Church of England are if you hope to be saved with Rome by her saving faith This is the All and summe of your Confession Now we have clearly proved before that the faith of the Church of Rome is not that one saving faith of Gods Saints and Elect which the Scripture every where speaks of For first Romes faith is in its kind and nature and that by their own confession a dead faith but the saving faith is a living faith Secondly they confesse that with their faith they may goe to hell as they say of their Fidâ—les Fornicarii Adulteri c. therfore Romes faith is no saving faith for the saving faith is so called because it effectually perfectly and certainly saveth all those that have it as Christ saith Joh. 5.24 Thirdly The Romish â—aith is a doubting wavering uncertaine faith or raâ—her opinionâ— and wan hope as the Councel of Trent defineth accuâ—sing certainâ—y of beleeving whereas the saving faith is a certainâ— assurance and cleare evidence a plerophoria as Heb 10.22 Rom. 4 21.â— a full assurance or perswasiâ—n in the truth of beleeving though not in fullnesse of degrees of perfection in all and at all times the operation of it being many times hindered by corruptions and infirmities of the flesh and manifold temptations Fourthly Romes faith is and may be without hope and charity but true saving faith is never without hope and charity for it is the sure foundation of things hoped for and it worketh by Love Fifty The Roman faith is not the Iustifying faith for the Councel of Trent saith Faith justifieth not till Hope and Charity come to it and then all 3 together and that as inherent Graces and works in us do justifie whereas true saving faith is therfore called the Iustifying faith because it is that onely Grace whereby as an Instrument applying Christ and his righteousnesse and not as works in us the beleeving sinner is justified Rom. 3.28 so as though this saving justifying faith be never without hope and charity no more then fire is without light and heat yet hope and charity have no hand at all with faith in justification so as not even faith it selfe as it is a Grace inherent with hope and charity doth justifie but onely as it is considered as a hand or instrument applying Christ as before But the Roman Faith as the Councel of Trent confesseth justifieth not as an instrument or hand applying Christ whereby his Righteousnesse is of God imputed to the beleever which Imputation the Councel in plain termes accurseth but onely as a Grace and worke inherent with hope and charity Sixtly saving faith is not onely a justifying faith whereby we stand righteous in Gods sight having Christs Righteousnesse imputed but also a sanctifying faith as Act. 26.18 called therfore a holy Faith Jude 20. as wherby a man is regenerate borne againe made a member of Christ and partaker of his Spirit and lives and dyes in holinesse but the Roman Faith doth not sanctifie for they confesse that wicked ungodly and profane persons may have it and goe to hell with it as before Lastly saving and justifying faith is a spirituall worke and gift of Grace wrought in the soule by the spirit of God and it is his sole worke without the concurrence or mans Will which is not free untill Grace hath given it both life and freedome but the Roman Faith is confessed by them in the Councel of Trent not to be a meere worke of Grace nor at all of sanctifying and saving Grace
in the first act of beleeving but after the Will of man is but a little stirred and moved by a certaine Grace which they call the first Grace which they confesse not to be the saving and sanctifying Grace then thereupon they have the merit of Congruity to receive the second Grace whereby hope and charity come to be added to faith And this is the expresse Doctrine of Trent The Conclusion then is That neither the Lady nor any Papist living and dying in the Roman Faith nor your selfe nor any in the Church of England that hold and professe no other Faith then the Roman Faith can possibly be saved living and dying in that Faith and though you tell us againe with great confidence as a most certaine Truth that it is no mistaken Charity to grant a 〈◊〉 of salvation to a Papist living and dying in the Roman Faith yet we have so discovered this your Charity before as I Hope your Charity wil be no more so mistaken Onely here I must tell you withall that as you either wilfully or most ignorantly and 〈◊〉 rather mistake that one saving faith of the Apostle so doe you also that Charity which you say he teacheth you Doth the Apostle teach you such a Charity as teacheth you to beleeve and affirme that which is contrary to the cleare Truth of the Scripture is it your Charity to attribute a saving faith to the Church of Rome which without all Charity accurseth the onely true faith and the truly faithfull of Iesus Christ which professe that onely saving faith Whereas you must know that Charity which the Apostle there teacheth Rom. 14.4 alledged by you is in judgeing Charitably of your Brethren in the use of things indifferent For there the Apostle speaks of eating or not eating of observing a day or not observing whereupon he inferreth Who art thou that judgest anothers servant To his own Master he standeth or falleth so as in such cases Christians must judge Charitably and not rashly censure others that do not as themselves doe in things simply indifferent This is then the Charity which there the Apostle teacheth But have you learned this Charity of the Apostle You tell us This Charity the Apostle teacheth me The Apostle teacheth you true Charity but it doth not thereupon follow that you have learned that Charity of the Apostle Doe you deale so with your Brethren in the use of things indifferent as not to judge them this way or that way in the using or not using of them Doe you leave them to their own Master Christ to stand or fall Nay do you not cause them necessarily to fall by the stumbling blocks of your Ceremonies which you say are things indifferent and yet you impose such a necessity upon the observation of them as they altogether cease to be indifferent and become a yâ—ake of bondage to the People of God And if they be so strong that they will not thus fall down to your Ceremonies no more then the 3 Children would to the Kings Image what then What Charity use you then towards them Doe you leave them to their own Master to stand or fall Not such thing But you take upon you to be ther Master and Lord and to be their Judge and to Judge them while sitting in your High Commission Chaire you convent them censure them as by Suspâ—nding Silencing Depriving Degrading Dispossessing or Fining Imprisoning undoing of their wives and children and without all hope of remedy or mercy from you till they shall acknowledge the Justice yea and perhaps the Clemencie of your Court in dealling so mercifully with them This This is that Charity which you have learned and which you dayly put in practise so as in this kind never any was more zealously and fervently Charitable then your selfe But this Charity you never learned of the Apostles nor did he or Christ or any of the Apostles ever teach you any such Charity No sure This wisdome This Charity of yours as Iames speakes cometh not from above but is Earthly sensuall and Divelih If you have no other Charity but this the Lord deliver us from your Charity And so I leave you to your mistaken Charity Onely for Conclusion hereof Immediately before you tell us you will dye as you live in that faith professed in the Church of Engdand Here you say Rome holds the same faith Ergo as you live so you will dye in the Roman faith And secondly Ergo The Faith of the Church of England and of Rome is one and the same Faith as before you tell us they are one and the same Church and at after as pag. 3â—7 they are of one and the same Religion not different Thus you have made a fine Confusion and this you meane to make your finall Conclusion Such is your Faith such your Religion such your Charity all mistaken The foulest and fearefullest mistaken that ever any man was overtaken with L. p. 339. The truth is you doe hold new Devises of your own which the Primitive Church was never acquainted with And some of those so farre from being conformable as that they are little lesse then contradictory to Scripture P. And is it not as true that in holding new devises which the the Primitive Church of which we spake but now was never acquainted with you may shake hands with Rome and her Jesuites who may therfore retort upon you that of the Poet Parcius ista viris tamen objicienda memento Novimus et qui te Be sparing such things to us to object Who know the like do on your selfe reflect And we have shewed before how both Romes new devises and yours for they are all one and the same are not onely as you still mince the matter little lesse then contradictory to Scripture but doe directly overthrow the cleare and evident truth 〈…〉 and that also even in fundamentalls And what say you to Romes new-old devise of worshiping Images to instance in no more though I might in many yea in all Romes Popish Doctrines as Popish as before is it but little lesse then contradictory to Scripture Doth not the Scripture say Thou shalt not worship any graven Image And what saith Rome I pray you Or if you or she for modesty sake will not tell us or if she dare not say in plain and expresse termes and in form of a Precept Thou shalt worship Images yet aske her whorish practises and her pretty devises wherewith she allures her children to the adoration of them and that even to dotage as by promising them preâ—ty lakons and new-nothings as pardon of sins for so many yeares for praying so many Avies and Pater nosters before such a 〈◊〉 or Image is not this Equipollent to a Commandement yea their very setting up and adâ—ring these their gaâ— Gods in their Churches the place of worship is it not an inviting and silent whispering in the Peoples eares worship and fall down before these sacred Images and Reliques giving them
of England doth Againe you make it no great matter of difference in this case between your Protestant and the Romanist whither this or that goe to each others Church so his Conscience put not a barre As you tell us a little after That the Church of Rome and the Protestants do not set up a different Religion Of which in its place And here also you put no difference but that the Romanist doth as well serve and worship God after his Roman manner in his Idolatrous Masse as your Protestant doth after your English manner And perhaps the difference will not be found so great between you but that you will well enough agree when you have cast up your reckoning But now what if one of your simple Protestants be not resolved in Conscience of the profession of the truth in the Church of England more then of that in the Church of Rome Is it not then lawfull for him to goe to the Romish Masse With â—ou it seems so so his Conscience hinder him not And what Conscience hath your ignorant Protestant to hinder him in this case Nay I will say more What knowing Protestant have you at this day in the present Church of England since the publishing of your Declaration before the 39 Articles which makes some of the principall of them to beare a double and contrary sense that is or can be resolved in his Conscience that either the true faith or so much as the Profession of the true faith is in the Church of England For those Articles which containe the Doctrine of your Church you confesse to be ambiguous and doubtfull and doe not resolve either way but leave your Church in suspense how then can any Protestant of the Church of England be resolved in Conscience that the Profession of the true faith is in the Church of England when neither your selfe seems to be resolved or at least you doe not resolve your Church concerning your Articles what to beleeve Which being so may you not fairely hence conclude that it is lawfull for any Protestant of the Church of Engdaud to goe to the Romish Church there and in that manner to serve and worship God untill he shal be resolved in his Conscience that the profession of the true faith is in the Church of England which resolution is not like to be till your Lordship hath resolved them which is the true and orthodox sense of your Articles and that by a publicke edâ—ct athenticke and every way equall to the former as in the case of Generall Councels when the errours of one must be obeyed till another equall to that shall reverse it As before But in the meane time unlesse you make the more hast with your Edict for Resolution your whole Church of England is now at liberty to goe to Masse and so to turne Romanist as having nothing to restrain them were there but Masses enough to intertaine them as no doubt there be Priests enough for the purpose had they but Churches so long as their Conscience is not resolved of the profession of the true faith in the Church of England And so the Broad Gates are set upon for the Consummation of your so much wished and plotted Reconcliation with the Church of Rome And you adde L. p 376. Nor do the Church of Rome and the Protestants set uâ— a different Religion fâ—r thâ— Christian Religion is the same to both but they differ in the same Religion and the difference is in certaine grâ—ssâ— corruptions to the very indangering of salvation which each side sâ—yâ—s the other is guilty of P. By Protestants here 't is plain enough you mean those of the Church of England not those of the Reformed Churches beyond the Seas I am sure of it For they utterly renounce the Romish Religion and Faith as Antichristian which you avow for Christian the same with yours But they differ say you in the same Religion How They do not set up a different Religion and yet they differ in the same Religion I understand not this Babylonish language But wherein then doe they differ in the same and undiffering Religion In some certaine grosse corruptions say you But in some not in all grosse corruptions which are indifferent and common to you both And what grosse corruptions are common to both those shall not be put in the reckoning of corruptions at all each covering other with the mantle of Charity Yea such as you both agree in are the very substance of your Religion And the whole substance of the Romish yea of all Christian Religion saith Bellarmine is the Masse This then must be That same undiffering Christian Religion which you both set up And herein how much doe you dister Have you not both your Altars the main substance on the service whereof all the rest attend as your Priests Sacrifice Images Crucifixes Adorations Organs curious musicke and many other devises for your pompous service your Liturgie differing more in the language then in the matter and forme But you will say you differ in Transustantiation Yet you are willing to have a reall Presence confessed and professed with you as is noted before But you say the difference is in certaine grosse corruptions indangering salvation On which side Each side say you charges other I have heard two butter women scold and each layd to other grievous things and the one said Thou playdst the whore and the other sayd Thou playdst the whore Which of these trow you was the honester Woman She haply that had lesse playd the whore then the other which perhaps was not for want of will but opportunity You and Rome charge each other with grosse corruptions which yet are one and the same in both Doth not thus the shame of both the more appeare Your grosse corruptions on both sides can agree well enough if you can be quiet Yea and that to the indangering of Salvation too For have you not to be silent in the rest both your Altars which are alone sufficient to sacrifice upon all your faith and salvation and so to leave you neither faith nor salvation in Christ as whom also you sacrifice thereon together with your faith and salvation For we shewed before that your Altars doe overthrow and deny Iesus Christ the onely Altar of true beleevers If then you both doe agree in the grossest corruptions as those whereby your salvation is not onely indangered but destroyed which is the maine of your Religion wherin you differ not what need there be any oddes between you for the rest Both sides complain of each other both have their corruptions and grosse ones too such as overthrow salvation Then let your conscious ingenuity confesse to each other and your conscientious Charity pardon each other And so let the world be troubled no more with your Differences but be good friends and agree as sisters L. p. ibid. It may appeare by all the former Discourses to any Indifferent Reader that Religion as it is
A REPLIE TO A RELATION OF THE CONFERENCE BETWEEN WILLIAM LAUDE and Mr. FISHER the Jesuite By a Witnesse of JESUS CHRIST JOB 38.2 Who is this that darkeneth Councell by words without knowledge 1 KINGS 18.21 How long halt you between two opinions If the LORD be GOD follow him but if Baal then follow him CANT 2.15 Take us the Foxes the little Foxes that spoyle the Vines for our Vines have tender Grapes IMPRINTED Anno MDCXL A SAD AND SERIOVS CONSULTATION OF A DISCONSOLAE MOTHER CHRISTS VIRGIN-Spouse with twelve of her Children about her whose names are Faith Hope Charity Zeale Humility Prudence Piety Patience Iustice Mercy Verity Prayer whose severall judgements the Mother requireth in a doubtfull case MOTHER MY Deare Children how doth the very sight of you revive my dolefull spirits almost drowned in the Dragons flood You are to me as that twelve-starred Crowne upon my head But to the purpose for which I have called you together though indeed you are never asunder nor absent from me and it is this You have taken notice of a notorious Booke lately published by the Prime Prelate of England which he calls a Relation of a Conference c. And how to that Relation a Sonne of mine no lesse known to you all then assisted by you in the worke hath made here a Reply and presented it to me But now how to improve and dispose of it for the best is the doubt The Relator the Prelate ingageth the King in it by two bonds the one of Patronage the other of Command as if the King had first commanded it to be published and now did give it Patronage and protection which if true it puts me in a straight what to doe with this Reply For who so fit to take notice of it yea and to give it Protection too if both the matter and the consequence of it being of so high a nature be well and wisely weighed It hath much perplexed me Now therefore give me your best advice And first Faith what sayst thou Faith Deare Mother put away from you all such perplexed thoughts 'T is true If we looke on worldly meanes with a carnall eye we are all in a straight But this is our safety 'T is well the world hath never an object to allure our confidence to pitch upon it And best of all when all the world is banded against us and our Christ. Is not he alone sufficient to cope with them Doth he not laugh at their proud but vaine attempts which are no lesse against him then against us Is not the Cause then his And are not we his And is not he for us Who then shall be against us What though Principalities and Powers and Spirituall wickednesses in high places be with all the power and pollicie of the world with all the craft and cruelty of the Dragon and Devill armed against us why still Christ is for us That 's sufficient Therefore there be moe with us then against us We are a little flock against a world of Wolves and Foxes Lyons and Beares but we have a watchfull and powerfull Shepheard whose Legions of mighty Angels those heavenly Hosts doe pitch their tents round about us We are his Paradise on earth which he defends continually with his Cherubims flaming sword that proud Apostates cannot so invade us as to take one Tree of life from us Let the wild Beasts then rage and warre upon us let the Aegyptian troopes pursue us as with open mouth to devuore us but stand we still and see the salvation of the LORD He that led his people through the Sea never wants power to deliver his when in most desperate straights Mother Cheare up Not a haire of your head shall perish The faithfull and True hath said it As for outward meanes if we have them we use them as Gods ordinances if we have them not nay if all be against us yet our Faith in GOD is the same and ever greater stronger and nobler without and against meanes then with them And much more is our GOD the same and his glory most shineth where outward meanes are either least helpfull or most opposite My resolution then is this The Reply in my judgement is very necessary to be published and withall as most pertinent and important to be presented to the King But whether he will read it or no leave that to GOD. We shall neither loose our labour nor reward For great is the Truth and shall prevaile what ever opposition Men or Devils make against it And in this Reply the true Faith is defended against the Prelates false and counterfeit Faith I have said Mother Well Hope what sayst thou Hope Deare Mother I am of the same mind and spirit with my Sister Faith By all meanes cast away all anxious and perplexed thoughts and be of good comfort though our Shippe be shrewdly weather-beaten and shaken yet Christ is at the sterne And I have already cast Anchor in the Havens mouth on a firme ground within the Veile When Noahs Arke floated over the toppes of the highest Mountaines in that dreadfull Deluge when the world was a Sea what Pilot safely guided and steered its course that it should rest upon the Mount Ararat Even the same Pilot we have to conduct us through these Floods to the Haven where we would be Let the Reply for truth against falsehood be published under Christs Patronage and protection that 's sufficient As for Men the lesse we hope in them the lesse we feare them And while we doe our duty with the one hand we lay hold on the Crowne with the other I have sayd Mother Charity what sayst thou Charity Deare Mother as my Sister Hope is the Anchor both sure and stedfast So I am the three-fold Cable not easily broken and therefore be of good comfort For Love not all the floods can drowne it Now for the Relation were those many passages in it noted by the Replyer some common slips of ignorance or humane frailty I would cast my large mantle over them but being of a high nature and full of impiety against GOD and CHRITT and the Holy Ghost and the holy Scriptures and against your holy Spouse-ship and against Faith and against Charity and so against all true Religion yea proceeding also from a Prime Prelate pretending great learning and knowledge and professing such singular eminencie and dexterity of wit and judgement as being the onely able Champion of the Church of England to defend the truth against a Jesuite and all this under the faire white veile of hypocrisie onely his Black-moores skin too grosly appearing in his malignant practises in persecuting the Truth and in those malicious and impious passages in his Booke so as he is left altogether naked of all plea of ignorance therefore I hold it fit that his hypocrisie should be unmasqued his bold falcities confuted his insollencie suppressed his impiety rebuked and the Truth maintained against him
be heard among them And for us thy poore handmaids here humbly suppliant before thee let thy holy Spirit direct lead and assist us in the way which may be most acceptable to thy Majesty and profitable for thy People and comfortable to us all in our distressed estate And shew unto thy Servants what thou wouldst have us to doe in this difficult businesse about the presenting of this Reply to the King which with our selves and all thine we humbly commend to thy grace and blessing through Iesus Christ to whom with thee ô Father and the Holy Ghost be all honour and glory now and ever Amen Mother Now my deare Children I will tell you what resolution GOD hath put into my heart upon the very close of this Prayer namely that we addresse our selves to the King with this Reply together with an humble Petition And because all of us perhaps would be too many let as many of you as are willing to attend me goe with me to the King the rest let them goe and be humble suiters at the Throne of Grace that our GOD would give us to find Grace in the eyes of the King so as hearkening to our Petition he may doe accordingly Such therefore of you as are willing to accompany me stand on this side and the rest stand on that side Well I see you are equally divided Six with me and Six for me With me Charity Humilty Prudence Piety Patience and Verity For me Faith Hope Zeale Iustice Mercy Prayer Now my Gracious Children be strong and of a good courage Our Cause is good and GOD is for us and though our enemies be great yet they shall not prevaile against us TO THE KINGS MOST EXCELLENT MAIESTY THE TRVE CHVRCH AND CHILDREN THE TRUE FAITH AND RELIGION OF JESUS CHRIST do humbly present their Petition of Right THAT whereas a Book intituled A Relation of a Conference between WILLIAM LAUDE and Mr. FISHER the Iesuite hath been by the said WILLIAM now of Canterbury lately republished and that under your Majesties Patronage and in the publishing whereof as he saith he hath obeyed your Majesty And whereas A Reply to the said Relation is now under the Patronage of JESUS CHRIST and in obedience to his Word and by assistance of his Grace here published and presented to your Majesty and before all the World in which Reply are detected and clearely evinced by manifold and infallible Testimonies sundry particular passages and Doctrines of the Relator which directly overthrow all true Christian Faith and Religion And whereas in this Reply is clearely proved that Prelaticall Government of the Church or the Hierarchy as they call it is meere Antichristianisme and the very Mistery of Iniquity branded by the Apostle and expresly forbidden by Christ himselfe to his Apostles whose Successors the Prelates falsely pretend to be and that all Prelates even as they are Prelates are both by their Profession and Practise so many Antiâ—hrists adversaries to CHRIST who as the Great Antichrist sit as Gods in the Temple of GOD Lording over the Faith Soule and Conscience of GODS People thrusting CHRIST out of his Throne And whereas notwithstanding the manifest truth hereof confirmed by most cleare Testimony and undeniable Proofes of Scripture the Relator or Prelate hath in his said Relation uttered sundry blasphemous Speeches belying the Wisedome Counsell and Providence of GOD and of CHRIST as making Him the Author and Ordainer of such a Hierarchicall Government of his Church which is to Father upon GOD and CHRIST a most notorious Lye and Falshood where he addes withall a blasphemous New Article of Belief of the Church of England that this is a truth And whereas the Holy Scriptures is and hath been in all Ages and by all Sound and Orthodox Divines both Ancient and Moderne both Forraigne and Domestick universally received held and constantly beleeved and maintained against all Adversaries of the Truth to be the Onely Rule of Faith and Iudge of Controversies in Divinity and alone Selfe-sufficient to give Testimony to it selfe that it is the undoubted Word of GOD as in this Reply also is fully prooved And whereas the Relator notwithstanding hath loded the Scripture with many intollerable reprâ—ohes and blasphemous words of disgrace censuring it as an insufficient witnesse to it selfe and an incompetent Iudge of Controversies in Faith as being both a blinde dumbe and dead Judge and that it hath no light in it selfe but is as a Candle in a box without light till Tradition of the present Church doe light it and the like the very ground of all Infidelity and Apostacie And whereas notwithstanding all such his blasphemies against the Scripture wherewith he hath stuffed some 30 leaves in Follio besides many other the like scattered all along his Book he the same Relator out of his grosse hypocrisie addeth this proud Blasphemy to all the rest That he hath given the Scripture all honour and ascribed unto it Sufficiencie more then enough And whereas also as appeareth in this Reply the Relator belyes and blasphemes the Holy Ghost himselfe making him the Author of most notorious lyes and vanity And whereas the Relator doth define a meere false and counterfeit Catholicke Church contrary to that Holy Catholick Church beleeved in the Creed whereby he overthrowes both that Article of Faith and with all the Communion of Saints teaching that his Catholicke Church though it cease to be holy yet is a true Church of CHRIST still And whereas of and in this his new Catholicke Church which the Relator beleeveth he makes the Church of England and of Rome to be one and the same Church and both to hold one and the same Faith of that his Catholicke Prelaticall Church which Faith is declared in the Reply not to be the true saving Faith and that they both do set up and professe one and the same Religion not different in which Faith and Religion of the Church of England and of Rome he saith as he hath lived so he resolves to dye as much to say as he will live and dye an English-Romish-Catholicke And whereas the Replyer proveth and which no Papist denyeth that the maine substance of the Romish Religion is the Masse And whereas the Relator confesseth that though a simple Papist may as he saith yet no Romanist as a Romanist living and dying in the Roman Faith can be saved and yet this Faith of Rome is the same with that of England wherein he will end his dayes So as the Church of England may hereby see in what a case she is and how highly she is preferred by her Primate as to be brought to be of the same Church the same Faith the same Religion with Rome enough to startle all your Majesties Subjects that till now thought themselves to bo Protestants and no Papists and to cause all zealous Christians to abandon all communion with such a Church as is the same Church of the same Faith and Religion with Rome And wheras
dishonour of the Word of Grace the distraction of good Ministers and the destruction of many thousand soules The pressing and setting up of Altars attended with sundry adorations images crucifixes to the open Scandall of many and for non-admittance whereof with other Innovations or rather Renovations of old Popish Reliques many good Ministers and people of GOD have deeply suffered by all which practises and sundry more the Replyer hath plainly and particularly proved how the very Foundations of Faith and Christian Religion are not onely terribly shaken but razed and ruined so as the very Foundations of the earth doe tremble withall and more especially how not onely by unmoralizing of the 4 th Commandement whereby the Floodgates of all profanenesse are broken up and the uncannonizing as it were or making voyd of the doctrines of grace but by the setting up of Altars with all their Service and Ceremonies is an absolute denying and renouncing of Iesus Christ our onely Altar as the Replyer hath shewed at large And whereas notwithstanding terrible persecutions if it be lawfull to call a Spade a Spade have followed upon these Innovations which have fallen most heavy upon the faithfull Ministers and their Families yet the sayd Relator whether out of notorious hypocrisie or egregious malice or both is not afraid to abuse the Sacred Name of GOD nor ashamed to cast a myst before the open eyes of all the world saying * GOD forbid I should ever offer to perswade a Persecution in any kind or practise it in the least whereas if Persecution be Persecution whether he hath perswaded to it or diswaded perhaps your Majesty can tell and how little he hath practised it thousands have sufficiently felt And whereas the Replyer upon occasion by the Relator hath declared fully the Tragicall Story of the Cause Censuring and suffering of a late Minister of the Gospell depriving him of his Ministry and all worldly comforts and all for the meere discharge of his Ministeriall duty in admonishing his people of such dangerous Innovations as were then creeping yea and crowding into many Churches for the which he hath been so terribly censured and still suffereth both closse Imprisonment and Punishment with Divorcement and Seperation from wife and children and all friends whatsoever as a man buried quick in a Marble Tombe of perpetuall Calamity the very Image of hell such an Example as no age no history sacred or profane is able to parrallell that a man should be so terribly Censured and that upon this very ground that he would not do that whereby he should assent to the condemning of his Cause before the hearing his Answere in Court for Defence of his Cause being wholly precondemned by the two Judges as impertinent and Scandalous And whereas notwithstanding the Relator doth still insult trample upon and imbitter his inke with gall blacking the innocent with foule reproaches whom all the Court could not charge with the least offence or crime but that they said he was too bitter which he gave good reason for And whereas the cry of innocent blood both of that Servant of Christ and of his Companions is gone up to heaven against the whole Land pleading and clayming Iustice at that High and righteous Throne so as heaven and earth are troubled with the cry which will not be appeased till Iustice be done And whereas GOD hath put into your Majesties hand both the word of his Truth as the onely Rule whereby to reforme all errors and corruptions wherewith his worship is profaned and the Sword of Iustice to vindicate the Cause of the oppressed Innocents And whereas so great a worke as the Reformation of Religion is above the Spheere of any ordinary Court of your Kingdome so as even the Honourable Boord of Starre-Chamber disclaymed that Office where the sayd Innocent standing before them desired Justice in that behalfe yea and is too heavie a burthen to lye upon the Kings shoulders alone and much more as the case now stands in such a perplexity of things and universality of corruptions which as a leprosie hath overspread the whole body of the Land And seeing Christian Prudent Grave and Pious Princes use not upon the first sound or sight to slight or reject as fables or flashes of some brain-sick man such deepe charges as the Replyer here presenteth and presseth hard upon the Relator by such sound and demonstrative arguments and which do so nearely concerne the State of the whole Land which by reason of Prelaticall outrages seconded with the publication of the said Relation the very Portent of Confusion lies now a bleeding And whereas the contempt of just complaints and neglect of Iustice in such Cases of so high a nature would necessarily argue that men have sold themselves as having made a covenant with death as the Prophet speakes and an agreement with hell being justly given up of GOD to dâ—struction as in the case of Amasiah King of Iuda who threatning the Lords Prophet for reprooving him the Prophet replyed Now I know that God hath determined to destroy thee because thou hast not hearkened to my Counsell even as it came to passe a little after in the same Chapter Amasiah would not heare for it came of God that he might deliver them into the hand of their enemies because they sought after the Gods of Edom as the Prelate professeth for the Church of England one Faith and Religion with Rome And whereas the Hierarchy being an Antichristian Kingdome shall perish with Antichrist and all they together that support and confederate with it against Christs Kingdome his Gospell and Truth as the Relator doth in his Book So as to suffer such a Rebell against Christ as the Replyer hath proved him to be and much more to Patronize him and his worke were to maintain open warre against heaven and to make your Majesty guilty of all those blasphemies and heresies in it which GOD forbid And whereas to whom much is committed of him much shal be required and the Office of Kings is of all other highest on earth and therefore God will require the strictest account of them and the more where the light of the Gospell hath also clearely shined forth leaving no place for pleading ignorance it being lo the honour of Kings to search out a matter as Solomon saith throughly to inquire into the Cause brought before him and therein to do exact and impartiall justice much lesse committing the Cause to be judged by the Adversary or Party but to judge righteous judgement And whereas GOD hath sent of late sundry fearefull signes from heaven as warning-pieces to England to awaken the State thereof to a more deepe consideration of the condition wherein it stands obnoxious unto and naked before that dreadfull Judge for her most notorious and hideous crying sins iniquities transgressions and impieties in all kinds and in the highest degree and to lay down her high pride and selfe-confidence and gyant-like daring in lifting her selfe up
in his innocent nakednesse then with his devised Fig-leaves how applyed to the Prelaticall Church 103 104. Prelates Service sensuall and heathenish as done to an unknown God fully displayed 104. Prelates pompous Ceremonies like the Cardinals Sumpter 105. No necessity of Prelates Ceremonies sith both Superstitious and Superfluous saving that they are all the Substance of their Religion 106 107. True Reformation ought to have no Ceremonies at all to bind the Conscience 107. Prelates Ceremonies strengthen Superstition and Idolatry and destroy true piety 108. What is that Substance of Religion which Prelates Ceremonies doe fence 106 107. And what strength they adde to his Religion how it is weaknesse not to see 108. Prelates Ceremonies are beggerly Rudiments yea Aegyptian bonds and Babilonish Chaines 108. How by the Prelates Ceremonies so eagrely urged the Jesuites win ground 108 109. Romes Reconciliation hastened by hossing up wodden Altars and hurling down golden Ministers 109. The Jesuites hale in Popery through the Prelates broad Gates he hath layd open ibid. 21. How the Prelate hath layd open the wider-gates of his Catholicke Church by pulling down the walls and bulwarks of Christs true Church 109. The Prelates wider-Gates whither they lead 110. The Prelate hath nothing to doe with the true Faith nor Communion with the true Saints ibid. He perverteth the Scripture Jude 3. falsely applying the Saints Faith to his boundlesse Catholicke Church 110. What Truth the Prelate professeth and with what singlenesse of heart 110 111. And his notorious hypocrisie in deluding the King 111. The Prelate puts all his Book upon the King as published in obedience to his Majesties command ibid. What we may expect from the Prelate who resolves to dye in that Faith wherein he hath lived ibid. And so what hope he can have of Gods favour 112. THE CONTENTS OF THE MAINE POINTS AND PASSAGES IN THIS insuing Reply to the Relation it selfe 2. WHat is that Church whose judgement the Prelate would have the people to depend upon 113. And not to be too busie with Seripture but moderately in things obvious 114. How the Prelate yeelds the Jesuite this that the Church of Rome is a true Church on whose judgement people must depend 115. The Prelate a Subtile underminer of the Truth 116. 4. The papall Church holds no one point of Saving Truth ibid. 23. How the Prelate vants himselfe for the great Champion of the Church of England 117. 29. How the Prelate overthrows Christ while he makes things not Fundamentall in the Faith necessary to some mens Salvation but tells us not who those be 117 118. 31. How the Prelate can bind all men to peace by his Churches Declaration yea though it be not the Churches 118. The dangerous Consequences hereof 119. 32. The Prelate selfe-condemned for adding things contrary and detracting things necessary 120. 35. How against the Prelate things considered in the manner of Beeing onely are fundamentall in the Faith Instanced in sundry particulars 120 121. The many absurd consequences of Popish Reall-presence ibid. 37. How the Prelate makes things which are fundamentall in the Faith not to be so to all men 122. See 117.118 If the Prelate doe at all discerne what the true Faith is what use he makes of it 122. 39. How the Prelate falsifies Lyrinencis and is loth to English some of his words 123. If the Church of Rome be Lupanar Errorum a Stews of Errours 't were good that all should know her in plain English to be so to avoyd her though the Prelate be loth English men should know it ibid. How the Prelate applauds the Iesuite Stapleton in a grosse point of Popery whom Dr. Whitakers in the Chaire at Chambridge confuted 124. How therein the Prelate prefers Stapleton before Bellarmine who comes nearer to the Truth ibid. 40. How the Prelate is justly as an Enemy to Assurance of Salvation and so of true Saving Faith 124. 43. How the Prelate makes it whether for a penny Beliefe of Scripture or the Creed hath the Precedencie of a Prime Principle of Faith 125. 44. The Prelate allows some Traditions for Apostolick though not fundamentall in the Faith ibid. 45. The Prelates Faith of Christs Descent into hell which Article is by the Replyer discussed 126 to 129. 47.48 For default of examining the Articles of the Creed by Scripture the Prelate overthrows two Articles The Catholicke Church and the Communion of Saints 129. 51. Notwithstanding the Prelate we ought boldly and publickly to affirme The Truth against errour 132. 53. The Prelate submits the Faith of the Church of England to the judgement of the Fathers whether her Articles be according to Scripture How by those Fathers he is condemned 132 133. With what limitation the Church within the first 400 or 500. yeares may be sayd to have been at the best 133 134. How the Replyer declines the occasion of entring into a comparison between the truly Reformed Protestant Churches and that within the first 500. years after the Apostles 134. Conformity to Popish Rites a Pretence to bring Papists to Church as the Christians anciently intertained Heathen manners to draw them to be Christians 134. Augustine complained of Ceremonies then when if the Prelate say true the Church was at the best ibid. 62. The Prelates false professed Faith concerning the Catholicke Church in the Creed which he defines to be the Society of all Christians 135. 66. How the Prelate jumpes with Bellarmine for a word of God as well unwritten as written 135 136 137. Baptisme of Infants a Doctrine of Scripture not an unwritten Tradition We ought to repaire to Scripture in all doubts of Faith 137. 72 73. How the Prelates words not well examined may make us beleeve he is no Arminian but Orthodox in the Doctrine of Grace while he abuses the Scripture most palpably and grosly 138 139. 75 76. What the place and office of naturall Reason is in judgeing of Scripture against the Prelate magnifying naturall Reason to the vilifying of Scripture the blindnesse and vanity thereof in judging of Divine things and matters of Faith 140 141 142 143. Vnsanctified Reason how it judges the Scripture to be false 143. How the Prelate is put to his naturall Reasons pregnancy in matters of Faith 1â—2 77. The Prelates extreme blindnesse or malice in saying The Scripture is strengthened with probable Arguments from the light of Nature and humane Testimony to convince men without which it is not so demonstratively evident of it selfe 144. At large confuted 14â— to 149. A secret power in Scripture convincing a naturall man in the reading or hearing of it preached that it is the very word of God 148 149 150. See also A motion of the Replyer to the Prelate how he shall make tryall of the Scriptures powerfull sufficiencie to convince him that it is the word of God 149. A comparison of the Scripture with the Sun 151. Gods word preached and not Church-Tradition the ordinary prime motive and instrument of Faith Illustrated
Church-Tradition to the morning Light detected and shewed to halt down-right of all foure 217 218. The Prelate still unreasonably inculcates his Church-Tradition 218 219. He is brought into a Circle 219. 121. The Prelates Whimsey suckt in from the Popish Schoole That Divinity hath a Science about it confuted 219 220. What true Divinity properly is ibid. 122. The Prelate selfe-condemned while his leaning too much upon Tradition may mislead Christians 221 The Prelate still prosecutes his Tradition ibid. His misapplying of his Schoole-distintion 222 223 224. Shoole-distinctions must be well examined by Scripture 224. 125. The Prelate calls the Protestants Seperation from Popery a miserable rent which he lamenteth with a bleeding heart 225 226. His vanity discovered ibid. A most shamefull or rather shamelesse lye of the Prelate detected 226. His blasphemous lye that he hath given the Scripture more then enough 227. The Prelate confesseth he goeth the same way with the Jesuite for Church-Tradition ibid. A subtile and sly insinuation of the Prelate detected of vanity ibid. The onely difference between the Prelate and Jesuite about Tradition noted 228. 128. The Prelate vaunting the Roman Church to be a true Church with his reasons confuted 229 2â—0 231 232 233 234. Rome holds neither Word nor Sacraments Ergo no true Church 131 132. The Prelates privy nipping and pretty quipping of Luther and in him all the Reformed Protestant Churches as seperating from Rome not onely as it was then false but as once formerly true 236. And so he shuts them out as Seperatists from the true Catholicke Church as â—e accounts â—t ibid 133. How tenderly the Prelate toucheth Rome for her Superstition and errour and not once in all his Book charging her with Idolatry 23â— Who be the Prelates best men who he saith most bemone his miserable rent ibid. Reconciliation of true Protestants with Rome impossible ibid. The vanity of the Prelates Apologie for the Protestants about the Rent 238. The Synagogue of Rome and her Corruptions are grown into one intire body ibid. 135. The Prelate no observer of his own Law in interpreting of words ibid. The Prelates vaine condition to the Jesuite about Reconciliation with Rome 238 239. Why the Prelate so names The Great Sacrament of the Eucharist 239. 136. True Protestants protest against such damnable Corruptions of Rome as the Prelate accounts essentiall parts of his Catholicke Church ibid. 138. Why the Replyer hath so sharpened his style against the Prelate 241 The Example of Irenaeus arguing with Victor declared and retorted upon the Prelate concerning Ceremonies 241 242 243. 140. The Prelate beleeves that though his whole Militant Church cease to be holy yet she is a Church of Christ still 245 confuted to 251. The Prelates Militant Church why so called It is the Malignant and Antichristian Church 251 252. The Prelate implyes his Militant Church may fall from the Foundation and cease to be holy and become Hereticall and an Assembly of Hereticks ibid. The true difference between the Prelates false Militant Church and of the onely True ibid. Christs true Militant Church connot fall from the Foundation A notable instance and demonstration shewing that denyers of the Christian Sabbath day to be commanded in the 4th Commandement is an overthrowing of a fundamentall point of Faith and consequently of the whole Faith 248 249. A cleare Declaration of the Sabbath day commanded in the 4th Commandement and applyed to us Christians 248 249 250. How farre in this and other points of faith the Prelates Church of England is fallen is put to the Prelates consideration 250. 141 142. Romes errours being dyed in graine cannot by the Prelates confession consist with holinesse 251 252. 142. A peremptory Speech of the Prelate 252. The Prelate plainly enough blameth the Protestants both for making and continuing the Separation and that most peremptâ—rily ibid. How Jesuites are by the Laws of England to be disputed with and where 253. The Prelates honesty wherein it consisteth 254. namely in excluding the Scripture as Iudge an disputation ibid. 148. The Prelates Faint confession that Romes errous doe onely indanger Salvation 254. The Prelates tender Heart loth to make the rent wider ibid. Not so tender to Christs Lambs as to the Romish wolfe 255. How by the Jesuites Confession alledged by the Prelate the Protestants can abandantly justifie their Seperation from Rome ibid. The Ten Tribes under Jeroboam how no true Church against the Prelate 255 compared with Rome 256. 153 154. The Prelates notorious hypocrisie detected in his calling Pelagianisme that great bewitching Heresie As also in naming sâ—me Councels as setting the Church right therein Retorted upon the Prelate 259 260 261. 1â—5 The Prelate confuted by those examples himselfe alledgeth about his Princes and Clergies power and direction for Reformation of Religion 261 262. Of Englands halfe-Reformation now made a whole Deformation 262. To whom Reformation of Religion belongs and how ib. The Replyer justifies his answering the Prelate by his own confession 262. 157. The Prelate still persists in his obstinacie not allowing the Scripture for Iudge in doubtfull Cases 263. 171. The Prelate glories in the Title of Patriarchate of the other world which the Pope gave to his Prdecessor Anselme 263 264. An honest Cobler to be preferred before all the Prelates Pontificall and pompous Titles 264. 175. Authority of Prelates over the Clergie no Calling from God 264 to 268. Of what known use and benefit they be for unity and peace Hieromes words omitted by the Prelate That Prelates were brought in by humane presumption and not by Divine Institution 264. Scripâ—ure hath no Diocesan Bishops 267 268. 2. but they are usurpers and Tyrants 177. Domination Prelaticall with Subjection thereto confessed by the Prelate to be grounded on Canon and Positive Law 267. How the Prelates are fallen between two Stooles 268. 2. They call themselves Princes 269. 2. What kind of Princes they be 270. And who be the true Princes 269 2. 183. The Prelates necessity of one Ordine Primus and confession that the Popes Principality was the very fountain of Papall Greatnes do prove that of necessity the Prelaticall Catholicke Church is the very Head and Body of Antichrist confederate against Christ and his true Church 268 269 270 271. 182. How and whereupon the Prelate would reduce all to Rome 272 273. Where his subtilty anent the Popes Supremacy and Infallibility iâ— detected He is selfe-condemened 274. 199. How by the Prelates confession the Pope and so other Prelates cannot prosper because they have no Authority from God 274. Proud Prelates are none of Christs privy Councel 276 277. 200. The Prelates blasphemy against Christ making him the Author of the Antichristian Hierarchy detected and confuted 275 to 289. Prelates Ecclesiasticall Government not Aristocraticall but Tyrannicall 275 276. How Prelates differ from true Bishops in Scripture 278 to 281. For Prelates to be Vice-Roys how impious and absurd 28â— to 286. How unlike they are to Christ 282. Their
and of Rome doe agree upon 363 364. He contradicts himselfe ibid. 307. Jesuites Commendation of the English Liturgy whether it be a good signe 364. 318. How the Prelate rewards the late Dr. White for his Deserts and what they were 364 365. The true Church of Christ proved against the Prelate not to be alwayes visible and conspicuous by many Instances Though the Prelaticall be alwayes conspicuous 366 367 368. Most pittifull and perplexed contradictions and confused and false Speeches of the Church of Rome by the Prelate 369. Rome a Tree wholly corrupt without so much as the Barke of a true Church 370. 321. Dr. Whites Errours Fundamentall reductivè confuted 371 372. 325. Wherein the Prelates Church of England is departed from the Foundation 373. The Prelates Latitude of faith in reference to different mens Salvation which he can no more fit to them then a coat for the Moâ—ne 373 374. True Preachers must teach all what and how to beleeve though it be no worke for the Prelates pen 373. 327. The Prelate confesseth that Romanists dare not beleeve but as the Church of Rome beleeves which saith he beleeves not aright How then can his Ignorants be saved 374 375. 332. Apocrypha by the Prelate how neatly brought in as a Co-witnesse with the Scripture to prove points of Faith 375. 336. The Prelates Resolution to live and dye in the Faith of the Primitive Church confuted by sundâ—y Instances 375 376. 338. The Prelate holds not the Saving Faith as not acknowledging other then Romes Faith 377 378 379. And the Saving Faith is not in the Church of Rome 377 The Prelate holds a false Hope and Charity together with a false Faith with Rome wherein he will live and dye an English Romish-Catholicke 379 380. 339. The Prelates haâ—ting and halfing with the Jesuite 380. In charging Rome he checketh himselfe 340. His halting againe 381. Yet he confesseth that the now Roman Faith is not the Catholicke which Roman Faith he will live and dye in 380. What Contradiction is ib. His contradiction noted 382. His halting down-right all along 382 383. 342. How the Prelates Saving Faith of Rome is by himselfe proved to be Infidelity 384. So as compared with the former he will live and dye in the Roman Infidelity Conferre 375 376 377. His Collusion 382. 349 Who the first Founder of Purgatory 386. 365. The Prelates false root of the true Churches existence and true root of the false 387 388. 370. The Church of Rome how yeelded by the Replyer to be visible yet not Apostolicke against the Prelate 387 388. 371. Of Peters being at Rome 388. The Church of Rome for what preserved of God 389. 375 How the Prelate gives more liberty to his Protestants to goe to the Romish Church to heare Masse which he calls the Service of God then the Jesuite doth to his Roman Catholicks to goe to the English Service 390 391 392. 376. The Prelates Assertion That the Church of Rome and the Protestant Church of England do not set up a different Religion 392. And so no great difference of going to either yet that both accuse each other of grosse corruptions indangering Salvation 393. Ibid. Who are the Prelates Indifferent Readers to whom it appeares by his Discourse as himselfe saith That the Religion profest in the Church of England comes nearest to the Primitive Church And what Readers will judge the contrary 394. 377. Not onely Superstition as the Prelate stints it but grosse Idolatry in Adoration of Images in Invocation of Saints in Adoration of the Sacrament 395. 378. By the Prelates confession to the Priest A. C. there should be but little pride in his heart 396. 379. The Prelates wan hope of mercy to the dead Lady 396 397. 388. The Prelates Close or Conclusion wherein he excuseth himselfe by reason of his other weighty affaires and of his Age His misnaming of the Penman of the 90 Psalme least he should through all his Booke but touch or name any one Scripture and withall not mistake misapply or pervert it His fearefull and desperate condition layd home unto him by the Replyer His mocking and abusing Gods Name and Mercy in his hypocriticall Prayer and impenitent heart His blaphemy in Fathering all his Booke written and published for the meeting of his Popish Truth and Peace in a Reconciliation with Rome upon Gods Free Grace His wicked and false hope that God will bring to passe that his Diabolicall Designe and Desire which cannot come to passe but with the utter confusion of the whole Land His hypocriticall and faithlesse giving Glory to God after all his blacke mouthed blasphemies and disgraces throughout his Booke cast upon the Majesty of God of Christ and of the Holy Ghost also upon Gods holy word the Scripture as if he would in the close of all with this one plaister heale so many broken heads 397 to 405. This suffice for a rude Model But what 's that to the House it selfe Enter therfore and take a free and full view Consider what thou readest and the Lord give thee understanding in all things TO THE AVTHOR AND PVBLISHER OF THE RELATION MY Lord that you find not my Name in Front the Reasons are to my selfe And when you find it 't will appeare that feare of your displeasure though terrible enough was not the Cause But whoever I be you will Say perhaps I am some madde fellow and too bold to make a Reply to your Relation But your own words will I hope excuse me for that For you Say A right sober mâ—n may without the least touch of insolency or madnesse dispute a businessâ— of Religion with the Roman either Church or Prelate so it be with modesty and for the finding out or confirming of Truth free from â—anity and purposed opposition against even a Particular Church So you Now my manner in disputing with one so Great though a single Prelate and no Church being with modesty and 〈◊〉 from vaniâ—y and purposed opposition against your Person and the end for finding out and confirming the Truth which God himselfe knoweth I hâ—pe I Say your Lordship wil be as good as your word not to cast upon me an aspersion or Censure of the least touch of Insolâ—nâ—ie or madnesse But this indeed I must confesse unto you and professe before all the world that in a Cause so weighty as this wherein I find my Lord Iesus Christ so deeply ingaged so much dishonoured and his onely true Faith and Religion so much depressed and disparaged and that by so great a Prelate I must crave pardon if herein I be both zealous and plain with you And that so much the more that one so Great I say so high in favour in Court and so potent and prevalent in the State should so doe And to this purpose I remember another Speech in your Booke Worth is no necessary concluder for Truth For worth once misled is of all other the greatest misleader And such is
your worth in the esteem of Great ones too that misled it is the greatest misleader But there you adde And yet God forbid that to worth weake men should not yeâ—ld in difficult and perplexed Questions Certainly my Lord what ever my weaknesse be it will hardly yeeld to your worth though never so great where I find your worth misled and so to become the Great Misleader and that of no lesse then the whole Church of England You know it is every good Subjects part to be zealous of the Kings honour when he seeth it wounded or wronged And shall not every good and faithfull Christian be zealous for the honour of his Lord Iesus Christ and of his Kingdome when he seeth them either openly opposed or secretly undermined by Any though never so Great and honourable in the world And this I shall make manifest and I hope convince your Lordship of if cleare evidence of holy Scripture and Reason will doe it that you have as in your common practise so in this your Last Book not onely bewrayed but confirmed to the world at least to all that have their eyes in their head as the Preacher saith your amity with the Church of Rome and enmity against Iesus Christ and his true Church and so to the Salvaâ—ion of mens soules This by Gods Grace I shall make cleare in my ensuing Reply Wherein I shall observe no other method but as I meet with such Passages all along though perhaps not all as are worthy of Animadversion to tell your Lordship plainly my mind of them And although as the Proverbe is Plaine dealing is a Iewel that is for the rarity of it yet it is not so highly esteemed in Court as others of a more glistering luster And wheras you may imagine and hope as you have exprest your selfe that this your Book will make for your Reputation as being interlaced with some â—arger Discourses or Disputes against the Jesuite which may be a goodly broad Figge-leaves to cover the nakednesse of the rest yet many things in it are so palpably grosse and directly opposit to the Truth that when you have layd on never so much varnish and guilding All will prove but as a painted Sepulchre The Law of God forbids the Jewes to sow their field with diverse kinds of seeds least the whole fruit be defiled This was to teach them and us not to mingle Truth with Errour nor to halt between GOD and Baal for so all their Religion comes to be defiled But your field here is sowne with many Tares mingled with some graines of Wheat which oâ—â—ekthròs Anthopos the enemy having sown and being grown up to such a ranknesse and ripenesse marvaile not that I have brought so Sharpe a Sickle to cut it down The letter L. is to noâ—e your Lordships words p. the page and P. the Replyers Answere And in all I shall be somwhat briefe though perhaps tedious And I suppose your Lordship so formidable by That Late Censure and so secure by the Sure and Closse cooping up of those 3 once troublesome men expected not that any should be left of that mettall so hardy as to take up and maintain such a quarrell against the Great Metropolitan of all England But my Lord deceive not your selfe The Lord Iesus Christ rather then faile will out of the very dust rayse up witnesses to stand up against Antichrist or any of his Confederacie And so in the first place I come to your Epistle Dedicatory to his Majesty THE REPLIE TO THE RELATORS EPISTLE DEDICATORY TO THE KING L. p. 1. THIS Tract will need Patronage as Great as may be had and that 's yours P. Thus you begin your Epistle But you might have added on Earth On Earth no doubt the greatest Patronage you can have is the Kings But haply you neither thought nor hoped of any higher Patron of this Tract then on Earth And therefore it will so much the more need some humane Patronage and that as Great as may be had and all little enough you will find in the end But I hope when once your Tract shal be well troden out and beaten that you will find but few that will travell your way or follow such a Leader and much lesse hazzard their own both honour and safety by Patronizing such a perillous Tract as this will appeare to be And though you should find some to protect you from the Courts of Civill Iustice yet never from Christs dreadfull Throne where you shall certainly be judged according to your worke And let me tell you in putting forth this your Book under the Kings Patronage you lay a greater burthen upon his shoulders then he is able to beare and should he undertake it it would break his back For then he must Patronize all your blasphemous lyes against GOD and his Word and against all Truth which when he comes once to know instead of Patronizing hee will Anathematize both you and your Book L. p. 2. He that seeks it Court Truth with a Roman Bias or any other then for it selfe will run counter when he comes neere it and not find it though he come within the Kenning of it P. Sir you say true And for proofe hereof it will appeare and that too palpably that this Roman Bias hath too much wheeled you about from the Truth which you pretend to seek but neither come neere it nor within the Kenning of it Or if within Kenning so as you have been at any time by its cleare light convinced of it the greater is your sin and the more desperate your case not to confesse it but how much more to fight against it And think not my L. that your plausible naming of Truth here will so blind mens eyes as to beleeve all is truth that you have written in your Book If you seek Truth 't is but as those Sodomites sought for Lots doore to violate his Angel-guests For where you find the Truth sincerely preached and professed doe you not lay violent hands upon Gods Angels the Messengers of his Truth and break into the houses of those righteous Lots those Preachers of Righteousnesse to cast them out And then mervaile not if GOD smite you with blindnesse that you shall never find the Truth for the end you seek it namely to destroy it L. p. 6. He did but skip up and down and labour to pick a hole here and there where he thought he might fasten and where it was too hard for him let it alone P. What the Jesuite did let him answere for himselfe But perhaps you will say the like of me here For I touch not every particular passage as where for your reputation sake you speake some truth thereby to gaine credit to what is contrary as you know who useth to doe and therfore Christ would not suffer the Devils to confesse him at all nor need I labour to pick holes here and there when every where
I find such wide gappes wherein you lye so open that you give me advantage to fasten at pleasure And I have unmasked such dark holes as your selfe have made with such artifice as through which men may easily passe thick and three-fold to Rome So as I feare you will rather complain of me as for being too busie in reading some of your dark and mysticall Riddles which perhaps you would not have had all men to have known L. p. 7. I fell into a most dangerous Fever but it pleased GOD beyond all hope to restore me to health P. This was as you there tell us upon your thoughts of giving A. C. an Answer But how ever surely your Fever was as well sent of GOD to admonish you to desist from such an Enterprise as you had then in hand which was under pretence to Answer a Jesuite to overthrow the truth and to reconcile the Church of England with that of Rome as your restoreing was to oblige you to walke more worthy of that mercy for the future and not to renue and prosecute this your Designe Or else it pleased GOD so to restore and reserve you to be not onely a scourge to his People for their further tryall and humiliation for a time untill he had as now he is in hand performed his whole worke upon his Sion but also to be a plague to that sinfull Land upon which since that your restoring you have been an Instrument to bring so many and grievous sins as open profanation of the Sabbath Altars sheding of much innocent blood both of soules and bodies and of terrible discontents and divisions in the State and the like and so at length that he might call you Magor Missabib Feare round-about making you a terrour to your selfe when you shall come to feele the fire of his fiery indignation to kindle upon you L. ibid. How of late I have been used by the Scandalous and Scurrilous Pennes of some bitter men whom I heartily beseech God to forgive the world knoweth little leasure and lesse incouragement given me to Answer a Iesuite or set upon other Services while I am under the Prophets affliction Psal. 50.19 20. P. And what those Scandalous and Scurrilous pennes are and who those some bitter men the marks you have set upon them are sufficient to shew the Scarres whereof they will carry to their graves to be a witnesse against you in the great day of doom And bitter men you may well call them as whose lives you have filled with all manner of bitternesse and that in a high degree as hell could invent Of these THREE Remarkable bitter men one was a Minister of your own Coat saving that his was not of the Scarlet couloured-Dye He preached against the Scarlet-sins of the Land especially in the Church which touched your Lordship not a little and therefore Bitter For this he was extraordinarily summoned to the Court of High-Commission from whence appealing to his Majesty he was notwithstanding proceeded against by suspension in the same Court his house violently broken open and searched his person neither flying nor resisting seased on and carryed away late in the night to prison and made a closse prisoner his very Wife debarred from him brought into the Starre-Chamber and there Censured to be degraded deprived of his living of his Liberty of his Eares on the Pillory fined in five thousand Pounds to the King and to indure perpetuall Closse imprisonment in Lancaster-Castle whence he was after 12. weeks imprisonment there in the base Common Goale where his Wife might not come to him nor any Physitian in his necessity closely conveyed to the Sea side and thence by a Sea-voyage of sixe weeks space in a stormy winter and dangerous Seas to be carryed to Guersosey Castle where ever since he hath indured Banishment in Closse prison where nor wife nor children nor any friend nor acquaintance are permitted to visit him and where he is not allowed the use of pen and inke and paper a little to deceive time withall in his solitary muse the solace of a Scholars life And what was the Cause of all this sharp and teerrible Censure In summe this He had put in his Answer to the Bill into Court and that by speciall Order of the Court where it was upon his Oath to be a true Answer admitted But about a week after the main body of his Answer which contained his defence of what he had confessed upon Oath to be his which was one onely Book intituled For GOD and the King containing the effect of his two Sermons preached in his own Church on November 5 th 1636. for which he was first questioned by the High Commission together with an Apology of an Appeale all in one Book which was by the two Lords Chiefe Iustices wholly expunged containing about foure-score sheets of paper as Impertinent and Scandalous and all this before the Interrogatories were brought to him in his Closse Prison to Answer the Answer whereunto was to be reckoned as a part of his Answer in Court such as now it was left So as the Interrogatories coming at length to be tendred to him for I have all circumstances by credible intelligence hee refused to make Answer to them alledging that his Answer which he had put into the Court being expunged as Impertinent and Scandalous he saw not himselfe any further bound to Answer Interrogatories for so doing he should assent to the condemning of his Cause before the heareing by assenting to the expunging of his true Answer as Impertinent and Scandalous Hereupon his Censure was drown up in black and white and concluded on before the Day of hearing came in which he tendred to the Court a Copy of his Intire Answer as it was fâ—rst put into the Court desiring the Court it might be there publickly read but it was refused then he tendred a Copy of his Reasons seaven in number of not Answering the Interrogatories desiring they might publickly be read in Court but that was also refused And in all the Kings Attourneys Pleading which was his Speciall Taske against BURTON hee could alledge or object nothing at all in his Book confessed against him but some Few Passages wherein they said hee was too bitter To which he Answered there was Cause for it and that he had not exceeded the Latitude or Liberty of a Minister in reprooving of Sinne and for any thing in his Book hee was there ready as he told the Court to make it good if hee might be heard But his Doom was already set downe in the blacke Booke before the Censure came which for all hee could say must not be reversed So he was Censured as before as one holding Seditious and Schismaticall opinions though none was or could be proved against him And the like censure had the other two with him the one a Physitian the other a Lawyer Now my Lord do not you well enough know all this to be true and
as the least colour of reason or just cause other then such as the very Heathen do hisse out of all Courts of justice as the bane and ruine of Common-weales So as while you heartily beseech GOD to forgive those that be innocent persons you forget once to pray to GOD to forgive your selfe who have been the main Instrument of committing such an example of Diabolicall cruelty and iniquity as is without all example either in the Christian or Heathen world And yet running on furiously in this desperate course you say after in the very Conclusion of your Book that you are now 65. yeares of age and yet you tremble not to think it cannot be long before you must appeare before that strict Judge from whose Tribunall and Sentence not your Greatest Patron in the world can rescue you And if this be all your Charity thus to pray for these men whom you desist not to plague they may say to you as Christ did to those women that wept for him Pray not for us but pray for your selfe that GOD would pardon your sin in not taking vengeance on you for the blood of his Servants which you have shed And consider how you have used Christs Minister with what horrible and detestable cruelty and all for the faithfull discharge of his duty in reprooving such enormities and impieties as your selfe cannot be but guilty of the very remembrance whereof were enough to shake all the veines of your heart and to cause your Conscience to quake and tremble had you but the least sparke of common grace in you Oh the bloud and members of a Mans body are precious and do you think they were made and Redeemed with such a price as Christs own bloud for any Man to satisfie the lust of his Diabolicall and damnable malice upon in taking them away gratis and so easily And especially the bloud of Christs Servant which you have shed for no other cause but for bearing witnesse unto the Truth is it not precious in Gods sight And When he maketh inquisition for blood will he not remember and not forget the complaint of the poore Without doubt my Lord his Great King and Master will utterly shame and confound you for ever unmasking all your hypocrisie and leaving you naked before all the world if you still desperately goe on in this course Nor is it your Fine-spun-cob-web-Lawne-veile that can hide the grossenesse and foulenesse of your actions from the worlds eyes And though you could mock men yet God you cannot but Whatsoever ye sow ye shall reape Doe you beleeve the Scripture What saith it A man that doth violence to the blood of any Person shall flee to the pit Let no man stay him But I leave you to GOD whom because you have no changes you doe not feare yet one day shall you feele But you tell us that you have little leasure and lesse incouragement thereby to answer a Iesuite or to set upon other Services To answer a Iesuite Oh glorious word A Sound Protestant sure that Answers a Iesuite· What may we not expect This one word were enough to vindicate that reputation of yours which you tell us anon of But the mischief is I have observed a New-found-Art of Late-dayes that which our Protestant Doctors of the Now Church of England have practised and grown great Proficients in namely under the name and colour of Answering a Iesuite or so to meet him at least the halfe-way between England and Rome if he goe not further So did your Brother of Chichester in his Appeale to Caesar his Answer to the Popish Gagger How finely jumpes he with the Jesuite and comes closse to his doores A pretty veile to bring that old Hagge into request againe and to set up her Throne in the Church of England And whether your Lordship do thus or no in this your glorious Answer to the Iesuite we shall see at after But why you should complain of little leasure when you have so many Chapleins and Doctors at hand and command to set a worke and of lesse incouragement when for such services you have gotten the Metropolitanship of all England I cannot see But before I passe further I may not balke the close of your words complaining You are under the Prophets affliction Psal. 50.19 20. And what is that Between the mouth that speaks wickednesse and the tongue that sets forth Deceit And whose affliction was this The Prophets you say What Davids Yes How prove you that out of that Psalme 'T is true David had many afflictions in this kind which hee in other Psalmes much complaines of but he speakes not a word of his owne proper afflictions in this kind in that Psalme which you quote Therefore to passe by both your forced expression of the words and false application of the sense Let us take the Prophets own word But unto the wicked GOD saith what hast thou to doe to declare my Statutes or that thou shouldest take my Covenant in thy mouth Seeing thou hatest instruction and castest my words behind thee When thou sawest a thiefe thou consentedst with him and hast been partaker with Adulterers Thou gavest thy mouth to evill and thy tongue frameth deceit Thou sittest and speakest against thy Brother and thou slanderest thine own Mothers Son These things hast thou done and I kept silence and thou thoughtest that I was altogether such a one as thy selfe but I will reproove thee and see them in order before thee Now consider this ye that forget GOD least I teare you in pieces and there be none to deliver Thus farre GOD speaketh in that Psalme In all which you see plainly that the Prophet complains not of his owne suffering such things of wicked tongues It is GOD that speaks here to wicked men And if you had well and wisely looked â—our face in that Glasse you might farre sooner have discerned your selfe to be one of those to whom GOD speaketh then to be as the Prophet so afflicted by them And because you are so briefe in perverting the Scriptures to make them a veile for your iniquity and a Vergula Censoria to argue and accuse Gods own innocent Servants as if their mouth spake wickednesse and their tongues set forth deceit lend your patience a little while we doe truly interpret and impartially appy the forecited words of this Psalme Here GOD speakes to the wicked and sets him forth by sundry markes and properties as First his notorious and audacious shamelesse hypocrisie in pretending to be for GOD and for his true Religion For he taketh upon him to declare Gods Statutes and takes his Covenant in his mouth but for all this he hateth instruction and casteth Gods word behind him Secondly his taking part with Theeves and Adulterers Thirdly his giving his mouth to evill and framing his tongue to deceit Fourthly his sitting and speaking against his Brother and slandering his owne Mothers Sonne Fifthly his carnall security and
vaine and wicked thought concerning GOD as if he favoured him and his wicked practises and all because GOD was silent and patient in forbeâ—reing to reprove and punish him Now to apply this If you can find any to whom these things may more fitly and truely be applyed then your selfe doe you apply them home unto them But till you doe give us leave to apply them so farre to your Lordship as we have sufficient warrant and good evidence for First do not you in this your Booke in particular pretend at least to declare Gods word and speak of his Covenant as if you would become a Champion to maintain the holy Scripture against the Roman Adversaries thereof This you professe and willingly grant But in the proofe hereof you set us up Mans Authority above the Scripture as we shall see in the due place And doe you not withall hate instruction and cast Gods word behind you when being by Gods Minister as of late reprooved and convinced of such things as you neither could nor can deny to be true as being written in Capitall Letters in your forehead and on the palmes of your hands yet you not onely hated and despised the reproofe and instruction which was according to Gods word and the duty of a Minister whose strict charge is among other things to reproove with all authority but also have manifested this your hatred and contempt in persecuting this poore Minister beyond all measure and example yea and still continue persecuting him to this day and that most Antichristianly and not onely him but his Wife and Children who have done you no offence at all not suffering the one to goe see her Husband nor the other their Father O my Lord heaven rings of this your fury and the earth groaneth under such more then Heathenish inhumanity not sorting with the Law of common humane nature O How shall you escape the damnation of hell And what plagues may not the Land expect for being guilty of such innocent blood and of such unheard of Barbarisme and that also maintained and continued in cold blood Yea and doth not the spirit of the Beast in you breath out persecution and blast many other of Gods faithfull Ministers never leaving them till you have rooted them out And this you neither feare to practise nor shame to professe And then againe Doe you not give your mouth to Evill and frame your tongue to Deceit You frame it as having a special art and Method in it as the Apostle spekas which you expresse in the fourth mark especially Sitting and speaking against your brother and slandering your own Mothers Son as will further yet appeare and doth by your continuall and dayly practises and specially in or at your High Commission chaire or Boord where as else where you have a power to doe what you list without controule or contradiction And for carnall security in an impious and Atheisticall conceit of GOD as if a favourer of wicked practises because a patient forbearer to punish them presently examine your own heart nay may we not both read it in your courses and understand it by your speeches in sundry places of your Booke where you would seem to have a speciall interest in Gods favour as in his admirable restoring you as you say from your dangerous Fever though you there forgot as those nine Lepers that Christ clensed to return him thanks so much as verball And for the further and fuller clearing of the verefying of all this in your selfe I shall call your Book to witnesse In the meane time here Heare Gods doom against this wicked Man But I will reprove thee and set them in order before thee He will bring every worke to judgement with every secret thing whether good or evill And as David elswhere saith Wherefore doth the wicked contemn GOD He hath said in his heart Thou wilt not require it Thou hast seen it O GOD for thou beholdest mischiefe and spight to require it with thy hand the poore committeth himselfe unto thee Thou art the helper of the Fatherlesse Breake thou the arme of the wicked and the evill man Seeke out his wickednesse till thou find none But How long Lord Holy and True Surely when he maketh inquisition for blood he remembreth them he forgetteth not the cry of the Humble There is a day of Gods visitation a comming and it hasteneth yea we may see it even at the doores Therefore Davids inference hereupon will sort well in this place O consider this ye that forget GOD least I teare you in pieces and there be none to deliver Thus you may see what need you have to beware how you meddle with such edg'd tooles in misapplying the holy Word of God for it is a sharpe two edged sword which not skilfully handled as a Sword in a mad mans hand but applyed to a wrong use and object will rebound back upon you and wound you God give you Grace to repent if possible if you be not come to that Sklurâ—tata kai ametanamton kardian as the Apostle speakes hardnesse and impenitent heart treasuring up wrath against the day of wrath I am plain you see if there may be hope and surely 't is no time now to spare when we heare Gods Trumpet sounding the Alarme You proceed L. p. ibid. In the midst of these libellous outcryes against me some Divines of great note and worth in the Church of England came to me one by one and no one knowing of the others coming as to me they protested and perswaded with me to reprint this Conference in my owne Name This they thought would vindicate my Reputation were it generally known to be mine P. What libellous outcryes my Lord Of Scandalous and Scurrilous pennes If Scurrilous I approve not If Scandalous is not that in your sense onely because against you But the Authours names were to the Bookes which they avowed to be theirs How then libellous And Master BURTON in speciall offered to the full Court at his Censure to prove all his Book to be true And how then Scandalous And if just reproofe of Iniquity and Enormities and that by a Minister of GOD in his own Charge be Censured for Scandalous then how shall the writings of the Apostles and Prophets and the words of Christs owne mouth escape this Censure of being Scandalous For Master BURTON was a Minister of CHRIST which under the Gospell is called a Prophet whose Office is to convince and reproove sinne But he named your Lordship and some other of your Brethren in his Book True And what of that Doe you make this to be Scandalum Magnatum Then what say you to the Prophet Elias telling King Ahab to his face Thou art hee that troubleth Israel And in his writing to King Iehoram hee told him his owne which hee shortly after found too true So the Prophet Elisha when hee spake to the Elders of Israel and
your soule the guilt of the bloud of JESUS who under Pontius Pilate witnessed a good confession and so of all his Prophets Apostles and Martyrs But you will say BURTON had no such speciall mission and commission as the Prophets had No Could not you see that he was extraordinarily raysed up by GOD and by him extraordinarily assisted both in his Sermons and in his Book and in his free and undanted Spirit in his appearance and Answer before so many Terrible ones in that Court and in that fiery tryall on the Pillory and other tryalls wherein he carryed himselfe from the First to the Last with that constant magnanimity that he seemed rather a Triumphant then a Patient Can you ascribe this to any humane strength of a poore impotent Man wrastling and warring against such a dreadfull and direfull host of Adversaries and not to the sole and extraordinary support of the Spirit of Christ in him So as when being a Spectator of the Tragedy as you had been the maine Author wherein you thought to glut your eyes with such a Spectacle and to make your selfe even drunken with his bloud were you not on the contrary amazed and confounded to see a Man on the Pillory triumphing over your incomparable cruelty Did not your Conscience then at least check you and tell you that you did then Pillory Iesus Christ in his Servant as it were nayling him afresh to the Crosse and putting him to an open shame But you goe on Saying Now in the midst of these Libellous outcryes what some Divines of great note and worth in the Church of England c. 'T is no hard matter to Divine of what stamp your Notable and worthy Divines in the Church of England be But I passe them by as unsaluted it being obvious to all men what kind of Divines doe merit to be accounted of you of Note and Worth in the Church of England who are and must be either Arminian or Popish or both Flatterers and Sycophants Proud and Profane persons by which they are most noted and known and whose worth is valued according to the rate of the magnitude or multitude of their Fat Benefices Prebends Deaneries Prelacies or other dignities and according to their great Scholarship show'd in their seldome preaching in their own Cures and their curious and quaint Rhetorizing in the Court where the plainest part of the Sermon is down-right-rayling against the Puritans and the base and grosse flattering of the Court. â—ut what of these your worthy divines First they come to your Lordship Well that 's but good manners to expresse their officiousnesse though but with a complement Secondly not together but one by one not one knowing of anothers coming Every one thinking perhaps to prevent other in so notable a piece of Service and so to promerit all the thanks Well thirdly What 's the matter of this casuall or rather miraculous confluence To perswade with you to reprint this your Conference in your own name But cui bono To what purpose For it would vindicate your Reputation being generally known to be yours Now least your Lordship may run into a strong misconceit as if this strange concurrence of persons and Spirits not one knowing of anothers coming or occasion were from some Constellation of the Starres or rather from Divine Providence for your good you know your Brother of Chichester protested in his Appeale that he had never read Arminius and yet how pat did he hit upon and hold all the Arminian Points as if he had been an old Disciple of Arminius his Schoole By what Spirit trow you was this But to the point All this was to vindicate your Reputation With whom With Jesuites Certainly not with any good Christians Yet this you labour too with laying on colous enough But this Art of writing against Jesuites is now grown so stale and triviall as in these dayes it begets new Suspicions of a Popish Spirit especially when it once comes forth under the Authority or Name of Canterbury Yet haply your Divines are Astrologers observing the Constellations of the times and thereupon divining or conjecturing what fearefull events might come of it and those perhaps prognosticating and ominating little good to your Lordship upon whom they saw a generall bad and malignant Aspect to be cast might strain their wits and use their strongest reasons to perswade you to use the best meanes to prevent the worst whereof they imagined this their motion to be the best And therefore they might perhaps frame their Speech in such a like forme as this My Lord we observe abroad what discontents possesse most men against your Grace about these late Innovations in the Church as they call them and you know the Truth of Religion as they apprehend it as also the Liberty of their Consciences are with the Puritans of high estimation and men will not easily part with them especially those that be Zealous indeed as accounting them their best freeholds Such especially as acknowledge no other King over their Soules and Consciences in matters of Faith and Gods worship as we have heard them say but onely CHRIST And they have shrowd Arguments herein for themselves And you see what necessary occasions and exigents may constrain the King to call a Parliament and how farre that being a meanes to fasten and confirme the Subjects affections to his Majesty now especially upon this Defection of Scotland may draw the King to be willing to give his People contentment in permitting them that purity in Religion in Faith and Discipline which Christ and his Apostles they say have taught and left them without which they say they cannot be freed from the Yoake of Antichristian or humane Ordinance for we use but their words and how dangerous this may be to your Grace whom they have marked out as the maine Active Agent or Instrument in disturbing their peace and distracting their minds and trenching upon their said Liberty as they account it And considering how the whole Land generally groaneth under many heavy Grievances as People now adayes account Grievances as their deep Sighs do interpret their minds and of these your Honour is reputed one of the Prime Movers And however your Lorship may haply conceive that if ye be put to a pinch your Book your late Conference set forth against Fisher will prove sufficient to ward off and beat back all accusations annent Religion yet my Lord it is not put forth in your own Name they may Question whether it be yours or no and say that being namelesse you may in time disclaime it if ever you can bring your pious purpose for peace to passe And besides 't is now a long time since it was Printed and so is forgotten Wherefore our humble advise with all due Submission to your Lordships pregnant wisedome is that your Grace would revise correct and more fully expresse your selfe in some things in the said Book and so republish it in Print under
But wicked is a Generall word and perhaps it hath no reference here to you in particular Yes certainly you in particular the Holy Ghost doth in this Psalme point you out as it were with the finger How Note but the Title of the Psalme A Psalme for the Sabbath day But it may seem strange that David should heare speake of the wicked and of their flourishing estate What coherence hath this with the Sabbath day Surely hereby the Spirit of Prophesie notes out unto us a speciall time or age of the Church wherein ungodly men should most notoriously oppose themselves against the sanctification of the Sabbath day and wherein they should extraordinarily flourish and prosper even as the green and goodly bladed Grasse that groweth on high upon the house tops but in that their flourishing estate they should sodainly perish And of all other times and ages of the Church ever was this Prophesie so extraordinarily and remarkably verefied for ungodly and desperate offenders in this kind as in this present age and especially in the Church of England now since your springing up and flourishing upon the toppes of Canterbury Palace For shew us any age wherein the sanctification of the Sabbath or Lords day was by publike Edict dispensed with and by sundry Printed Books cryed down and you shal be excused from being of those men whom the Holy Ghost notes out here for wicked and ungodly But you cannot Therefore this Psalme for the Sabbath day speaks of you in speciall as being a professed enemy of the sanctification of the Sabbath and so of all true holinesse and yet you doe so flourish and prosper in this your wicked and impious opposition to all Godlinesse as never any have done more nor so much in mans memory But what 's the issue of this These wicked enemies of Godlinesse and of the sanctification of the Sabbath in speciall shal be destroyed for ever But when Even then when they are in the top of their flourishing estate But how shall we know this First GOD hath said it and therefore 't is sure enough and Secondly this their flourishing estate is an immediate both signe and cause of their utter ruine But doth your Lordship beleeve that this shall ever be verefied of you Why should you not For are not you the great Instrument and Agent in advancing the Edict for Sports to its full execution And why should you not then beleeve the rest that in the height of your present prosperity you shal be destroyed for evermore And why doe you not beleeve it For David saith A brutish man knoweth not neither doth a foole understand this to wit when he wicked spring as the Grasse and when all the workers of iniquity doe flourish it is that they shal be destroyed for ever And doe you not know do you not understand this Then you fill up the Prophesie to the full as verefied of you wholly L. p. ibid. But on the other side GOD forbid too that your Majesty should let both Lawes and Discipline sleep for feare of the name of Persecution and in the meane time Let Master Fisher and his fellowes angle in all parts of your Dominions for your Subjects c. P. Here I hope you speake it seriously GOD forbid At least in part For you name two things Lawes and Discipline Lawes against Jesuites as Fisher and his fellowes And herein it may be questioned perhaps by some whether you speake seriously GOD forbid that such Lawes should sleep For you know they have slept so long a time and so soundly that I feare your God forbid will not prove loud enough to awaken them And as for Discipline that 's for your Puritans And for that you need not trouble the King to breake his sleep your selfe I trow can look well enough to the keeping of that awake For in truth it can take no rest for you And therefore neither in this respect need your God forbid to be serious as being altogether superfluous Onely the best use that you can make of it as you know it better then I can tell you is is that your God forbid here may prove so happy for the vindicating of your Reputation as to perswade the misdeming world that if the Lawes against Iesuites do sleep you are not the cause of it who ever els God forbid and if Dissipline be over wakefull and too quick and exceed all bounds as having no Law to confine it alas you are not the Man God forbid For wake or sleep your God forbid your Maâ—esty should let them sleep argueth plainly that the keeping of the Discipline awake is his part whose it is not to let them sleep 'T is well my Lord you have so strong a back to lay your burthens upon as is touched before especially when they presse too hard upon you as in the clamours and outcryes against your outrages But what Doe you come here with your God forbid your Majesty should suffer Discipline to sleep when but a little before and almost with the same breath you said God forbid I should ever offer to perswade a Persecution in any kind Do we not know what the awakening of Discipline is Is it not like the awakening of a sleeping Lyon Doth not then the rigorous and incessant restlesse execution of Discipline so as it can never be suffered once to sleep trench upon Persecution at least as neare as you say at after sundry errours of the Church of Rome come neare the overthrowing of the Foundation or as their worshiping of Images comes too neare heathenish Idolatry But in your Close you apply your God forbid onely against the Jesuites That 's well that you presse it not with your Discipline upon your Puritans as you do the Lawes against Romes Fisher-men And I note here that for Jesuites you have Laws but for Puritans you have Discipline without Lawes or as it stands in opposition to Lawes But what followeth Alas what do I find saluting me in the very front of your next page L. p. 12. Now as I would humbly beseech your Majesty to keep a serious watch upon these Fisher-men which pretend S. Peters but fish not with his net so I would not have you neglect an other sort of Anglers in a shallower water P. Yet your words seem to import a greater zeale in you against the Iesuites then against your Puritans For touching those you humbly beseech but concerning these you onely would have And yet what you onely would have is somwhat and perhaps as prevailing especially when you set it on in private as your open humbly beseeching Yea being Primate of all England or Patriarcha Alterius Orbis I know not whether you may speake it in the Popes stile Volumus jubemus as much to say I would have and then by this reckoning it would surmount I humbly beseech But what 's this other sort of Fishers that you would not have his Majesty to neglect Or what these Anglers
to boot For then how easily and quickly may the Wolves and Foxes devoure all the Flocks in the Land when the faithfull Shepheards and wathmen as your Lordship knowes Leo-well are taken away and when those Fishers can show the people this your Book which as a vast net were able at one draught to inclose multitudes by exâ—rting them to be reconciled to Rome and that upon this one ground that the Church of England and of Rome is one and the same Church no doubt of that of which anon But yet me thinks I have not all this while dived deep enough to sound the bottome of this word Not neglect Somwhat of a moderate Speech in the smoothnesse of the barke Not neglect as if you should say I would not have your Majesty to be too rigorous against the Puritan Ministers good men but yet I would not have you to neglect them But we cannot better find out the full meaning of this word but by the large Commentary of your Practises which summed up together amount to thus much I would not have your Majesty to neglect that is I would not have your Majesty neglest means that can possibly be devised for the utter rooting out of these Puritans that do so pester your Kingdome And for that you must make your main aym at the suppressing of the Puritan Ministers For smite the Shepheard and the sheep wil be Scattered Now forasmuch as all Non-conformists are put to perpetuall silence wherein we have been helped by your good Lawes and we want Lawes to dealâ— with your Puritan Conformists therefore we must supply that with policie backed with your Royall Power Your Majesty must set forth Edicts laying a straight charge on us Prelates to see them executed For instance That all Ministers yea and that in their own Persons not by their Curates do read in their severall Congregations respectively your Book for Sports on Sundayes and Holy-dayes This will pack away a good many of them who I know will never read it Leâ— another be made for setting up of Altars in all Churches as that for S. GREGORIES under S. Pauls which would be pulished in Print although in the meane time it be safely kept among the Records of the Counsell Board and your Proclamation since enjoynes all Orders for Religion to be observed whether Publique or Private being made at the Counsell-Board A third to prohibit all Lectures on the week dayes and also preaching on the Afternoones on Sundayes A fourth prohibiting Controverted points to be preached on at all or Predestination c. which will mainly pinch the Puritans A fift That whatsoever Rites we Bishops doe or shall impose upon the Churches may be ratified under your Majesties Broad Seale both for the preventing of Premunires and suppressing Clamours of the People against the Prelates and enforceing Ministers to obey them A sixt That a Proclamation be published to inhibit all men from speaking or writing against the Religion of the Church of England As it is now established leaving out that other Phrase as it was in Queen Elizabeths time and turning into As it is Now established And to all these adde Vnder pain of your Majesties most heavy Displeasure not nominating any particular punishment because of the Lawes but leave that to us for so long as you doe but give us power we shall not want meanes and wayes to punish them so long as either the High Commission or Starre-Chamber doe stand And thus in short time there should not one Puritan be left in the Land And all this I meane by I would not have you neglest Thus we know your mind But in the meane time my Lord you might doe well to consider and consult what may be the Consequences of these things that you thus load the King withall What Thus to root out the Puritans and so by your Innovation of the State of Religion by Law established to make way for your Reconciliation with Rome Take heed what you doe Have you not learned that principle in the Politicks That Suddaine Changes in the Civill Government and most of all in Religion is full of perill And another notable point of prudence I have read of For a Prince how ever he may haply connive yet not to appeare the prime Author of such projects and practises as may breed a heart-burning in the people For as the Heathen Poet sung Invidia Siculi non invenere Tiranni Majus Tormentum And the Wise-man saith Who can stand before Envy Not Caesar himselfe And therefore if you tender the Kings honour and the peace and weale of his Kingdome doe not lay too great a burthen upon him Give way that some things may be imputed to your zeale so as if you should come to be questioned for it as you have no such feare so long as there is no Parliament which I hope you will look too well enough the King may have opportunity to show his favour in spreading his Royall wing over you But my Lord you professe great love to his Majesty and to the peace and prosperity of his Kingdome Will you now show how zealously and sincerely you love the King and his people at this time At this calamitous and dangerous time when you see a whole Kingdome even his Native Countrey fallen off at one clappe And for what cause Some say 'T is for Religion because they cannot injoy it in that purity nor their Consciences in that liberty as antiently they did before the Prelates came to be set over them but by that their meanes they are more and more pressed as they complain to bring them to a full conformity to your Church of England as now you have made it which you say is all one with the Church of Rome and which in your Booke you labour to reconcile to Rome And can there be any thing more offensive to true Christian Stomacks then the burthening of their Consciences with such things as are against Gods Word and Christs Kingdome and their Christian Liberty Or is it not for this Cause that they are thus fallen off But the Late Proclamation given at White-Hall Febru 27. 1639. seemes to intimate that one maine Cause of the Scots discontent is the Hierarchicall Government For there it is said We neither can nor will permit Episcopall Government established by many Acts of Parliament in that our Kingdome to be abolished And againe the Proclamation saith And further we thinke to declare unto you and to the Christian world that by our Intention of introducing the Service Booke into that Kingdome we had not the least thought of Innovation in Religion in this or that but meerely to have a conformity with that Worship of God which is observed within both our other Kingdomes though il-minded men have wrested some things in it to a Sinister Sense Thus it seems to me that the Scots are discontented with Episcopall Government and Ceremonies which usually go together Now were it not a worthy and admirable
piece of Service in your Lordship to his Majesty to study how the State may be reduced and that in the most peaceable and safe way that may be Will you be pleased to take a Fooles Counsell Would you purchase to your selfe an immortall name and become a Mirrour and Miracle of this age and an example to all posterity the King having past his word and so do the best service to the King that ever any of his Subjects hath done Do no more but this Cast away your Rochet and Miter Divest your self of all Episcopall Ornaments and Titles Utterly renounce and relinquish your Hierarchy as being not onely against Christs word and Kingdome as afterwards shall by Gods Grace appeare but also as being most pernicious to the Peace and Welfare of Civill States most Antichristian and one particular cause expresly of the defection of a whole Kingdome from his Majesty Now show hereby that you so love the King that rather then he shall loose one of his Kingdomes thus you will utterly and voluntarily depose your selfe from your Hierarchicall throne And I know your Lordship doth every where professe your love to peace and tell us very much of it in your Book Now can there be a more peaceable way then this to reconcile Scotland and reduce them under the Kings Government And as for ceremonies if they stand in the way I assure my selfe were your Hierarchy but once removed out of the way either his Majesty would take an Order for them or they would even sponte sua of their own accord fall as having now no more Masters to waite upon But enough of this It shall be my dayly prayer in the mean time that GOD would establish his Majesties Kingdomes with the Gospel of peace and the Peace of the Gospel in our dayes and to our Posterity till the coming of Iesus Christ. You proceed L. p. 13. 'T is truth I must tell it 't is the Gospel I must preach it 1 Cor. 9.16 P. 'T were well if you told nothing but Truth and that not onely of necessity with a must but of love and of a ready mind But your Book will further show what truth you tell And for the Gospel when doe you preach it Or how What As the Apostle did whom you quote And if you must preach it why doe you restrain others from it That your selfe onely might preach Why then preach you no oftner Surely your restraining of others from preaching puts the greater necessity upon your selfe if indeed you be a Minister of the Gospel and not a dumb Priest to preach the more frequently For indeed you Prelates take upon you to be as so many Popes or universall Pastors over all the Churches in your Diocese respectively though you seldome or never preach in any and the Ministers must be but your Curates So as they also must preach no more nor oftener nor otherwise then you their good Lords and Masters doe prescribe and limit them by vertue of their oath of Canonicall obedience Thus have you taken away the Key of knowledge and hangd it at your owne girdle so as neither ye goe into heaven your selves and those that would enter ye hinder But what doe I say Have you and your Prelates reserved to your selves as one of the Papall Reserved Cases the power of preaching the Gospel My Lord under correction you forget your selfe Do you not remember the Kings Order for preaching or rather for not preaching that no Ministers of what degree or ranke soever they be Archbishop Bishop and all under them shall not preach of the Doctrines of Election Predestination Redemption of the Elect onely Effectuall vocation of the Elect onely Iustification of the Elect onely Assurance of Salvation to the Elect onely in Grace all which Doctrines are the maine and sole Doctrines of Grace and of the Gospel So as for Ministers not to preach of these and maintaine them against the Adversaries thereof and especially in these times of opposing and undermining the truth of Grace and of the Gospel is to cease to be Ministers of the Gospel According to which reckoning if the said Order be strictly observed as you Prelates in all your Visitations doe charge the Ministers inquiring of those that be Delinquents in this kind to suspend or admonish them you have no preachers of the Gospel left in the Church of England And doe you not remember that one Lent after the said Order was come forth two of the learnedst and most Orthodox Prelates of the Church of England for preaching before the King of such points were both checked for it since which time I doe not heare they have transgressed the said Order And therefore I conceive that his Grace of Canterbury is by the same Order inhibited to preach the Grace of the Gospel or the Gospel in these dayes King Iames indeed gave out an Order inhibiting all inferiour Ministers onely to preach of those points but reserved a liberty to Prelates and Deanes to preach of them as being men of more discretion then ordinary But now Bishops nay Archbishops and all are involved Therfore had not your Lordship forgot your selfe I suppose you would not have told the King to his face That the Truth you must tell and the Gospel you must preach Therfore correct that word my Lord. L. ibid. And when the Foundations of Faith are shaken be it by Superstition or Profanenesse he that puts not to his hand as firmely as he can to support them is too wary and hath more care of himselfe then of the cause of Christ. P. A Speech Surely which without any more adoe were sufficient to vindicate your Reputation with all good men had your words but a right meaning But your Foundations of Faith are layd so low in the Earth in Generalibus that no man can come clearely to discerne them or what you meane by them And besides did you in this place meane the true Foundations of Faith indeed yet being not constant to this in other of your passages and much lesse in your practises this is of the lesse credit to obtain even of Charity it selfe any favourable interpretation And having read over your Book we come to be so well acquainted with your Foundations of Faith that we may say truely It no more belongs to you to put to your hand to support the true Foundations then it did to Vzzah to stay the Arke when the Oxen shooke it For which his meddling the Lord smote him And I feare little better will be your reward Nay what reward shall you expect who instead of supporting the Foundations of Faith doe put your heart and head and hand and all you can to supplant them As we shall see all along And I am perswaded the more you speake in this kind the more you rubbe and gall your owne Conscience and make it so tender in this respect that the least touch of conviction goes to your heart But stay
to a Hive of Bees you say Now the King and the Priest more then any other are bound to look to the Integrity of the Church in Doctrines and Manners and that in the first place And a little after Now in this great and busie worke the King and the Priest must not feare to put their hands to the Hive though they be sure to be stung The Kings case as King Davids is to be stung with Bees but when it comes to the Priest the case is altered they come about him like Waspes or like Hornets rather All sting and no honey there And all this for no offence nay sometimes for service done them would they see it c. P. However you may please your selfe in your conceits in playing with this your similitude of Bee-hive yet perhaps upon a review of all circumstances you will begin to discerne no small incongruity except you can salute it with Similitudo non currit quatuor pedibus A Similitude runs not upon all foure For first A Hive of Bees you know is a kind of compleat Common-weale within it selfe Such is Christs true Church The Chiefe and great Master-Bee in this Hive is Christ and his holy Spirit A Christian King who is in and of the Hive is under Christ a kind of Subordinate Master-Bee whose Office it is to see that the expresse voyce and Law of Christ and that alone both touching Doctrines and Manners be duely observed both by the Ministers and People and that the Delinquents and Offenders be either reformed or punished according to the same Law of Christ. As for the Priest whom you name and set Cheeke by Jowle with the King and that twice here for fayling let me tell you that the New Testament and so the true Christian Church knoweth not neither acknowledgeth any Priest besides Christ who is as the onely Altar so the onely Priest of his Church as is noted before And did not I say That Altar and Priest would ever goe together Here you are up with your Priest And who is this Priest Even no lesse then the Metropolitan of all England Poore humble Priest But a Priest however Otherwise what should you doe with your Altar we spake of if you had not a Priest to it And having an Altar and Priest you must needs have a Sacrifice too els all would be lame As Isaack said to his Father My Father here is fire and wood but where is the Sacrifice So you may Say we have here an Altar and Priest we must have a Sacrifice too But I say the true Church of GOD acknowledgeth no Priest but Christ as no Altar no Sacrifice but Him Onely indeed all true beleevers are called and made of GOD Kings and Priests and a royall Priesthood as were also the beleeving Jewes under the Old Testament to whom Moses saith Ye shal be unto me saith God a Kingdome of Priests and an holy Natiâ—n As for Aarons Priesthood it is abolished and swallowed up in our onely High Priest Iesus Christ made a Priest for ever after the order of Melchisedech Yet every beleever is a Priest to offer up Spirituall Sacrifices to God by Iesus Christ. Which shews a plain difference between Christs Priesthood and our royall Priesthood For We offer up Spirituall Sacrifices to God by Iesus Christ but he by himselfe offered the Sacrifice of himselfe to GOD for us So as not even Ministers of Gods word are otherwise Priests but as they are beleevers onely in their publick Ministry they are the mouth of Gods people in offering up to GOD Spirituall Sacrifices of Prayer and thanksgiving by Iesus Christ. But your Priesthood my Lord is a new Order of humane Ordinance and Ordination not found in nor founded upon Gods word and therefore a false and unlawfull Priesthood For no man takes this honour upon him but he that is called of GOD as was Aaron But your Priesthood hath no calling from GOD. Nor doth the New Testament once call a Minister of the Gospell hierùs Sacerdos Priest It calls them Presbutèrous indeed Presbyters or Elders but never hiereis Sacerdotes Priests for hiereùs is properly such a Priest as offereth a slaine Sacrifice as hiereion is a Sacrifice that is slaine And thus are you Priests in Sacrificing either Christs body as in the Masse or els the Bodies of his Saints who are in this respect accounted as Sheep for the Slaughter Rom. 8.36 Let therefore the Church of Rome and yours of England if ye will have her Priests Altars Sacrifices as for the true Church of Christ she admitteth none of all these And though you yoak your Priest or as at after your very aliâs the Archbishop of Canterbury with the King yet we must put kasma méga a vast difference and disparity between them For first a Christian King or Magistrate Supream is as we touched before both within and of the Hive but the Priest you speake of is quite without the Hive and none of the Hive no Priest of Christs true Church but an intruder Droane Waspe or Hornet Secondly good Christian Princes executing their office aright are Nursing Fathers to the Church and helpe to bring in supply to the Hive and guard it from vermine and weather but your Priest even the whole Generation and swarme of them are Step-fathers to the Bees and are Droanes eating up the Honey as you confesse here of some if not Waspes and Hornets also Stinging and Killing the Bees or chasing them out of the Hive into some hollow tree in the Desert Lastly the King doing his office in and to the Hive is loved reverenced and obâ—yed by the Bees and they yeeld him a Tribute of their Honey But when your Priest puts his rough hand to the Hive the Bees are ready to fly about his eares as not acknowledging any such Usurper And have you never read nor heard that if one that is chaste come among the Bees not offering violence unto them they will never offer to sting him but if an adulterous person come amongst them they will quickly smell him out and be all about his eares And be sure Christs Bees cannot brooke such Priests as smell of the whore of Babels Smocke and commit spirituall whoredome with her or have any hankering affection after her And therefore mervaile not if as you say when it comes to the Priest the Bees come about like Waspes or Hornets all sting and no honey for your Priest there And you seem to speak it feelingly Surely if you deale roughly with the Bees and begin to lay about you they wil be about your Eares Therefore be not curst unto them least you make them as angry as a Bee Thus by your patience I have truely and genuinely applyed your Similitude As for the occasion what ever it be or may be whereupon you bring it in and so apply it so much complaining of the Bees for their stinging as if you felt the present
Preeminence the Bishops Chaire hee prateth against Iohn hee receives not the bretheren and forbids them that would and and throwes them out of the Church by Excommunication just as you and the Pope doe This ambition and erection of Prelacie or Hierarchy was that Mystery of Iniquity which Satan began to brood and hatch even in the Apostles dayes and wherein we have Diotrephes quickly grown up as the first Cocke of the Game of speciall and particular note and name that durst affront even the Apostle himselfe And this Mystery of Iniquity hath continued ever since though at first and in the first Ages it grew up but slowly by reason of a tò katekon à Remora or maine impediment the Roman Empire whose Imperiall Seat being once removed from Rome to Constantinople by Constantine who consopited appeased and put an end to those tenne Persecutions which had been a great hinderance to Antichrists growth then began this Mistery to perke up and the Bishop of Rome Silvester the first could be content to weare a Crown put upon his head by Constantine which upon Boniface the eight his head was multiplyed to a triple Crown one for heaven another for earth and third for purgatory and thus by degrees successively it grew up to that height which we see it now arrived at even its Akmè or full Stature beyond which it cannot goe though it would So as its main care strength and policie is all little enough Parta tueri to maintain what it hath got Now I say in this Mystery of Iniquity I mean the Prelacie or Hierarchy was Antichrist begotten born bred up and at length brought to his full maturity and perfection Now is this Mystery of Iniquity therefore good because it is able to vie and plead Antiquity even as high up as the Apostles owne times and so along downe to ours Though I doe more then suspect that you take it in foule Scorne that I should Anti-christen your Prelacie or Hierarchie with the name of the Mystery of Iniquity But if ye will be patient a while I shall ere I have done give you I hope good Satisfaction And in the meane time the Apostle shall passe his word for it who in the very same place where he speakes of the Mystery of Iniquity doth speake also of the Man of Sin the Son of Perdition who is an Adversary and exalteth himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped who sitteth as God in the Temple of God shewing himselfe that he is God The very recitall of which words may suffice to stay any reasonable mans stomacke from breaking out into outragious impatience against him that saith The Prelacie is the Mystery of Iniquity But you shall have it God willing at full anon Againe some of your Divines goe about to drive the Antiquity of your holy Lent-Fast from the Apostles very times and so to have continued ever since in all Ages and Places where the Church hath taken any rooting And indeed some Christians even then began to observe Touch not Tast not handle not and to observe Times daies Moneths but the Apostle condemns all such observation and as before brands them for Doctrines of Devils and departing from the Faith and denying of Christ. So as though you could prove your Church-Government to have been in use both in and ever since the Apostles times yet it will not follow that it is such a Government as either was practised or yet approved by the Apostles themselves For your Church-Government is altogether Hierarchicall by Prelates which the Apostles never practised themselves nor yet approved but condemned in others that either began to practise it or were inclined and affected thereto Not as Lords over Gods Heritage saith Peter Not as having dominion over your Faith saith Paul It shall not be so among you saith Christ. Diotrephes loveth to have the Preeminence saith Iohn But of this we shall have occasion to speake more at after In the meane time take this with you Did the Apostles nay for some hundred yeares after them did Prelates keep Courts and Consistories with their Chauncellors Archdeacons Commissaries Officialls Tipstaves Pursuivants Apparators like the Roman Lictors with their rodds for terrour and state Or had they their private Courts to excommunicate whom they pleased and that by a dumbe Priest and for every triviall matter and for no just cause Prove these things my Lord to have been in use in the Primitive Ages at the least for the first 500. yeares or in any place but where Diotrâ—phes was untill Antichrist the Pope set up that frame of Hierarchy with all its Equipage Traine and Rabble the just Image whereof you have set up in the Church of England You speak bigge indeed but you cannot be as bigge as your word If you had leasure to read the Histories of the Church and among the rest the Centuries they will show you what a vast difference there is between your Church-Government as both now and of long time it hath been practised in the Church both of Rome and England and that ancient Government practised by the ancient Prelates in the Primitive Ages And in the Popes Canon Law and other Records à Polidor Virgil De Inventorebus rerum c. you may come to know the Antiquity of your Prelaticall Courts and Consistories Chancellors Archdeacons Officialls Commissaries Registers and all the frie. For beyond that seaven hild City the head-spring of this Seaven-Streamed Egyptian Nilus is not found Hath not then the Seperatist as you call him just cause and ground to charge your Church of England with Antichristianisme whose Church-Government and Discipline is such as the Apostles never approved but expresly reproved and condemned and practised the contrary For if your Church-Government be that which the Apostle brands with the Mystery of Iniquity and of Antichrist then surely you cannot excuse it from Antichristianisme If you say This is rather meant of the Church of Rome and of the Pope the Head thereof who you must needs confesse is very like to Antichrist if he be not the very Antichrist as indeed he is then of the Church of England Why wherein differeth the Church of England from that of Rome in Church-Government Do you not say you are both one and the same Church And wherein one and the same but in Church-Government especially Of which we shall speake more anon Now for Antichristianisme you know it comes of Antichrist and Antichrist is a compound word Anti in the Greek signifying both for and against So as Anti-Christ is one that under pretence of being for Christ is against Christ. Such is the Pope who pretends to be Christs Vicar which is as much to say as Antixristos Antichristus as Anthupatos Pro consul so Antichristus Prochristus or Vice-Christ And yet he is Anti Against Antikeimenos an Adversary to Christ as the Apostle sets him forth So as the Pope is
Antichrist both as he pretends to be Christs Vicar for Christ or Vice Christ as he practiseth against Christ. And for this reason he is noted to be ho Antikristos That Antichrist by a note of singularity as 1 Iohn 2.22 to distinguish him from other Antichrists of whom there are many as 1 Iohn 2.18 Of which many your Lordship and all Prelates are and especially Arch-Prelates or Patriarchs as the Pope call'd you For you tell us at after that you Prelates are Vice-roys whereby Christ governes his Church So as you being Christs vice-roy over the Church of England you are as vice Christus vice-Christ or in the Greek Antikristos as Anthúpatos Vice-roy under the King Christ. This you confesse and professe And under this Title you practise Antichrist you are an Antikeimenos an Adversary as all your practises proclame you and as we have in part noted and shall yet more set you forth And this is that Mystery of Iniquity For it were not els a Mistery if it were not veiled with a pretence and profession to be for Christ and under that to be against Christ. So as the difinition of Antichrist pertaineth no lesse properly to you then it doth to the Pope onely he is Antichrist with an Ho That Antichrist And you are An Antichrist and no little one neither as being Papa alterius Orbis The Pope or Patriarch of the other world to wit of England as the Pope said of you Now this being so cleare as is without all contradiction and you being Metropolitan of all England and the Church of England under you and the Government thereof being Prelaticall or Hierarchicall and this Hierarchy being that Mystery of Iniquity of such Antiquity for it pretends and professes to be for Christ as the Government of a vice-roy but in practise is against Christ and so is altogether Antichristian can you blame your Seperatist for condemning your Church of England of Antichristianisme and that for that very Church-Governments sake which you Say hath been used both in and ever since the Apostles in all Ages and Places where the Church hath taken any rooting But you will with the Jesuite alledge that place of Iohn to defend you from being an Antichrist as they doe to defend the Pope from being that Antichrist Iohn saith Who is a lyer but he that denyeth that Iesus is the Christ He is Antichrist But you Say you doe not deny Iesus to be Christ therefore you are neither a lyer nor Antichrist 'T is true indeed none is a more devout adorer of the Name JESUS then your selfe but yet I must tell you that for all this you deny the Person Iesus to be the Christ. But you confesse him to be the Christ. In words you doe But what saith the Apostle They professe that they know God but in works they deny him being abominable and disobedient and to every good worke Reprobate So that in words a man may confesse and professe Christ and yet in works deny him And so doe you for all your faire pretences and professed love to Iesus And who was fitter to betray Christ then he that with a Hale Master Saluted him with a Kisse But let us now see what it is to deny Iesus to be the Christ. Iesus in that place is spoken of his Person and Christ is spoken of his Offices So as there is meant not a denyall of Iesus to be the Sonne of God or God-man not a denyall of his Person and two Natures these you doe not deny but a denyall of Iesu◠to be the Christ the Anointed of the Father And this you deny How For Christ is that Anointed King Priest and Prophet which three Offices of his are comprehended and signified in the Title ho Kristòs The Christ as Iohn there sets it down and our English doth well expresse it The Christ That Anointed Anointed above his fellowes namely King Priest and Prophet so as none of his fellowes those foregoing Types or Figures of him were anointed Melchisedech was King and Priest Samuel was Priest and Prophet David was King and Prophet but never any was this ho Kristòs The Christ The Anointed King Priest and Prophet And Christ was anointed solemnly and in a conspicuous and visible manner King Priest and Prophet by the Holy Ghost lighting upon him at his Baptisme whereupon that voyce of the Father from heaven proclamed him King Priest and Prophet This is my Beloved Son there he is King in whom I am well pleased there he is Priest heare him there he is Prophet Now he that denyeth or destroyeth any one of these three Offices of Christ which are inseperably inherent in him and incommunicable to any Creature denyeth Iesus to be the Christ as either denying him to be the onely King or the onely Priest or the onely Prophet of his Church Now 't is no hard matter to prove that you Prelates as Prelates deny and destroy all these three Offices of Christ. And first you deny Iesus to be the Onely Priest and that not onely in taking upon you the Title of Priests but also the Office The Title of Priest you professe and take a pride in And the Office of Priest you Priests of the Church of England doe in part at least usurpe For the Office of Christ as Priest is in two things First to Sacrifice Secondly to forgive Sins Now though you doe not yet openly professe your selves to be sacrificing Priests as the Romish Priests doe yet you take upon you to doe that which never any Priests under the Law did or might by their Office doe namely to forgive Sinnes This I say never any of the Leviticall Priests did This was and is Christs onely Prerogative as he is God and Priest For who can forgive Sins but onely God This the proud Pharisees confessed But this power you Say you have derivatively from Christ by his Authority committed unto you as Priests But first we have before proved that you are no Priests of Christ. Secondly where hath Christ given any such power even to his Apostles and true Ministers of the Gospell to forgive Sins Indeed he saith unto them Receive ye the Holy Ghost whose Sins ye remit they are remitted and whose Sins ye retaine they are retained Was this by a Priestly Absolution But the Apostles were no such Priests as you professe to be Therefore it was not by any such Priestly Absolution as you practise How then How then Say you You are here at a Non-plus if it was not by a Priestly Absolution It must needs remaine then that it was by the Ministry of the Gospell and by the preaching of Faith and Repentance and pardon of Sinnes to the Penitent Beleevers As He that beleeveth and is baptised into Christ professing his true Faith and Repentance hath his Sinnes remitted but he that beleeveth not hath his Sins still retained And this is that remitting of Sins Declarative the power whereof Christ committed to his Apostles
this case to sit as King in the throne which he hath set up for himselfe in every mans conscience And Christ hath redeemed us from all bondage and subjection to humane devises in Spirituall things as the Apostle saith Ye are bought with a price be not the servants of men So as this Kingly office this Kingdome over his Church Christ hath purchased with a deare price even his precious blood But Prelates â—raâ—ple this blood of Christ under their feet and make this his purchase voyd by setting themselves in his throne by sitting in and over mens consciences making Laws and imposing Rites as absolute Kings over the Church binding the Conscience to a necessary conformity to them in the worship of God And to this purpose this their Kinglike Authority indeed intollerable usurpation and Tyranny comes usually armed with a strong guard of Canons and attended with metà polleÌ„s phantasÃas with a pompous train of Ceremonies ever waiting at their heeles For their Maxime is No Ceremonies no Bishop A Bishop and his Ceremonies are Relatives and can no more be seperated one from the other then an Altar and a Priest But of Ceremonies I shall have occasion to speak more anon and therefore I am the briefer here The Summe is That a Prelate as a Prelate attended with his Ceremonies which he imposeth upon the Consciences of Gods people in the worship of God doth thereby deny Christ to be the onely King of his people and so to be their Redeemer as who hath freed them as from all Leviticall and Legall Rites so from all humane Ordinances and Devices in the worship of God I conclude therefore That a Prelate by his very place profession and practise as a Prelate usurping domination over mens Consciences in Gods worship by imposing his Ceremonies denyeth Christ to be the King of his people denyeth Iesus to be the Christ and so is a Lyer and Antichrist For who is a lyer but he that denyeth Iesus to be the Christ He is Antichrist Thus the Case being so that the Church of England being a Prelaticall and Hierarchicall Church and so for Church-Government and Discipline ruled and Lorded over by the Prelates doth thereby as a Prelaticall Body united to Prelaticall Heads and by subjection and conformity unto their Lordly impositions and injunctions in point of Ceremonies and of the worship of God conspire with the Prelates in denying Christ to be her onely King and so with them denying that Iesus is the Christ is justly condemned of Antichristianisme I should now proceed to some other passage but that one rub here comes in the way and that is concerning the Church of Christ which here ye name For you say The Church of England practises Church-Government as it hath been in use in all Ages and all Places where THE CHRCH OF CHRIST HATH TAKEN ANY ROOTING Why my Lord what say you to all the reformâ—d Churches beyond the Seas Hath your Church-Government in England been in use in all places where thâ—se Churches have been rooted now for the space of at least 100. years What In Geneva In France In Belgia and other places Now therfore you must either plainly confesse this one Clause to be most notoriously false or else that the best Reformed Churches beyond the Seaes are no true Churches of Christ. But for that you passe not much to confesse that those Reformed Churches are no true Churches because they have no Prelates This you Spake openly not long agoe at your High-Commission in Cathedra when your charity called that famous and glorious shining Lamp Mr. CALVIN Rascall when you gave those Churches that doom Had you been a Prelate in Queen Elizabeths time durst you have done so Nay in King Iames his time who with the Church of England gave all those Reformed Churches the right hand of fellowship as true Churches of Christ as in the Councel of Dort durst you have done it And why now tam audax omnia perpeti as that Heathen Poet said And have not these Churches taken rooting How then have they continued so long and flourished so much and put forth so many beautifull and goodly branches godly and learned Divines and brought forth such abundant good fruit Could all this be without taking root yea and a sound rooting too well planted by Gods own hand and watered abundantly with his blessed showers of Grace from heaven and fenced about with the wall of his mighty protection against Stormes and Tempests And I trust they shall stand and flourish when all degenerate plants which our heavenly Father hath not planted shal be plucked up by the roots as bearing no other fruit but the Apples of Sodome without beautifull but all black and rotten within Although it might justly be feared could you effect your so laboured thorow Reconciliation with Rome to become all one as you say you already be you would doe your best to root out all those Reformed Churches as that of the Palatinate now is And 't is true inded that no particular visible Churches can promise to themselves perpetuity of continuance in one place longer then God is pleased But for thee O daughter of Babylon thou Mother of whoredomes God hath particularly designed and marked thee out for destruction so as thou with all thy confederate Lovers shall not escape and the day of thy visitation sleepeth not But for the Kingdome and Church of Iesus Christ it shall abide to triumph over Antichrist and all his accursed Crew And for thee ô Church of England beware of being an Ivie about that old rotten Romish Oake least you both be cut down together and be cast into the same burning Lake for ever beware of grappling thy selfe with that old leaking and sinking Peter-boate as thy Pilate would perswade thee least you both be swallowed up together L. ibid 'T is very remarkeable that while both these the Romanist and Seperatist presse hard upon the Church both of them cry out of Persecution like froward Children c. P. What cause the Romanist hath so to cry I know not especially if the just Lawes against them be suffered to sleepe But for your Seperatists among whom you reckon and ranke godly and zealous Ministers and all good men whom you hunt after and prosecute continually in all your Courts what cause these have to cry out of persecution and that even in the throwing of them out of their Churches and Houses and native Countrey that they can rest no where for you and so what cause they have to cry and complain to their GOD of such persecution as having none on Earth to complaine to both the world may see and you shall one day feele withot speedy repentance which we have as little hope of as you can have of heaven But they being thus persecuted you impute the cause to their hard pressing upon the Church comparing them to froward Children Indeed Children will cry when they are swadled or beaten and misused And
the poore Innocent or Infant being pinched too hard with the swathing bands or pricked with a pin mis-put will cry out and roare till they find ease So as there is cause enough of their crying And is it not trow you your too hard pressing upon your Seperatists with your Canons and Ceremonies and which as with swadling bands you bind them too strait withall and your hard and rough handling of them that gives them just cause to cry But however for all this your hard usage must by no meanes be called persecution Farre be that from your piety and clemencie that you should either perswade to Persecution in any kind or practise it in the least L. p. 16. To the Papists common Objection Where was your Church before Luther Your Answere is It was just there where theirs is now One and the same Church still no doubt of that One in Substance but not one in Condition of State and Purity their part of the same Church remaining in Corruption and our part of the same Church under Reformation The Same Naaman and he a Syrian still but leaprous with them and cleansed with us the Same man Still P. Here you teach us a Point which had the Divines of the Church of England in former Ages known it might have saved them a great deale of puzzle which the subtile Jesuites for diversion and gaining of time put them unto in tracing the footsteps of the Protestant Church and the professors thereof through all ages yeares weeks and dayes ever since the Apostles times Where was your Church Why it was just there where Romes is now This had been a short Cut to find the Protestant Church Like the North-East passage to China or the North-West to the Westeran America could they be found out But you have at length found out a South-East passage to Rome where the present Church of England loosing her selfe may find her selfe Which passage or path had now for a long time through disuse and want of Travailers and Pilgrims thither been grown up with grasse till now again beaten out by your hard and continuall travaile in it Would an English Protestant then know where his Church was before Luther Why goe but to Rome and if you have lost both Church and Religion in England there you may be sure to find it againe no doubt of that Surely I hope Iesuites wil be no longer such fooles as to take such a tedious pilgrimage compassing Sea and Land to the Shrine of Canterbury to aske of the Oracle there where your Church of England was in diebus illis They might have stayd at home and there have found it even in Rome within the Sacred Thresholds of S. Peter or S. Iohn Lateran and that with some favourable Interpretation where and when the Priest is at his Masse So as well might your Lordship call it as you doe an Idle and Impertinent Question Where was your Church before Luther What a jeast is that Iust there where Romes is Now. One and the Same no doubt of that And who shall doubt that what your Lordship è Cathedra defines out of Canterbury Chaire defines But now henceforth I hope you will not so much complaine of Seperatists from your Church of England For you teach them to Seperate from the Church of England as from Rome it selfe as being one and the same Church And you know that all Protestants of that Spirit cannot away with the Church of Rome So as you may expect every day new Companies and that by threaves to get them packing from your Church of England and that according to Christs warning piece Rev. 18.4 Come out of her my people least ye bee partakers of her Sinnes and least ye receive of her Plagues But you distinguish Yours in Purity and under Reformation Romes Church under Corruption yours Naaman cleansed their 's Naaman Leprous yet both one Naaman and be a Syrian the Same man still A paradox indeed A Riddle to pose Oedipus himselfe For riddle me this One and the Same Man both Leprous and Cleansed at the same time Cannot the Priest in the Masse as easily riddle how one and the same numericall body of Christ may be both in heaven and in his Masse-pix or on his Altar at one and the same instant Even as soon But not to stretch your paradox too farre least we teare it and so make the rent wider betwixt you and Rome which in your Book you say you are loth to doe Is your Church of England Cleansed and Romes Leprous Remember your selfe well and Consider Why then doe you not cast out that Leprous woman and Shut the doore upon her Nay why would you so faine be reunited with that filthy and polluted Leper And yet why not For is the Church of England in the Condition of Purity and under Reformation Indeed Solomon saith There is a Generation that are pure in their own eyes and yet is not washed from their filthinesse And is your Church of England Cleansed from all her Leprosie and pollutions What from the bitter root of the Hierarchy which hath defiled the Land with Idolatrous Altars and Images and Sundry Superstitious Ceremonies and open Profanation of the Lords day by tolerating of Heathenish Sports and Whorish and Drunken meetings Is it cleansed from those Doctrines of Devils forementioned accounting holy Wedlock uncleane at Some times and at Some times the Creatures uncleane Or is England cleansed from the guilt of Innocent blood of the Saints and Servants of Iesus Christ whom she hath cruelly persecuted and oppressed and with whose blood the whole Land is defiled and yet she is not washed from it She repenteth not but goes still on to fill up the measure of her Cruelty How art thou then purified ô Land How reformed How cleansed Nay dost thou not hate and persecute true holinesse and purity and especially in godly and painfull Ministers who preach against thy profanations So as may it not be said of thee as the Lord said of Ierusalem Thou art the Land that is not cleansed Seeing then thou art not cleansed from thy Leprosie but art a Syrian still a Leprous Naaman still well mayst thou be Sayd to be One and the Same Church with Rome even one and the same body even one and the same in Substance For what is that substance wherein you say the Church of England and Rome are one and the same Is it not that which you account the very Essence Forme and Beeing of your Church And what is that Or what be those things wherein the Substance of your Church consisteth as wherein the Church of England and of Rome are both one and the same so as we need make no doubt of that Surely wherein we find you both one and the same we need not doubt but in those things consists the one and onely substance of your one and the same Church For as for other things wherein the Church of England
either in profession dissenteth or in practise differeth from the Church of Rome you reckon those among Romes corruptions Therfore on the contrary in whatsoever you are one and the same Church with Rome those must be no corruptions but the very pure Essence and Substance of that one Church which is just there where Romes is now And what are those Namely One and the same in the Hierarchy or Prelaticall Government which is so essentiall to your Church as where 't is not there 's no Church Onely with this difference The Pope Christs Vicar over the whole world and your Lordship his Vice-roy over all England that other world One and the same in all the members of this great body of the Hierarchy and in all the Officers of this Church-Government as Chancellors Archdeacons Officialls Commissaries and so downe to the very Skirts of that goodly guarded Babilonish Government One and the Same in all your Ecclesiasticall Courts as the Prerogative Court the Court of Arches the Bishops Ordinary Court the Spirituall Court the Court of Inquisition and High Commission with a little difference in the name One and the Same in their Canons and chiefly the Popes Canon Law One and the Same in your Episcopall Robes and vestments both rare and rich as purple and scarlet and fine linnen as it were the livery whereby you are known to be of one and the same house or family with that Woman Rev. 17. aliâs the Great Whore of Babilon with whom you claim Sister-hood So also in your Miters your Rochets Palls Semiters Square Caps Tippets and so cap a pied One and the Same in your Liturgy Service or Matins or Service-Booke which even your Iesuite confessed to be Catholick and so One and the Same in all your Service dressing and garbe as rich Copes Palls and other Altar-ornaments goodly guilt plate faire Crucifixes over them and devout adoration unto them and praying toward the East where your Altar and Crucifix standeth goodly gay Images and Loud-sounding Organs and sweet chanting Choristers and Chanters Deanes and Subdeanes and Prebends Epistlers and Gospellers Singing-men and Viergers and a huge Sately pome and Equipage more then I can tell where you have Long Service and Short Sermons or rather to avoyd tediousnesse none at all yea and your Service in your Cathedralls in an unknown tongue the Popish Service mumbled in a strange tongue and yours in a strange tone chanted and roared out so loud by a sort of profane and drunken Singing Men and Apish Boyes with such a black Sanctus as the people is no way edified as not knowing whether they sing a Song of Robin Hood or play a Scotish Jigge One and the Same in your Altars Priests Sacrifices Onely with some small difference in some termes and manner of expression both holding a reall presence Rome explicitly by Transubstantiation and England implicitly not daring to speake plainly how onely willing to come as neare Rome as the time will give leave in stead of an Host you will have at least your Crucifix a representation of Christs body Sacrificed on the Crosse either upon the Altar for a pawne till the Host it selfe come or as neare over the Altar as may be One and the Same in exercising an Antichristian Tyranny over mens Soules Consciences Bodies Purses Estates by holding them in hard bondage under your roaring Canons and intollerable burthens of Ceremonies but this is rather to be referred to the Title or Caput of Hierarchy the Essence and Substance of your One and the Same Church One in punishing the Transgressors of Ecclesiasticall Canons more severely then of Gods Commandements One in execution of Discipline by Excommunication in your blind Courts for every trifle which must cost more then a trifle to get off So as there must be a Commutation and Solution for Absolution One in Dispensations and Prohibitions dispensing with such as will dispend that by Licence they may Marry or eate flesh in Lent One and the Same in persecuting the true Church of Christ his Word his Ministers his People onely Rome doth it under the name of Hereticks of which you are none and you under the name of Puritans the worst of Hereticks One and the Same in bowing at the Name Iesus One and the Same in observation of Holydayes onely with some difference Rome hath more yet not an English Almanack but sets them forth at least in black attyre as the Papists veile their Images all the Lent from the peoples view to make them hunger the more after such food after their long Fast at Easter in hope that in time they may come to be cladde in Scarlet their Holy-day suit So as a Religious Gentleman late the Astronomy-Reader in Gressham-house but now translated above the Starres for Setting out an Almanacke with a Martyre to every day in stead of the Popes Saints was brought into the High Commission Court where he hardly escaped findging for an Heretick One and the Same in profaning and disesteeming the Lords day both accounting it to be of humane Authority both preferring their Church-holy-dayes before it both profaning it onely with this difference Rome profanes it onely practically but England both practically and professedly and Authentically by Speciall Dispensation and Edict One in condemning Innocents in your Ecclesiasticall Courts mixt with temporall Iudges as in your High Commission and in temporall Courts mixt with Ecclesiasticall Iudges such a sower leaven as after Ecclsieasticall Censure you deliver them over to the Secular power where through your instigation no mercy can be expected your selves being both Parties and Iudges One and the Same in holding the rule of Faith onely with this difference Rome equalling her Tradition with the Scripture and you puting a necessity of the present Churches Tradition and voyce as without which the Scripture cannot be beleeved to be the word of God as was touched before and as will appeare more fully at after So as Rome yoaketh her traditions in equall ranke with the Scripture and you put your Churches Authority and Tradition for the Forehorse to draw and lead the Scripture into mens beliefe as the Oxen drew the Arke towards Ierusalem that it is the word of God One and the Same in exempting your Clergy from the Civill power and Iudicature onely with this difference Rome hath got it in possession and you have often attempted it and openly professed your hope of Seeing the Clergy of England as high as ever they were or as the Lawyers now are In a word One and the Same in your Babilonish Faith and Religion For Rome hath so contrived some of her doctrines as those about Grace layd down in the Decrees of Trent as that those two mighty dissenting Sides about merit of Congruity to wit Andreas Vega with his Franciscans and Dominicus Soto with his Dominicans both Sides bearing a great sway and swindge in the Councel as that each side perswaded it selfe that the Decrees brought from Rome
in a Cloake-bag as most of the rest were was for them and favoured their side And the present Oracle of the Church of England Papa alterius Orbis hath so handled and hammered the matter in his forge that by a Declaration before the Articles of Religion he hath with no great difficulty made those Articles concerning Grace so to speak as to please both the dissenting parties Like to a Picture which each man in the room imagins looks upon him in particular Or as easily I say as if a man should take away the prick of a Hebrew Letter from the right side and place it on the left according to which variation a man pronounceth respectively the word Schiboleth or Sibboleth The false pronounciation of which word cost the Ephraimites their lives Lastly to end as I began The Church of England and of Rome are One and the same in turning Christs Kingdome which is altogether Spirituall and not of this world into an earthly and seculer Kingdome although Styled a Spiritualty and Hierarchy or holy Government and Kingdome whose Governours are temporall Lords calling themselves Christs viceroys whose kingdome glory pompe dignity riches is all earthly not heavenly carnall not spirituall verefying that of the Apostle They are the enemies of the Crosse of Christ whose end is destruction whose God is their belly whose glory is in their Shame which mind earthly things Here are particulars enough to be silent in the rest to prove your Speech true That the Church of England and the Church of Rome are in Substance one and the Same no doubt of that As for Romes corruptions as you account and call them they are neither so many nor so great So long as they overthrow not the foundation as you not say they doe but that the large Mantle of your Charity is broad enough to cover them So as that need not to break square or greatly hinder your so much desired and attempted Reconciliation wherein I know you will be ready to meet Rome the halfe way or three quarters and more rather then faile to give his Holinesse the kisse of peace so he will be content to leave your Patriarchate or Popedome in England while himselfe enjoyeth the Vicarship of the wider world and at his death leave you his Heir apparent of the triple Crown Yet perhaps for your Reputation sake you would require that some grossenes at least might be payred off the outsides of her fouler corruptions and they a little smoothed over and for your part I dare say you will not be behind hand to bring on the Church of England in such a faire forwardnesse and neernesse as possibly the time will permit to a just conformity in all things fecible But is the Church of England now come to this to be in Statu quo So as a man may find her just there where Rome is now Alas poore England Shall not now all thy brave Worthies that are for the most part dead and gone and Some yet surviving as brands out of the flame rise up and bring their Evidences as witnesses aganst Rome that Shee is a False Hereticall Idolatrous Apostatized Antichristian Church the very Whore of Babylon plainely described in the Revelation And one of the last Bookes written against her to purpose indeed Intituled BABEL no BETHEL which came forth in a good season somwhat before you came to sit in the Chaire of Canterbury and for which you may remember you convented the Author before your High Commission Board at London house out of Terme and committed him to prison Mr. BURTON I mean now a closse prisoner and Exile hath by many impregnable Arguments so strongly proved the Church of Rome to be no true Church of Christ but a meere Antichristian Apostacie from the Faith So as neither his two hot Antagonists your Brothers Champions nor any Jesuites since hath undertaken to Answer it as being indeed unanswerable And so it Stands his Adversaries giving him the Bucklers in the plain Field And yet now is the Case so altered that so suddainly the Church of England is become One and the Same with the Church of Rome So as She may find her selfe just there where Romes is now and that no doubt of that But how doth this appeare Surely you may take it for truth for the Primate and Metropolitan of all England hath so bestirred himselfe and playd his part in Chopping and Changing puting down truth and seting up errour and superstition in the Church of England that she is Sodainly so metamorphosed into another form and in a manner transubstantiated into a new Substance of a Church as now you may find her just there where Romes is now both one and the Same Church no doubt of that If then we may take your word for your Church of England in this Case and considering that the Church of Rome is that notorious Harlot how any true Christian as I said before that will not become the member of a Harlot can hold longer communion with you I cannot see And for my part I doe here ingenuously professe and protest against you againe and againe that I abhorre you and all such Churches as hold communion with Rome as one and the Same Church and doe utterly seperate from you till you seperate from all communion and conformity with that Babylon in all those particulars forementioned And so I have done with you thus farre in this point You proceed L. p. 17. According to Christs Institution the Scripture where 't is plaine should guide the Church and the Church where there 's doubt and difficulty should expound the Scripture P. How Where I pray hath Christ so instituted And who hath bewitched you to dare to utter such a notorious and pernicious untruth as this and to Father it upon Christ and that upon your bare word For What Scripture doe you or can you bring For this Nay if the Scripture Christs own voyce and wherein the Spirit of Christ breatheth be not sufficient to interpret it selfe and that in all more doubtfull and difficult places of it what Man or Men or Church shal be able to doe it For how can any interpret difficult places of Scripture especially such as concerne Faith and Salvation but by the Scripture it selfe But we shall speake more fully of this afterwards And you have told us what the Church is namely a Hierarchy or Kingdome of Prelates who generally Savour the things of the flesh and not of the Spirit And if youâ— Lordship should but stand for a proofe and Say in this Case and that all other Prelates would hazzard their credit upon your Ability in interpreting the Scripture it would quickly appeare what hope the world might have of Prelates helpe at a dead lift for the establishing of our Faith and Consciences in some perplexed Cases O then what brave Prelaticall Glosses should we have As for the purpose Some doubts of late are risen in England
curse them yet can you not doe as that wicked Prophet did in Counselling King Balack to put a stumbling block before the Children of Israel by inticing them to his Idols with his faire Damosels You can tell us that the Church of England and of Rome are one and the Same Church and that her worship of Images is but a trenching or coming neare Idolatry as at after so as none need fear communion with her so he be but ignorant of her Corruptions Of which more hereafter But though you cannot prophesie what is all your practise but a cleare Prognostication and that not onely foretelling but causing and haling in a Deluge of Atheisme and Irreligion flowing in upon you Yea witnesse this your Book which could not spring but from the root of Atheisme and Sourse of all Irreligion and which doth not onely prognosticate nor onely teach the way how Atheisme and Irreligion may gather strength but doth certainly presage and that by necessary consequence most terrible Judgements and Calamities to fall upon the Church of England I would say rather upon the Hierarchy of England and which you doe with both hands in writing and publishing this Book and by all other your practises pull upon your own heads But this your feare of Atheisme and Irreligion to gather strength is say you while the Truth is weakened by an unworthy way of contending What Truth Or what is that unworthy way of contending for the Truth Or what is your Atheisme and Irreligion For all these termes need your interpretation But your prudent modestly therein we will make bold as well as we can to Supply First for Truth it is much in your mouth I meane the name and word Truth But when you name Truth you alwayes mean Falshood as when you Speake of the Church you meane such a Church as is a false Church and when you Speake of Peace you meane such as is a false Peace when your Reconciliation with Rome is a Conspiracie against Christ and his true Church and when you name Priest you meane such as is a false Priest and when you name Devotion you meane such as is a false Devotion of humane devising and when you name Faith as the gift of God you meane not the true Saving Faith whereof the Apostle speakes where he Saith Faith is the gift of God As we shall see at after So as ever under the green leaves of such faire words as Truth Peace Church Devotion Faith c. we may ever Suspect and shal be ever sure to find a false Serpentine Sense to lurke Secondly your unworthy way of contending for the Truth what is it but that which the Apostle exhorts unto that Christians should earnestly contend for the Faith given to the Saints and Paul that we should sunathlein wrastle together as for Mastery or for a Crown for the Faith of the Gospell Now is not this that which you call an unworthy way of contending for the Truth No doubt of thâ—â— As to write Books or preach Sermons proving the Pope to be Antichrist and the Church of Rome to be a false Church or no Church of Christ and no Salvation to be hoped for in that Church and that all true Christians ought to have no Communion with that Church but to abhorre and abandon her as the Lord commandeth and that Prelates are not Jure divino but are Antichristian and their Hierarchy Tyrannicall and that Altars in Churches are a denying of Christ the Onely Altar and that all Ceremonies invented and imposed by men in the Service of God is a will-worship condemned by Christ and his Apostles and many such like This is that unworthy way of contending whereby you say the Truth is weakened No marvaile Thirdly what is that Atheisme and Irreligion which you feare will gather Strength while the Truth is weakened by such an unworthy way of contending This I take it may be taken two wayes Either that by Atheisme you meane the true Faith of Christ which is opposite to the Romish faith wherewith you hold such correspondence for whatsoever is contrary to Romes faith or which is all one your faith is with you branded for Atheisme Or Secondly Atheisme truely and properly taken gathers strength by such an unworthy way of labouring a Reconciliation between the Church of England and the Church of Rome which to make way for you are glad to say that these two Churches are for substance one and the Same Church Now before your time the Church of England though in many things it symbolized with Rome as hath been shewed yet still it renounced all communion with her as being a Strumpet and that great Whore whose Husband is the great Antichrist But now you have so turned the Cat in the pan by making way to bring the Church of England back againe to an union and communion with Rome that you put the people to a stand to a nonplus so as they know not what to beleeve or what to think but are ready to cast off all further thought of God as if there were no God because they see those to flourish and to goe on unpunished who overthrow the faith formerly professed in England seting up the Romish faith againe where it had been cast out and on the other side Preaching and Preachers to be put down and the true Professors to be persecuted and thrown out of all and forced to quit their native Countrey and the like Now where all this is do you but feare that Atheisme gathers Strength Nay is not the root of all your cruely in persecuting Christs Ministers and People meere Atheisme It is noted of the Sadduces that of all other Sects they were the most cruell in their judiciall Censures As Euseb. Eccl. Hist. l. 2. c. 14. out of Iosephus And no marvaile They denyed the Resurrection and the Last Iudgement So as they were Atheists This made them dare to practise all cruelty and injustice For Maxima peccandi illaecebra impunitatis Spes So how durst you be so unjust and cruell in your oppressions and persecutions did you certainly beleeve that there is a Resurrection and Last Judgement wherein you shall be Judged But this by the way 't is an Item And Irreligion also what 's that That 's soon resolved to wit Obstinacie in not admitting of Altars in some Churches Irreveverence in not bowing to Altars and worshiping towards the East and adoring the name Iesus and the like This is with you Irreligion because your whole Religion is placed in these things For so you tell us in the words following L. p. 19. The externall worship of God in his Church is the GREAT WITNESSE to the world that our hearts stand right in the Service of God Take this away or bring it into contempt and what light is there left to shine before men that they may see our Devotion and glorifie our Father which is in heaven P. Surely were it not
Pope not to be Antichrist and no necessity of frequent Preaching and none to preach but Bishops and Deanes and that onely and especially at the three Solemn times in the yeare Also another Book intituled the Femall Glory as full fraught thoughout with the most grosse blasphemous Idolatrous Popish Stuffe as it can hold and this in plain English allowed by one of your Chapleins or of London house and for ought I heare not yet suppressed or call'd in Besides many other of the same branne some whereof are printed but kept up under deck not daring yet to peep forth till the Storm as in Starre Chamber you call'd it raysed by BURTON and others be over and least they should be made Popish Martyrs in Smithfield as Salis his Devotions were which for feare were burned as afore Under your Primacy hath there not been a mighty stirring and stickling for the seting up of Altars c. yea of Images too and Crucifixes and that in Collegiate Churches or Chappels both in Oxford you being Chauncellour and in Cambridge where you want not a Vice-Chauncellour and which you indeavour in all the Churches of England Under your Primacie have not your pregnantest wits and profoundest Divines been set aworke to write Books to unmorallize the 4th Commandement for the perpetuall keeping of the Lords Sabbath day and so unbind Christians from the sanctification of the Lords day and their Books allowed by your Authority and Dedicated to great ones and much applauded by your Faction Under your Primacie have not your Doctors also written stoutly for your Altars and that even unto blasphemy Saying that the use of the Altar is to sanctifie the Sacrifice and without an Altar the Sacrifice is not Sanctified or dedicated by the Bishop Under your Primacie began not Ministers to be Suspended Silenced Excommunicated put out of their Benefices and Cures of Soules for refusing to read the Book of Liberty for Sports on the Lords day and to set up Altars in their Churches at their Ordinaries Command These these my Lord being thus doe you complaine of unsettlednesse Who hath troubled the Fountain The Wolfe above at the Spring head or the Lamb below To recollect then and recapitulate these things When Profanation of the Lords day is by publick Edict allowed when the Articles of Religion are made as the Delphick Oracles to be taken two contrary wayes when the Doctrines of Gods Grace are universally restrained and forbid to be preached when Popish Books publickly allowed in Print and Orthodox Books against Popery restrained when Altars set up in all Churches where there was none before when Books published by Authority to disanull Gods Morall Law when Books allowed publickly to maintain the seting up of Altars in Churchs when Godly Ministers by multitudes put down for not yeelding to those things which are contrary to the Laws of God and man and all this in the State of England where from the first Reformation such as it was have been universally and constantly maintained both by writing and preaching the morality of the 4th Commandement for the sanctification of the Lords Day the Articles of Religion concerning Grace to have but one Orthodox sense the free and unrestrained preaching of Gods word and confuting of all opposite Errours that the Pope is that Antichrist that the Lords Supper was to be celebrated onely at the Lords Table that Ministers Conformity was extended no further then was limited by the Law all these things considered in the tumult of so many bold Innovations Innovation I cry you mercy Renovations I should say of old Popish ragges and outcast reliques for you disclaim Innovation against Gods law and Mans law what settlement what peace what tranquility can be expected and then again al these new Attempts for Uniformity and Conformity coming in under and with your Primacie can they vindicate your Reputation from a generall opinion of your being the most perillous and pernicious Instrument of unsettling and troubling the State oâ— the Land and of Religion and you may if you will take Scotland in to boot with generall discontents and heart burnings to see the State of Religion thus turned topsie turvie And doe you complain notwithstanding that you cannot attain to an Orderly Settlement Stay my Lord be not so eagre See Scotland first settled before you proceed further in the settlement of England least you unsettle all Be not deceived in the confidence of your own active brain and borrowed power And see also how your Booke will take For Certainly therein you have run your selfe upon the Pikes get off as you can Your Reputation if you meane it for the Repute to be a good Protestant unlesse you meane it that you would be accounted what you are a member of one and the Same Church with Rome is now bound to the Stake ready to be Sacrificed for a whole-burnt Offering For what your Ordinary practises proclaimed to the world of you now in your Book you stick not openly to professe that you desire for the Church and State of England to be reconciled to the Sea of Rome So as your Book besides the turbulent matter in it like the Trojan horse full of armed enemies could not possibly have been borne into the world in a more unhappy time then now when you see two Kingdomes all in a combustion which the Sprinkling of your Romes Holy water wil be so farre from quenching or allaying that it will prove rather as Oyle to increase and feed the flame But GOD give the King the Spirit of Wisedome and Iudgement to see into these things betimes both for the preventing of further mischiefes and for the reuniting of the great rent between his two Kingdomes But as Iehu said to Iehoram when he asked Is it peace Iehu What peace said he so long as the Whoredomes of thy Mother Iezabel and her Witchcrafts are so many So what peace can be expected in the Land where such an Uniformity and Settlement is required as is so repugnant to the Laws of Christs Kingdome and conformable to Antichrists Tyranny and conducible to a reconciliation with that old Iezabel of Rome Certainly the case being so as Deborah said in her Song They chose new gods then was warre in the gates So when a Nation falls to advance higher and higher a new and false Religion where it had been formerly in some good measure cast out to set up Idolatrous and Romish Altars whereby Christ the true and onely Altar of true Christians as hath been shewed is denyed and renounced and to cry down Gods holy Commandements and to oppresse Gods holy Word in the Ministry of it and to persecute Gods faithfull Ministers and People and like the Aegyptians to oppresse Gods People more and more with intolerable burthens of humane inventions to the great reproach of Christ and the throwing down of his incommunicable Royall Soveraignty over his Church and People in matters of Faith and the worship of God Can peace or settlement
especially if he be a fat Parson But you will say he may Preach the seldomer and when he doth Preach it may be the shorter For better Preaching be omitted then the least of your Ceremonies should be neglected But yet for shame of the world at least in the Church of England which is not yet grown so Romish as that Ceremonies should altogether thrust out Preaching me thinks you might doe well as men doe for their wearing apparell to have some habits for Summer and some for Winter But now I remember my selfe that will put many a poore Priest to the more charge And therefore to prevent both trouble and charge I remember a pretty device of Dionisius who coming into an Idols Temple and finding rich cloth of gold very Massy upon the Idols he tooke away their Robes of gold Saying they were both too heavy for Summer and too cold for Winter and he put upon them good course Freeze saying this would be both light wearing for Summer and warme for Winter But I suppose you would be loth to have your rich cloth of gold Copes and the like to be turned into course Freeze as preferring Aurei Calices Lignei Sacerdotes before Lignei Calices Aurei Sacerdotes which were of old in fashion Golden Chalices and Woodden Priests before Woodden Chalices and Golden Priests I meane such Golden Priests so called as then were when the Chalices were of Wood that is Learned Godly and Preaching Presbyters For otherwise as Rome so you want not your Golden Priests sutable to your Golden Chalices as Bernard in his Booke De Consideratione to Pope Eugenius the Fourth hath liberally taxed in the Pope and his Clergie of Priests But these things I leave to your Lordshippes Cosideration But to returne to the point in plaine termes my Lord till you doe resolve us justy how many Ceremonies you will have and no more for burthening the Service or how few Ceremonies and no fewer for leaving all naked though I think you incline rather to the extremity of Excesse in the too many then to the extremity of Defect in the too few as loth to leave your Service naked you doe to a haires breadth resolve us you must give us leave with one voyce or Kéleusma to cry downe all your Ceremonies of what sort soever whereof the very least is a burthen intollerable to Gods People in the service of God For as we said before Gods service admits not of any Will-worship at all no not in the least Ceremony wherewith the Conscience as it is bound so it is overburthened One Fetter or Linke or Chaine or Bolt makes a Prisoner as sure as many As the Israelites were enslaved by the Aegyptian Taske-masters as well when they were allowed Straw as when it was denyed them Though the bondage was the greater But when a man is once made a Slave who shall hinder his Master to lay as much burthen upon him as he pleaseth And if you have a power to impose one Ceremony who shall stint you for more for ten twenty an hundred if you doe but say the word that too few leave the Service naked But you will not have too many for burthen But how will you know when 't is a burthen for you touch it not with one of your fingers and so feele it not as the Aegyptian Taske-masters did while the poore people of God cry out for intolerable burthens All your burthen is to get it but up upon the peoples and your Priests shoulders and then you are so farre from feeling any more burthen as you turne it into no small benefit in Case any for very wearinesse and irksomnesse of the burthen doe either lay it downe or cast it quite off yea or doe but rest himselfe a little with some intermission Then your High Commission shall ring of him Nor can we in any reason imagine that a few Ceremonies will serve the turne For your maine Scope is to bring your Church of England to a full Reconciliation with Rome the way to which must be strowed with many Ceremonies as at a Marriage they strow the way to the Church with Herbes that so when you have brought the matter to a pretty Conformity with as many Ceremonies as Time and Place will permit the Match being already agreed upon and concluded between the parties and friends there may nothing be wanting to hasten the full and finall consummation But herein the maine burthen will lye upon you For it can little be hoped that Rome for her part will abate any of her Ceremonies so as the greater addition and accumulation wil be required on your part to make up tò Ãson an equality in some reasonable proportion at least For Amiciâ—ia est inter pares Friedship is between Equalls But howere in any Case not too few for then your Service would be naked and it might either hinder your Project or hurt your reputation with Rome when upon your coming home to Rome She should find you naked such guests as Rome useth not to entertaine unlesse you will trust to her Kindnesse in furnishing you out of her rich Wardrobe and Magazin of Ceremonies wherein She hath a large Overplus of Treasure which your Church of England might afterwards recompense either with reviving the Peter-pence or returning his Holinesse his Old Tribute of Annates But in the meane time how would too few leave your Service naked Surely many wayes now when I better consider it Without the Surplice and Hood the Minister naked without rich Ornaments and a Crucifix the Altar naked without a Signe of the Crosse Baptisme is naked without Kneeling before the Altar at the Communion the Sacrament naked without a devout Crindge when Iesus is named Iesus is naked without looking towards the East when you Pray Prayer naked without goodly Images the Walls naked without the rich Copes the Epistle and Gospel naked without a faire payre of Organs and Chanting to it the whole Service naked But what if the whole Service were thus naked God neither requires nor respects any such pomp in his Service You will say 'T is sightly and stately But one of the Heathen Poets could tell you that God regards more a simple and honest heart then all such gifts or pompous Service As he saith Dicite Pontifices in Sancto quid facit aurum c. Compositum jus fasque animi sanctosque recessas Mentis incoctum generoso pectus honesto Tell us ye Pontifies what such glittering gold Makes on your Temples c. A mind compos'd of justice and of right And holy contemplation Gods delight A brest well dipped in the purple grain Of noble honesty That will not stain Another of them saith Immanis Aram si tetigit manus Non sumptuosa blandior hostia Mollibit aversos Penates Farre pio saliente mica Th' innocent hand if it the Altar touch The sumptuous offring pleaseth not so much T' appease the anger
of your House-hold Gods With Sacred Corn and savory Salt by oddes Yea and every Schoole-boy knowes that Distich of old Cato Si Deus est animus nobis ut carmina dicunt Hic tibi praecipuè sit pura mente colendus If God as Poems say a Spirit be Then with pure mind let him be serv'd of thee And as the Roman Orator also said Non in Ambrosia Deus c. I doe not think saith he that God is delighted with Ambrosia or Nectar or such like sensuall delights in his Service Tuscul. Quaest. lib. 1. Thus you see how those Heathen even by the glimmering light of nature had a better opinion of God then our modern Prelates have or at least then our present Oracle of Canterbury hath shewed himselfe to have for how neere came they to that truth uttered by Christ God is a Spirit and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and truth c. And if you propound the Jewes for example of State in the service of God first God commanded it and the magnificence of it was a Type of Christ and of his Spirituall Temples all glorious within Those Types are all vanished the truth being come And to revive that Service and those Types or to set up an Image of them you doe with the Jewes deny Christ to be come And for this Ierome shall answere you Si placeat aurum placeat et Iudaei If gold please you so well in the service of God let the Jewes also and Judaisme please you And the Poet Dicite Pontifices in Templo quid facit aurum Tell us you Pontificiall Priests what makes gold in the Temple And tell me whether was Adam and Eve more beautifull in Gods eyes and their own too having no other cloathing or ornaments upon them but their naked Innocencie then in their new devised fashion of Fig-leave-Aprons Although they now seemed gay with their borrowed leaves as the Crow with his borrowed feathers And surely this may be a very fit patterne to Sample your Church by For yours and Romes Church having lost their Primitive and Originall beauty of Innocencie Simplicity and Purity of Christs Spouse as the Love of God Saving Faith Soundnesse of Doctrine Sanctity of Conversation and Purity of his Worship which you have by so many of your Superstitions so miserably corrupted think you now to please GOD with a curious painted Service which serves to no other purpose then to please your owne fancie and other mens carnall senses Is not this a GREAT WITNES to the World of your notorious blindnesse and most grosse and palpable ignorance of the very nature of the Godhead who Is a Spirit and therefore will be worshiped in Spirit and truth And they who thus worship him in Spirit and Truth are the true Worshipers as the same Scripture Speakes and GOD seeketh such to worship him as is noted before So as that Inscription which the Apostle found upon that Altar in Athens Agnósto Theo To the unknowne God may it not be written as well upon your whole service which you dedicate to the unknowne God which being patched up like a Fooles gay Coate of so many diverse coloured shreddes wherein your service being dressed up you think it is wondrous pleasing to God doth not all this bewray that you doe all this service to a God whom you know not as whom your fancie frameth to be some carnall Man whose senses are delighted with such service as his Eares with Organs his Eyes with goodly Images curious wrought Copes rich Palls faire guilded Plate his Smell with sweet Incense his Majesty with siting upon your Stately High Altar as upon his Throne and to keep his Residence in your goodly Cathedrall as in his Royall Court May not then that which the Apostle thereupon Preached to the Athenian Philosophers be hereupon applyed to the Romish Rabbies and blind Prelates of Rome and of the Church of England Ye men of the Church of England I perceive that in all things ye are too Superstitious For as I passed by and beheld your Devotions marke your Devotions I found an Altar for blind Devotion cannot be without an Altar with this Inscription To the unknown God whom therefore ye ignorantly worship him declare I unto you God that made the world and all things therein seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth dwelleth not in Temples made with hands neither is worshiped with mens hands as though he needed any thing c. Forasmuch then as we are the Offspring of GOD we ought not to thinke that the Godhead is like unto Gold or Silver or Stone graven by art and mans devise And the times of this Ignorance GOD winked at but now commandeth all men every where to Repent Because he hath appointed a day in the which he will judge the world in Righteousnesse c. Now what say you to this all you blind Ceremony-Mongers Are you growne so stupid as not to be sensible how this toucheth you as much yea and much more then those Athenians What Are you so blind and senselesse as for all this to dreame that GOD accepts your ga◠Puppet-play as a Service of Piety done to him Nay GOD tooke so little delight in those Sacrifices and Rites which himselfe ordained in the Law and much lesse when the people rested in the outward performance and observance of them that he Saith Who required these things at your hands to tread in my Courts c. So also Psal. 50.8 I will not reprove thee for thy Sacrifices to have been continually before me I will take no bullocke out of thy house c. No Who so offereth me thanks and praise honoureth me and to him that ordereth his Conversation aright will I shew the Salvation of God Now consider this ye that forget God least I teare you in pieces and there be none to deliver Yea the consideration hereof brought Christ down from the bosome of his Father to offer up his body as the onely acceptable and All sufficient Sacrifice to put an end to all carnall rites and services If then Gods own Ordinances in the Law did not please him but that he must send his Sonne in the flesh to fullfill all things then what hope can you have that your vaine Superstitious devises should please GOD or that he should otherwise be affected with them but thereby to be provoked to send his Sonne the Second time in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God even all blind worshipers but much more willfully blind such as obey not the Gospel of our Lord Iesus Christ c. Then shall all your Sumptuous Ceremonies and Solemne Service be discovered and the rotten inside of your hypocriticall formalities be turned out to the view of all the world Like to Cardinall Campeius his Sumpter which with a justle in Cheape-side the girts bursting downe it falls and out fly the old Boots and Shooes and
of true piety and the power of true Religion in all those or the most part who are insnared by them Although you call this Weakenesse in those that cry them all down But I hope this weaknesse is So crying especially reaching up to heaven will in time so prevaile with God as to batter them down and to dismount your Canon that holds them up But such consider not Say you that by this meanes their most hated enemies the Jesuites I suppose you meane cry up their cause and not els but by them Surely By them here if rightly taken 't will prove very true you Say By them that is by your Ceremonies For what is there whereby the Jesuites doe more climbe and cry up themselves and their Cause then your crying up of your Ceromonies This they professe in their Bookes and English Pamphlets which they scatter among the People that the Church of England is coming amaine towards Rome as being weary of her Religion or ashamed of it And all this especially since you have climbed up to the top-pinnacle of Canterbury Church And well you Say Their most hated Adversaries You say not Your most hated Addversaries the Iesuites for then you should account Jesuites no better then Puritans Though I think your Lordship can give no great good reason why the Jesuites should be the Most hated enemies of those that most cry down your Ceremonies except you will give the Jesuites precedencie of you in persecuting those men But I say your Zeale for Ceremonies is a fiery Chariot to carry the Jesuites to that heaven of their happinesse to wit Englands Reconciliation with Rome which is hastened and advanced by nothing so much as by hoysing up of Altars and other Idolatrous Superstitions and puting downe of good Ministers and all true Religion This this is the Ladder by which Jesuites Climbe up not now to the top of Tyburne but to the top of their Mount Tabor beholding the Church of England transformed into the Church of Rome being also so exceedingly helped up and advanced by this your handy worke now published for that end L. p. 21. In this insuing Discourse I have indeavoured to lay open those wider Gates of the Catholick Church c. P. So you have indeed having set open Englands broad Gates that That Great Whore of Babylon with all her Train and Trinkets her Superstitions and Idolatries may have the more easie reentry without so much as the ruffling of her Ruffe Nay rather then fayle as the Trojans at the Subtile Counsell of their perjured Sinon brake downe a great part of their City-wall to let in the Trojan horse which unknown to them was full of armed Greeks their Enemies by which meanes their City was surprized sacked and burnt So you having been a great Instrument of not onely Seting open the broad Gates and making them wider then they were before but of pulling downe the Walls and Bulwarks of the Church of England to wit in Suppressing Gods Word and Supplanting the most Painefull and Godly Ministers as the Watchmen of the City yea the Chariots and Hose-men of Israel and having prepared it by the Setting up of your Altars and Superstitious Service and Devotion attending thereupon all conformable to Rome doe in this your Book now published as with open voyce proclaime how happy a thing it were that the Church of England and of Rome were perfectly reconciled and reunited Againe you have in this also layd open those wider gates of your Catholick Church in that therein you have in some respects made those broad Gates that lead to destruction wider then they were before For at after in your Booke you can find a broad way for the silly ignorant Papists to find Salvation in the Church of Rome and so to be Saved living and dying in the Roman Faith But of this in its due place Onely you have altogether shut the Gates of the Catholick Church against all Reformed Churches beyond the Seas as having no Prelates and therefore no Churches As hath been noted You adde The Catholicke Church confined to no Age Time or Place nor knowing any bounds but that Faith which was once and but once for all delivered to the Saints Jude 3. P. My Lord what have you to doe with the Saints faith except that you indeavour to destroy it Or with those Saints except to persecute and root them out Or would you make us beleeve that you are one of those Saints Certainly then you must become another-gates Man then as yet you have shewed yourselfe to be Your Tyranny your Hypocrisie your Superstitions your Persecutions your Reconciliation with Rome must be utterly abandoned Except by continuing in them you hope to be the next Canonized Saint to Ignatius the Father and Founder of the Jesuites Society Lately Canonized by his Holinesse at Rome for his good Service for the Catholick Cause and so may you haply after 100. yeares come to be Canonized for the notable Service you have done in the Church of England for the Church of Rome if ever you shall bring them to a perfect Reconciliation And as for that Faith you Speake of as the bound of the Catholicke Church which you say you and Rome doe both professe we shall have occasion hereafter to speake more largely of it L. p. 22. I have delivered with a single heart that truth which I professe P. What truth it is which you professe we have in part already discovered in this your Dedicatory and shall further and more fully in your insuing Discourse But with what singlenesse of heart you have done it that we leave to the Judge of all hearts Onely where we find your hypocrisie so palpable as that we cannot chuse but use it as a Perspective to see into the constitution of your heart as where we find your words so directly contradicting your deeds and practises the clearest Indexes of your mind expressed and written in Capitall Letters we doe not spare to informe you of it both because the heart is deceitfull above all things and desperately wicked who can know it So as your own heart when you think it single may double with you and that others also taking warning by such a dangerous example as the greatest Prelate of England may not also be deceived and seduced by your deep dissimulations L. ibid. In the publishing whereof I have obeyed your Majesty discharged my duty to my power to the Church of England given account of the hope that is in me and so testified to the world that Faith in which I have lived and by Gods blessing and favour purpose to dye P. For your obedience to his Majesty we say no more having touched before how strong that backe had need to be that beares all your burthens so intolerable to be borne But is this the discharge of the duty of the Metropolitane of all England to the Church of England to compile and publish such a Booke to reconcile England with
Rome What thankes the Church of England may returne you I know not But thus did not any of your Predecessors ever And have you more Charity or more Devotion then they had And for the hope in you whereof you give account to the world and your faith testified wherein you have lived and resolve to dye I will say as Ierome said to the Pelagians Sententias vestras prodidisse Superasse est The discovery of your opinions is our victory So thus to give account of your hope and testifie your faith to all the world as that wherein you have lived and resolve to dye Let 's see by your own testimony now irrevocably upon Record what to judge of you formerly namely as of one Qui cum Lacte nutricis errorem Suxisse videatur who seemeth to have sucked in Errour with his Nurses Milke As the Orator Speakes of all naturall men and what to expect of you hereafter that as you have lived a most notorious Persecuter of the truth of Christ and of his Saints So we must look for it Still so long as you live And this is our victory that we have to deale with one who is not now any longer a disguised but unmasked Enemy of the true Faith and Religion of JESUS CHRIST And however you may flatter your selfe in regard of the World and favour in Court yet if you repent not of your former life but dye as you have lived you can have neither hope nor faith in expecting Gods blessing or favour And so I passe from your Dedicatory to your Discourse as followeth THE REPLIE TO THE RELATION OF THE CONFERENCE L. p. 2. IT is very fit the People should look to the Iudgement of the Church before they be too busie with particulars But yet neither the Scripture nor any good Authority denyes them some moderate use of their own understanding and judgement especially in things familiar and evident which even ordinary Capacities may as easily understand as read And therefore some particulars a Christian may judge without depending P. What you meane by Church you have told us before namely that wherein your Church of England and that of Rome are one and the same one Prelaticall and Hierarchicall Church out of which are excluded all those Reformed Churches which neither have nor acknowledge Prelates to be of divine Institution We have also made a Say of the difficulties So as it is no difficulty to divine what Christians we are like to prove in understanding and judgement in the mystery of Faith and Salvation when we must be limited to that narrow Scantling of some moderate use of our owne understanding and Iudgement and that but in things familiar and evident to every ordinary Capacity O poore Christians that for Understanding in the Scripture must be at the allowance of Antichristian Lords who would bring into bondage Gods people by Chaining them up in Darknesse and Ignorance and doe with them as Nahash the Ammonite answered the men of Iabeth Gilead On this condition will I make a Covenant with you that I may thrust out all your right eyes and lay it for a reproach upon all Israel But the Apostle exhorts Christians Saying Be not children in understanding howbeit in malice be children but in understanding Téleio ginesthe be perfect And Leaving the Principles of the Doctrine of Christ Let us goe on unto perfection And Strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age even those who by reason of use have their Senses exercised to discerne both good and evill But you allow Christians onely some moderate use of their owne understanding and that in things familiar and evident which men of ordinary Capacities may as easily understand as read So as what they read except with the very reading they doe as easily understand it as they read it they must not meditate further of it but in what they presently upon the reading understand not they must depend upon your Churches judgement So as you would exclude your Christians from being of those blessed men of whom David Speakes which delight in the Law of the Lord and in his Law to meditate day and night You would not have them with use to exercise their wits and Senses to discerne 〈◊〉 good and evill Yea the Apostle useth a word very emphaticall diâ— tò exin by an habituall use or long custome have their Senses gegumnasmâ—na exercised the word properly signifieth such an exercise as Wrastlers or such as contend for victory doe use which is with all their might and strength being train'd up unto it by long exercise So as the Scripture doth not onely not forbid but Commands and exhorts Christians to all diligence in the Study of the Scriptures That their hearts might be comforted being knit together in love and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding to the aknowledgement of the Mystery of God as the Apostle speakes And Let the word of God dwell in you richly in all wisedome teaching and admonishing one another c. And the Bereans are Said to be dugenésteroi more noble then those of Thesselonica in that they received the word with all readinesse of mind and searched the Scriptures dayly whether those things were so which Paul taught Loe â—ere they examined Pauls Doctrine by the Scriptures they depended not upon his bare word and therefore the Holy Ghost markes them forth for men of a more noble spirit But you would have your Christians to be poore and beggerly in the knowledge of the mystery of Christ and to be so base-minded as in all things which are not obvious to every Capacity to depend meerely upon your Church-Authority and Judgement So as what you meane hereby except to bring into your Church of England the Iesuiticall blind obedience captivating the peoples senses to your Dictates that they might pinne their Salvation and Faith upon your Priests Sleeve I cannot imagine Which will appeare yet more clearely at after Againe these words of yours are in Answere to the Jesuit's words namely That it was not for the Lady or any other unlearned Persons to take upon them to judge of Particulars without depending upon the Iudgement of the true Church To which all your Answere in full is as before Wherein you easily let the Jesuite slip and run away with this that the Church of Rome is that true Church on whose Iudgement for Particulars all unlearned Persons must depend But you understand the true Church to be that wherein you told us before your Church of England and of Rome are one and the Same And so for Rome to be a true Church you plainly confesse at after But your words here may stand you in very good Stead to be a faire Item to all the Readers of your Booke not to be too busie with the Particulars of it but first to look to the Iudgement of the Church of England whose mouth you seem to be in this
your whole Discourse So as I may see my Doom already set down in black and white that I must be Censured as one too busie or AllotroepÃoskopos playing the Bishop in anothers Diocese in our English Translation a busy body But I must beare it off with Head and Shoulders And as the Proverbe is Over Shooes over Bootes I have already waded through the Fords of your Dedicatory and now I must launch into the Deep of your Discourse And there 's now no returning Nor have I put my hand to the Plough to turn up your weeds by the roots to look backe or desist for feare to be censured as one too busie Yea all my businesse is about particulars and namely such as summed up together in the totall conclude you to be though not a profest Invader yet a most subtile and pragmaticall Enginer and underminer of that Truth of Christ in the Scripture which yet the Gates of Hell shall never prevaile against L. p. 4. Bellarmine of very great ability to make good any truth which he undertakes for the Church of Rome P. What one thing I pray which Bellarmine undertakes to make good for the Church of Rome as the Church of Rome is a truth I say as the Church of Rome For what he undertakes to make good for the Church of Rome properly must needs be some point of Popery or Popish Doctrine Otherwise he undertakes not to make it good as for the Church of Rome Now the Church of Rome as it is the Church of Rome namely the Papall Church holds not any one Saving Truth I say againe it holds not any one Saving Truth I shall prove this more particularly at after Yet you seem to intimate here that either all or most things so undertaken by him are truth But the contrary will appeare So as what things are in themselves false and erronious can by no humane ability either of that Champion of Rome Bellarmine or of the great Champion of the present Church of England be so made good as to deserve the name of Truth L. ibid. After Bellarmine hath distinguished â—o expresse his Meaning in what sence the particular Church of Rome cannot Erre in things which are de Fide of the Faith he tells us this Firmitude is because the Sea Apostolicke is fixed there And this he saith is most true P. Your last words here are somewhat darke whether we should take them for Bellarmines words he saith or for your owne assent therein And this he saith is most true This Later is the Likelier And then againe here is another doubt whether And this he saith is very true it be referred to the whole Sentence going before and alledged by you or onely to the Last Clause If to the whole Sentence then in Saying And this he saith is most true you assent that Romes infallibility consists in the Firmitude of the Sea Apostolicke fixed there Which you seem afterwards more expresly to contradict But if onely to the Last Clause your Speech hath reference And this he saith is most true then first you should have expressed it more Clearely and punctually as in some things you doe But taking it in the best sense you confesse it is most true that the Sea Apostolicke is fixed there thus you give occasion of Dispute about Peters being at Rome and of his being Bishop of Rome and if so whether consequently Rome be yet the Sea Apostolicke But because your words here are not Cleare enough and at after you declare your selfe herein more plainly what we have to say of this we will reserve to a fitter place L. p. 23. I shall ever be glad that the Church of England may have farre more able Defendants then my selfe P. Certainly the Church of England her selfe may be glad hereof to vindicate her Reputation which you by this your Defence have layd flat in the dust But May have seems to import that now she hath not at least now that Dr. White is dead Nor hath the Church of England any great cause to glory in either of you both as Defendants unlesse by the Church of England you understand that new Start-up Faction of Arminianized and Iesuited Atheists whose Standard-beares you have been and are to bring the whole Land backe againe to Rome and so to make a full League and Confederacie against the true Church of Iesus Christ. L. p. 29. Things not Fundamentall yet to some mens Salvation are neâ—essary P. How prove you this Seeing what is necessary to some mens Salvation is necessary to all and every mans Salvation And Fundamentalls onely to wit Such things as are de Fide of Faith are the onely things necessary to every mans Salvation According to the Athanasius his Creed Whosoever will be Saved it is necessary that he hold the Catholicke Faith which Faith unlesse a man keep whole and undefiled without doubt he shall perish everlastingly For the Catholicke Faith comprehends all Fundamentalls which to violate in any one particular overthrowes the Faith and cuts a man off from Salvation But your adding of other things besides and unto the Fundamentalls as necessary to Some mens Salvation doth necessarily inferre this Consequence that there be other things besides Christ which are necessary to Some mens Salvation And so you make Christ an insufficient Saviour to some men at least as to whose Salvation things not Fundamentall are necessary For things not Fundamentall are extra Christum out of or without Christ. Whereas the Scripture Saith of CHRIST That there is no Salvation in any other for there is none other name under heaven given whereby Dei sothenai emas we Must be Saved which words doe plainly evince that besides Christ nothing under heaven is necessary to any mans Salvation But give us some one particular instance of such things as being not fundamentall yet are necessary to some mens Salvation You tell us of certain I wot not what Deductions from the Articles of Faith which you make to be your Not-Fundamentall and yet necessary to some mens Salvation but for our better Information you particularize in nothing neither in the things nor in the persons for whose Salvation they are necessary but leave all in the Cloudes the fittest manâ—le to foldâ—up such foule and blind errours in L. p. 31. The Churches Declaration can bind us to peace and externall obedience where there is no expresse Letter of Scripture and Sense agreed upon P. By the Latitude of this Sentence you or your Church of England may as you have done by your Declaration prefixed to your Articles of Religion as before bind Ministers not to preach of those Doctrines of Grace as Election Predestination c. because though there be expresse Letter of Scripture for them yet the Sense is so farre from being agreed upon by your present Church as that you Say plainly they may be taken in two opposite Senses So as upon this your Churches Declaration of the ambiguities of your Articles you
have stopped all the Ministers mouthes binding them to peace and externall obedience Although I cannot yet conceive how that Declaration should be the Church of Englands though published in the Kings Name and perhaps compiled in the Conclave of Canterbury And thus also that Order for the Altar of S. GREGORIES which yet is but Dormant in Cryptis not published in Print in which respect it cannot be called the Declartion of the Church yet must be of force to bind all Ministers to Peace and Obedience first to Peace not to speake a word against Altars for his Eares and next to Obedience that if he refuse to have an Altar set up in his Church himselfe shal be made a Sacrifice But why should such an Order thus bind I must crave pardon for making Question And the rather because your Lordship here gives us a Rule or Canon saying The Churches Declaration can bind us to Peace and externall Obedience where there is no expresse Letter of Scripture and Sense agreed on Now though we have expresse Letter of Scripture proving Christ to be the onely Altar of Christians as before is shewed yet because this sense is not agreed on by your Lordship and so by your present Church of England therefore men must be peaceable and obedient in that point and quietly submit to Authority in the admitting and the Adoring too if you will of Altars in every Church And so in all other your superstitious Ceremonies of what force is the expresse Letter of the Scripture where the Sense of it is not by you and your Church agreed upon To give an Instance or two more This is my Body the Sense of these words is not agreed on between your Church of England and that of Rome though you are in Substance both one Church what then Ergo Ministers are bound to Peace and Obedience in not medling to or fro with the manner How Christ is present in the Sacrament though your Article of the Lords Supper doth declare it both affirmatively and negatively how it is and is not but to content themselves with Really which is a very peaceable word about which Rome and you have no great reason to fall at oddes Againe for bowing at the nameing of the Name Iesus although you have no expresse Letter of Scripture for it no not Phil. 2.10 where it is Said En to onómati In or as your Translation hath it at the name of Iesus every knee should bow but it is not Said En to onomazethai tò onoma Iesoun or Iesous In the naming of the name Iesus every knee should bow So as that place is plainly expounded and agreed on by other places of Scripture as Isa. 45.23 and Rom. 14.10 as some of your old English Bibles note those places in the Margent over against the place as in that of Isaiah there is set in in the Margent Rom. 14.10 and Phil. 2.10 all which three places unanimously shew the universall Subjection of all Creatures in heaven and earth and under the earth to Christ in the day of Iudgement yet because this Sense is not agreed on by the present Church of England therefore her Declaration in her Canon binds all to Peace and Obedience to Peace in not speaking or writing against bowing at the nameing of the name Iesus nor in preaching to expound the Letter of Scripture Phil. 2.10 by the plain sense of other Scriptures as afore cited and to Obedience by bowing themselves when they heare that Name to be named So as your Lordships Rule here is very usefull for many things although you have neither Letter nor Sense of Scripture for them L. p. 32. The power of adding any thing contrary and detracting any thing necessary are alike forbidden No power of the Church can doe this P. This Sentence you alledge out of Vincentius and allow it So as it is to be accounted your owne Confession which I suppose you will not deny Whereupon you with your Church fall under just condemnation both for adding things contrary and detracting things necessary For you adde to the service of God as you call it your Altars and sundry other superstitionâ— which the Scripture excludes and condemnes and so are contrary and you detract things necessary as Preaching of the saving Doctrines of Grace Preaching on the Lords dayes in the after noon Preaching Week-day Lectures and Cathechising by expounding the Grounds of Religion Which things are necessary profitable and usefull to the people of God and which God commaundeth as 2 Tim. 3.15.16 and 4.1.2 Gal. 6.6 Let him that is Katekoúmenos Cathechised in the word communicate To katekounti to him that Catechiseth or instructeth him in all good things Thus you and your Church take upon you to do those things which are alike forbidden and which no power of the Church can doe though you can L. p. 35. Wrangle while you will you shall never be able to prove that any thing which is but de modo a consideration of the manner of being onely can possibly be fundamentall in the Faith P. Wrangle I will not but prove that some things which are de modo considered in the manner of being onely not onely may possibly but are really in that very respect fundamentall in the Faith So as to deny them or not to beleeve them is in it selfe damnable And hereof I shall give some Instances 1. Christs body in receiving of the Sacrament is to be considered in the mâ—nnâ—r of its being present to the beleeving Communicant In so much as to exclude such manners of being present as doe destroy either the Article of his perpetuall Residence in heaven till his câ—ming againe or the truth of his Naturall Body doth deny and destroy two Articles of the Faith 1. touching Christs sitting 〈◊〉 tâ—e rigâ—â— hand of God from whence he shall come to Judgemâ—â—â— and 2 ly that he was borne of the Virgin Mary with a true humane body As the Papists apprehending and beleeving Christs naturall body to be locally present in the Eucharist doe thereby overthrow his perpetuall residence in heaven till his coming againe and withall the truth of his naturall body which being a true naturall body with all its naturall properties cannot be locally or corporally in many places at one and the same time which yet the corporall presence in the Eucharist doth necessarily import And if the truth of Christs naturall body be destroyed as by the Manichees and other Hereticks Christ is wholly evacuated and shall profit nothing Besides this Popish beliefe of Christs corporall Presence in their Eucharist makes Christs natural body which hath its dimensions of length breadth thicknesse to be a meere fantasticall and imaginaâ—y body as being contained within the narrow circle and compasse of a thinne Wafer-cake and so they destroy Christs body And so also in that they beleeve they eat this body of Christ which is to destroy it as 1 Cor. 6.13 And this beliefe of Christs corporall presence as aforesaid
one of these either expresse word of God or evident consequence â—ut of it And a little before Every wrangling Disputer may neither deny nor doubtfully dispute much lesse obstinately oppose the Determinations of the Church no not when they are Dogmata deposita Deposed Principles P. Now all these Passages weighed together do clearely and distinctly resolve themselves into these Conclusions 1. That the Church may decide and determine some things without any evidence or so much as a probable Testimony of holy Writ and herein you consent and jumpe fully with that notorious Papist and adversary of the once Church of England Stapleton whom the learned Dr. Whitakers publickly confuted in the Divinity Schooles in Cambridge as his Works can yet testifie And yet behold now the Church of England hath got a Champion in the Chaire of Canterbury who pleads for and applauds that in Stapleton which Dr. Whitakers and many other learned Divines in England formerly have refuted And for further Confirmation hereof you tax Bellarmine as of untruth where he confesses that nothing may be certaine by certâ—inty of Faith unlesse it be contained immediately in the word of God or be deduced thence by evident consequence Whereupon you inferre that if nothing can be certaine then certainly no Determination of the Church it selfe wanting expresse word or evident Consequence out of it Thus you condemne Bellarmines true Saying if by the Word of God he understand the Scriptum alone and not his word unwritten and approve and preferre Stapletons false and hereticall sentence before it Secondly That things so decided and determined by the Church without either evident or so much as probable Testimony of holy writ yet are so de fide so firmely to be beleeved as every wrangling Disputer may neither deny nor doubtfully dispute much lesse obstinately oppose Consonant hereunto you â—ay at after pag. 224. The Determination of a Generall Councel â—â—ring is to stand in force and to have externall obedience at least yeelded to it till evidence of Scripture or a Demonstration to the Contrary make the errour appeare and untill thereupon another Councel of equall Authority do reverse it And so also pag. 226. c. Where here I mention for clearer proofe of what you say here but not to anticipate or prevent our fuller Answere when we come to those places where we shall supply our brevity here L. p. 40. I hope A. C. will not tells us there 's any Tradition extant unwritten by which particular men may have assurance of their Severall Salvations P. But what think you of it Will you tell us there is no such thing written in the Scripture That true Beleevers may have assurance of their owne Salvation But if there be why doe you forbid Preachers to meddle with it considering the true and solid comfort which it bringeth to him that hath it As the 17 th Article confesseth might it be suffered to speake out and had you not put a gagge in the mouth of it L. p. 43. Mine is That the beliefe of Scripture to be the word of God and infallible is an equall or rather a preceding prime Principle of Faith wâ—th or rather to the whole body of the Creed P. How The Belief of Scripture to be Gods word and infallible no more but an equall or rather a preceding prime Principle of Faith with or rather to the whole body of the Creed This is yours you say your Saying And I beleeve it to be yours For it is as like to one of your Sayings as may be For here you attribute no more credit to the Scriptures then to the Creed both equall onely differing perhaps in point of some precedencie of time or So with an or rather equall or rather preceding the difference not great if any Thus doe you not equall a Church Tradition with the Divine Scripture For we have it by Tradition that the Apostles compiled the Creed and each his Severall Article And is this or any other Tradition of equall Credit with Scripture And is not the Scripture the Rule whereby the Articles of the Creed are to be interpreted which are no otherwise to be beleeved but as they are agreeable to the Scripture So as for the Purpose if you goe no further for the Sense of the Article of Christs Descent into hell then the very Letter of the Article you can make no Sense of it nor give any reason for it And how then can you give a reason of your Faith in this particular Except you do beleeve it because you do beleeve it and because the words are He Descended into Hell But of this more by and by L. p. 44. Some Traditions I deny not c. to be Apostolicall but yet not fundamentall in the Faith P. You might do well to point out unto us which be those your Apostolicall Traditions that we may distinguish them from those Traditions which Rome calls Apostolicall Or rather perhaps you admit of all those as Apostolicall indeed but yet not Fundamentall Surely if you can prove them to be truely Apostolicall namely that the Apostles delivered them immediately to the Church by word of mouth why are they not fundamentall in the faith Why are not all bound to beleeve them or give as much Credit to them as to the Articles of your Creed which you Say are fundamentall in the faith L. p. 45. The Church of England taketh the words He descended into hell as they are in the Creed and beleeves them without further Dispute and in that Sense which the ancient Primitive Fathers of the Church agreed in P. Here a Question may be moved 1. In generall Whether a man taking up a matter upon such trust as he gives equall beliefe unto it as to the Scriptures themselves doe not therein Sinne damnably As making that a fundamentall ground of his Faith which is not found to be in the Scripture Secondly in particular Whether a man resting in the very Letter of the Article He descended into Hell beleeving thâ—reupon as surely as he beleeves that God is in Heaven that Christs Soule did locally descend into Hell among the damned there having no regard at all to what the Scripture Saith of it whether the Scripture Say any such thing or no doe not hereby make way for his owne Descent into Hell Or thirdly Whteher you do as verily and firmly beleeve Christs Descent into Hell as you doe his Ascent into Heaven Seeing the Scriptures Speakes clearely and expresly of this but not so of that and whether you are aâ— much bound to beleeve his Descent into Hell because you find such words in the Creed as his Ascent into Heaven because you find it in the Scripture Now for Answere to all these together I conceive that to make any thing of the necessity of Faith to Salvation besides what is found in the Scripture is Sinne and in particular to beleeve that because it is Said in the Creed He Descended into Hell therefore Christ
you a reason of my Faith Can you give one reason of yours concerning this Article as you take and beleeve it with your Church of England Show but one reason or shadow of a reason out of Scripture Nay except you bring every Article of the Creed to the examen or tryall of Scripture for the staying and establishing of your Faith you may run into many monstrous errours What doe you beleeve concerning Christs death You beleeve that hee dyed But for whom Whether for the Elect onely in Gods Purpose Account Appointment Acceptance or universally for all men Elect and Reprobate I tell you my Lord if you beleeve that Christ dyed for all men universally as well for the Reprobate as the Elect you destroy both Gods Grace in giving Christ for his people onely the Elect and also the merit and effâ—icacy of Christs death The Scripture shewes these things aboundantly But I mention this onely by the way Againe What doe you beleeve concerning the holy Catholicke Church You beleeve I dare say and you doe say it that the Catholicke Church on earth consists visibly of all Prelates and those that are subject unto them as one intire Body This is your Faith But if you examine this by the Scripture you will find it to be an Errour no lesse soule then false as hath been shewed So doe you not beleeve the Article of the Communion of Saints You doe But who are your Saints on earth You will hardly allow any Saints on earth till after their death they be Canonized by his Holinesse at Rome Nay in plaine termes you persecute both the Saints themselves and their Communion Can you indure such as but professe holinesse And for their Communion doe you not hunt out and persecute Private Fasting and Prayer among the poore soules of Christ when publick they can have none and no other remedy or weapons are left them to defend themselves withall against your bloody Cruelty So as the truth is you neither rightly beleeve the Holy Catholicke Church nor the Communion of Saints but are a notorious both denyeâ— and persecuter of both And therefore we see what a necessity there is that we should bring the Articles of the Creed to the Standard Rule the Scripture both as the surest and safest way yea and the onely way to preserve our Faith from Errour But you object the Fathers for the Sense of this Article of Christs Descent into hell as you beleeve it What if they beleeved so Is their example a sufficient Rule for us We must examine their sense they held of it by the Scripture If it be not according to the Scripture we reject it The Fathers might for a time hold an erronious generally received opinion before it came to be controverted and well sifted and examined by Scripture But they were ever ready to have their faith and opinions tryed by the Scriptures All the ancient Fathers were of this mind and spirit As before Pelagius his time the Fathers spake too liberally of Mans Free-will which after upon his Heresie they reformed and by Scripture abundantly confuted the Pelagians and especially Augustine Ierome Prosper Fulgentius Hilarius and others And Augustine inticing a Donatist to dispute about that Heresie Saith unto him Ratione agamus divinarum Scripturarum authoritate agamus Let us dispute the matter by Argument let us be guided by the Authority of the Divine Scriptures Not what I and thou Say but what Christ Saith And this was the Spirit I say and practise of all the Fathers in such cases So as if this Article of of Christs descent into hell had been by occasion of controversie about it well searched into and examined by the Scripture no doubt but the Fathers would therein have regulated their Faith according to the truth of Scripture But the Church of England say you holds and beleeves that Article as you doe No marvaile when you doe And should you hold otherwise must it not doe so too And yet we have but your bare word for it But you will alledge your Article That Christ went downe into hell But we must examine your Article by the Scripture And it is not the sound of your Article but the sense and that it agreeth with Scripture But we have shewed that no such thing is in Scripture And you tell us withall what Mr. Rogers upon the Articles saith of this That then Then I say in diebus illis the Church of England was not resolved of this Article and he was then the Arch-bishop of Canterbury his Chaplein your Predecessor Richard Bancroft But now your Lordships bare word is enough to Sway the Ballance which before stood but in aequilibrio in an even peize not resolved but now resolved But this I can tell you what ever your Church of England now beleeves there is and I hope a good sound Church of Christ yet in England that beleeves the Creed and all the Articles thereof and this in particular no otherwise then they find them agreeable to the Scripture and the Analogy of Faith And this is agreeable to that which once a Prelâ—te of England said By the generall confâ—ssion of all Antiquity Traditions must he warranted by the Scriptures or els we must reject them And Isidore saith A Prelate if he teach or command any thing besides that which is evidently cammanded in the holy Scriptures let him be taken for a false witnâ—ssie to God and a committer of Sacriledge But looking a little further I find you confessing That the Church of England hath not determined as yet either way by open Declaration upon this Article No hath she not How then doe you affirme and would perswade us that you beleeve with the Church of England that Christ descended into hell without any further Dispute We hope therefore it will not be long before your Declaration come forth with a Definitive Sentence determining the sense of this Article one way or other And the rather because in the late Declaration before the Articles wherein this Article of Christs going down into hell is particularly set downe for one they are declared to be of ambiguous sense and yet men must hold to the letter of the Article So as by that Declaration we are lesse resolved of the Articles then before A new Declaration therefore we would faine see which is cleare Declarative and Determinative and therein tell us whether Christs Soule descended into Hell the place of the damned or into Purgatory the Suburbs of hell and whether Locally and for what end and purpose because the Scripture is altogether silent in this whole mystery and whether you find hell to be in the Center of the Earth or no because your Article saith He went down into hell c. But in the mean time I have for my part ingenuously given you a reason of my Faith touching this Article which I am so resolved on by the Scripture that whatsoever Declaration you or your Church of England
shall set forth to the contrary I must crave pardon if it be not of the same faith with you And thus farre you allow any in the Church of England this liberty for your words are Is it not lawfull for any in the Church of England to say I conceive thus or thus of it c Although you adde L. p. 51. It is one thing to hold an opinion privately within himselfe and another thing boldly and publickly to affirme it P. I doe I confesse boldly and publickly affirme this my faith concerning this Article which my faith I doe assure my selfe is true being grounded upon good and cleare evidence of the Scripture on which my faith is built and not upon any thing of humane Authority And in making open confession of this my faith I doe therin follow the Rule of Scripture which saith Bretheren if any of you doe erre from the Truth and one convert him Let him know that he which converteth a Sinner from the errour of his way shall save a Soule from death and shall hide â— multitude of Sinnes Now what know I that this Declaration of my Faith with Reasons from the Scripture may by Gods grace be a meanes to convert if not your Lordship from your errour yet others or may preserve them from falling into it being dangerously entred into it by such an example as your selfe And however if it be lawfull for you boldly and publickly to affirme such things of beliefe which are not found to be in Scripture why may it not be as lawfull for me boldly and publickly to affirme the Contrâ—ry But the Scope of your Speech as I conceive is to maintaine your practise in punishing in High Commission such as expound this Article by and according to the Scripture L p. 53. For that all the Positive Articles of the present Church of England are grounded upon Scripture we are content to be judged by the joynt and constant beliefe of the Fathers which lived within the first foure or five hundred yeares after CHRIST when the Church was at the best and by the Councels held within those times and to submit to them in all those points of Doctrine P. But first as is before noted as you give accasion why have you made your Articles to be DÃpsucoi of a double sense So as in that respect how can you call them Positive being so perplexed in themselves And againe Whom doe you meane here by Wee I suppose you and your church of England You are contented to be Judged by Fathers and Councels within the first 500. yeares whether your Church-Articles be grounded on Scripture or not Are you contented so indeed Then you must be contented to undergoe the Censure of departing both from the judgement of the Scriptures as disavowing them for the onely rule of Faith and Doctrines to be tryed by and also from the joynt and constant beliefe both of Fathers and Councels within the first 500. yeares For their joynt constant and unanimous beliefe was that nothing besides the Scripture is to be Judge in matters of Faith And if you want leasure to read the Fathers doe but peruse the learned Discourses and Disputes of the Divines of the Church of England before your being a Prelate as Dr. Carleton of the Church De Ecclesia Dr. Whitakers forementioned Dr. White his way to the true Church Dr. Bilson yea and all those that have written of these Controversies and they will abundantly show this that it was ever held as a Principle and therefore not to be denyed nor needfull to be proved and which Dr. Carleton in his said Book proves never to have been altered till in and by the Councel of Trent That the Scripture is the sole rule of Faith But thus you and your Church of England are contented to be one and the Same Church with Rome in refusing the Scripture as the Sole Iudge of your Doctrines But will you be judged by the joynt and constant beliefe of Fathers and Councels within the first 500. yeares whether your Articles about Grace Election Predestination c. bearing as you Declare a double and opposite sense in their Pelagian and Arminian sense be according to the Scriptures or no If I name onely Augustine who was Pelagionorum Malleus that Hammer to knock down the Pelagians both the Fathers and Councels within those first 500. yeares did joyntly and constantly professe that which he writ to be the Beliefe of the whole Church it was so clearely and fully proved out of Scripture In so much as you may read in the Histories of the Councels as in Binius how that some Councels and Bishops of Rome set downe Large Passages in Augustins Tracts against the Pelagians as the Jugement of the Catholick Church and the particular Decrees and Acts of such and such councels If then you will stand to the Judgement of those ancient Fathâ—rs and Councels then you must at their Barre hold up that hand which was a chiefe instrument in drawing up the said Declaration which hath so enigmatized and darkened the Articles as they have no other Light left but a kind of twilight which inclines rather to the night then to the day rather to favour the Pelagian Heresie then the Orthodox verity But this being your language all along that you put not onely your Articles and the Articles of the Creed but the Mysteries also of the Scriptures to the Iudgement of the Primitive Church Fathers Generall Councels we will Supersede from speaking more of it in this place Again where you say that the Church was then at the best if you understand it during the age and time of the Apostles 't is most true but if of the Succeding ages within 500. yeares we may doubt of it or rather resolve the contrary unlesse you meane it comparatively to the ages after that wherein Antichrist and the Mystery of Iniquity began more brightly to shine forth and display themselves in the Roman Sea both in corruption of doctrine and of Gods worship beyond all excesse For you may know that within the space of the first 500. yeares the Church was so overgrown and pestered with the heresie of Arius as the world groaned under it wondering it was become an Arian as Hierome speakes Totus ingemuit mundus miratus se factum esse Arianum And among many corruptions and much unsoundnesse in Doctrine what multitudes of Superstitious devises and heathenish Customes not onely crept but crowded into the service of God Which Heathenish Rites as we find in B. Rhenanus his Annotations upon Turtullian were by the Christians in a kind of carnall policie admitted both because many ancient men being converted to Christianity such as it was could not easily part with their old Customes as also that thereby they might draw other of the Gentiles to become Christians Just such a policie as our new Doctors I meane of your Church of England have used in a pretence at least making us beleeve
for beliefe And you place the Authority of the Present Church in the forefront as a prime leader and inducer to this beliefe And this you inculcate very often and Say pag. 120 I confesse every where that Tradition introduces the knowledge of them And pag. 126. you tell the Jesuite A. C. saying Herein we goe the same way with you because we allow the Tradition of the present Church to be the First inducing Motive c. So as herein you jumpe with the Jesuite So then Authority of the present Church is the Prime Or as sometimes you call it Tradition or otherwhiles The voyce of the Present Church All comes to one reckoning Then to this Leader you muster up a troop of followers as here Ordinary Grace a mind morally induced and reasonably perswaded and before a mans owne Reason and humane Testimony morall perswasion Reason and Force of the present Church the Holy Ghost Conferring of the Scripture with it selfe and other writings And what then Then and not before the Scripture gives greater and higher Reasons of Credibility to it selfe then Tradition alone could give What No more effect for all this but a Credibility I expected you should with such a Troope under the command of such a Generall as the Authority Tradiâ—ion and voyce of the present Church have effected that Rockie Forâ— of mans heart to have yealded to open the Gates of his Infidelity to let in this Beliefe that Scripture is the word of God And can you obtaine no more then a Credibility Alas poore Scripture Can all Mans witty inventions advance thy credit which they have taken away no higher then to a Credibility But thus we may see the vanity of Mans wit when it hath cast away the truth This is right as the Preacher Saith Lâ—e this onely have I found That God made man upright but they have sought out many inventions So when men reject the word of the Lord what wisdome is in them Then they fall to their inventions like Michals stuffing her Image with Goates haire and laying it in the bed instead of David Or a right Embleme hereof we have in our First Parents when they had disrobed themselves of that plain simple seamelesse but glorious robe of their Innocencie having thus lost their uprightnesse wherein God made them presently they fall to their inventions they will supply the want of that robe with a many faire fresh Fig-leaves sowed together without either needle or thread vainly imagining that this would cover their shame when indeed it was a plain signe they had lost their Glory and yet could not hide their nakednesse So when a man hath lost the Truth he shall loose his wits in his manifold Inventions before he shal be able thereby to make up his losse Thus did the Church of Rome of old no sooner had they thrust out Gods word and the preaching of it out of their Temples but up goe their Images for Lay-mens Books and in comes crowding a multitude of Ceremonies the Inventions of man as if these would make amends with advantage instead of the holy Scriptures Just your practise in the Church of England at this day And just your like practise here When you have cast a black veile over the Scriptures native beauty and light disabling them as sufficient witnesses to prove themselves the word of God you invent here a number of things to stop our mouthes to make us beleeve that by these you will bring Mans naturall blindnesse to see and his infidelity to beleeve just nothing at all that the Scriptures are the word of God So as you deale with us here as some Parents doe with their Children take the piece of gold from them and please them with a handfull of deafe nuts Onely they doe it providently to preserve the Gold from being lost but you Popishly to destroy the Gold and to set up the painted dresse of your New-nothing Or you put out the Eyes of the Scripture and then light your Candle before it as after you tell us But let 's a little examine your words First I note here what a blind guide you commend to blind men to lead them to the beliefe of the Scriptures to be the word of God For what is it Certainty No Probabilty A man is probably led But of Probability we have spoken before And take this with you for a certaine truth Probability may beget an opinion but never a belief But by whom probably led By the Authority of the present Church What present Church Of the Prelates or Hierarchy ever But who gave you Authority to be a Church Or Suppose you were the true Church of Christ who gave you this Authority to take away from the Scriptures their sufficiencie of guiding men to the faith of them and to tie men to depend upon the Authority of the present Church thereby to be induced to beleeve the Scriptures And what 's your present Church Is it not the Same with that of Rome And is not this Authority which you arrogate Romish And what if your present Church with Rome shall induce us to beleeve the Apocryphall Bookes to be part of Scripture Or some word unwritten which you call Apostolick Traditions to be equall with the word written as you agree with Bellarmine in this Distinction of the word written and unwritten as before is touched And what if as you have given us too much proofe you should limit us in beleeving the Scripture what part to beleeve for Canonicall and what otherwise For as Hierome saith The Scripture consists more in the marrow of Sentences then in the barke of words more in the Sense then in the Syllables What say you then to the 4 th Commandement which your present Church denyes to be Morall for a Seventh day Sabbath and thereby overthrow the Sanctification of the Lords day What say you of the Doctrines of Grace which you have overthrowne by your Declaration before your Articles What of Altars and the like If herein you overthrow the Sense of Scripture doe you not proclaime to the world that such and such Scriptures are not Canonicall Or if the words be still holden for Canonicall yet it must be according to the Sense of your present Church As Paulus 4. the Pope in the End of the Councel of Trent tyes all Priests by oath to interpret the Scriptures no otherwise but according to the Sense of the Catholick Church the Summe whereof is the Decrees and Canons of Trent Is not thus the whole Scripture made voyd But come on let men be primely induced by the Authority of the present Church to wit of the Prelates or Hierarchy for no other Church you allow nor we you to be any other but of Antichrist by what Argument trow you is it likelyest they will be perswaded that the Scriptures are the word of God Will you give me leave to tell you my Opinion It is this in briefe When men upon
and so no title to Gods Grace either to accompany or assist it When Christ tooke his Farewell of the Apostles he left his Commission with them for the Ministry of his Word and Sacraments and thereupon gave a Promise of his continuall assisting grace to them and to all his faithfull true Ministers of his Word successively to the end of the world Goe Saith he and teach all nations baptizing them c. teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you And Loe I am with you alway even unto the end of the world Now 't is plaine as is both shewed before and will yet more that your present Church being Prelaticall and Hierarchicall is a false and Antichristian Church a Church of Priests of a strange Order not of Christs institution nor your Government of Christs ordinance and so your Church is of no Auhority nor doe you faithfully and truely preach the Word and administer the Sacraments but with the mixture of your owne Superstitious devises nor doe you teach men to observe all things whatsoever Christ commanded in his word and hath left written in the Scripture but on the contrary you suppresse the preaching of his word and oppresse his faithfull Ministers and by publick Authority assumed make voyd Christs eternall Law as before So as Gods people have cause to take up that complaint and prayer of David It is time for thee Lord to worke for they have made voyd thy Law And therefore that promise of Christ to his Apostles and true Ministers of the Gospell pertaines not to you and so not to any of your usurped Authority and pretended Tradition of your present Church But you proceed L. p. 85. After the morall perswasion reason and force of the present Church there is ground enough to move any reasonable man that it is fit he should read the Scripture and esteeme very reverently and highly of it And this once done the Scripture hath then In and home Arguments enough to put a soule that hath but ordinary Grace out of doubt that the Scripture is the word of God infallible and Divine P. The same man Still But what if as with the Church of Rome and the Jesuites your present Church of England doth hold this Paradox so She should take up Romes practise and by your Authority forbid all men the reading of the Scriptures but such onely as shal be thought fit to be dispensed withall to read it We know not what you may doe if once you can obtain voyces in Convocation as what may not you doe to make this your bare assertion and Antichristian opinion an Irrefragable Canon of the present Church of England That men ought not to presume to read the Scriptures till the Authority of the present Church hath made way and her Tradition cleared their understanding and taught and informed their Soules and thereupon very reverently and highly esteeme of it For this is the Cleare Summe of your words here No reading of the Scriptures no esteeming highly and reverently of it no In and home Arguments enough to puâ— a soule out of doubt that Scripture is the word of God Infallible and Divine So as till he be perswaded hereof 't is but vaine and frivolous for a man to read the Scriptures and this perswasion he cannot have till after the morall perswasion reason and force of the present Church And here I note again how you put the Tradition of your present Church single and alone forgetting to Second it with Gods Grace which doth but confirme what I said before that Gods Grace Ordinary Grace when you doe mention it it is but when you stumble upon it and it stands but for a Stale it is your Tradition and Authority of the present Church that is all in all But you proceed L. p. 85 86. Thirdly you to wit A. C. pretend that we make the Scripture absolutely and fully knowne Lumine suo by the light and testimony which it hath in and giveth to it selfe c. We doe not Say that there is such a full light in Scripture as that every man upon the first sight must yeeld to it The Question is onely of such a light in Scripture as is of force to breed Faith not to make a perfect knowledge P. The pretence of A. C. herein was not without just cause onely he considered not what the present Church of England now under your Primacy doth hold So as you should or might have shaped your Answere thus A. C. Distingue tempora Distinguish the times Know you not who sits now in the Chaire of Canterbury True it is that formerly the Church of England or rather some private men all or most of the Divines thereof that have written of this Subject allthough very learned I confesse and of great note place and ranke in the Church in their time held and writ so against you but that was onely their private opinion though all their Bookes were published by Authority But what 's all this to the Church of England now Now you may heare and understand by me who am the voyce of the present Church of England that it is otherwise And what you doe pretend I doe thus interpret We doe not Say c. But what doe you not Say We doe not Say that there is such a full light in Scripture as that every man upon the first sight must yeeld to it How So perhaps not any hath Said Yet this all our Orthodox Divines before you have said That there is such a full light in Scripture as that every man by the thorow and serious reading over of the Scripture hath sufficient evidence therein to convince him as to yeeld it to be the very word of God And if he doe not therupon yeeld the defect is not in the Scripture but in himself But at first sight This is a miserable shift and poore put off to answere fully to the Jesuites pretence or rather true assertion For in this he saith true that we to wit all the Orthodox Divines of the Church of England as aforesaid do hold the Scripture absolutely and fully to be known lumine suo by the light and testimony which it hath in and gives to it self Only we do not make it so as you expresse the Jesuite but we find know and beleeve it to be so But they never said At first sight This is your owne Flam. But what our â—ormer Divines have written hereof they have with such Arguments confirmed as not you with all your Divines of note and worth of which you patch up your present Church of England are able to Answere oudè gru not one word or Syllable But come we to the Question as you State it The Question is say you onely of such a light in Scripture as is of force to breed faith not to make a perfect knowledge And what 's your resolution of this Question of your own Stating Do you yeeld thus much that there
is in the Scripture such a light as is of force to breed faith Nay you have already again and again and I know not how often expresly and flatly denyed that there is in Scripture so much light as of it self hath force to breed so much faith as to beleeve it to be the word of God And this was all the Question with you but even now But how comes in this Negative Not to make a perfect knowledge The Question was not all this while whether the Scripture had so full a light in it as to make a perfect knowledge But seeing you took this in to cast a myst before mens eyes that they may not so easily discern your jugling trick in answering A.C. and yet keeping your credit as if you herein maintained no other thing then what they Divines of the Church of England have held that which you say the Jesuite pretends I will answere this too That all Orthodox Divines do hold and that according to the Scripture that there is in it such a full and cleare light as to make a perfect knowledge For First there is a knowledge perfect and 2 ly we have no other Schoolmaster to teach it but the Scripture and 3 ly this perfect knowledge is required of Christians Be not children in understanding saith the Apostle but in understanding be men So the English hath it But the Originall is tais dè phresì téleio gÃnesthe In understanding or wisdome be ye perfect So Heb. 6.1 Wherfore leaving the Principles of the Doctrine of Christ let us be caried on to perfection That is to perfection of Knowledge in the mystery of Christ. Now this knowledge is no where but in the Scripture and so this perfection no way to be attained unto but by the Scripture as the onely rule and meanes thereof So the Apostle to Timothy saith From a child thou hast known the holy Scriptures which are able to make thee wise unto Salvation through faith which is in Christ Iesus All Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine for reproof for correction for instruction in righteousnes that the man of God may be perfect thorowly furnished unto all good works So as Tertullian might well say Adoro plenitudinem Scripturarum I adore or admire the fullnesse of the Scriptures It is a Fountaine yea an Ocean of Knowledge And if we cannot attaine to that full perfection of Knowledge in this life which is to be found in the Scripture it is defectus vasis non fontis the defect is in the vessell mans soule For we know but in part and we prophecy in part saith the Apostle and not in the fountaine the Holy Scripture which is like Iacobs Well full of Water but deep so as every one hath not such a lage vessell and long line as can draw forth a full measure of knowldge out of it yet he may draw for a plenitude or fullnesse of the vessell according to its quantity and the proportion of Faith given to every man yet not so exactly full by reason of our infirmity and in-capacity of our vessell which is partly of a leaking condition plenus rimarum as he said full of cracks and a great deale we lose in the very drawing of it up as a bucket doth of water before it come to the toppe So as the defect is not in the Well wherein it was but now over head and eares as we Say under water and fuller then it could hold but in the bucket in bringing it up or containing and retaining of it L. p. 87. Faiths evidence is not so cleare for it is of things not seen Heb. 11.1 in regard of the object and in regard of the subject that sees it is in enigmate in a glasse or darke speaking Now God doth not require a full demonstrative knowledge in us that the Scripture is his word and therefore in his Providence hath kindled in it no light for that but he requires our faith of it and such a certaine demonstration as may fit that And for that he hath left sufficient light in Scripture to Reason and Grace meeting when the Soule is morally prepared by the Tradition of the Church P. Speaking Still of that Faith whereby a man beleeves the Scripture to be the word of God which Faith is Historicall here you confound it with the Saving justifying Faith just as the Papists doe For as they so you here alledge for your faiths unclean evidence Heb. 11.1 where the Apostle describes Faith thus Faith is the substance of things hoped for the evidence of things not seen By which very description it is cleare and evident that he speakes not of that Historicall Faith of Scripture common to all men but of the Saving Faith peculiar to Gods Elect Tit. 1.1 and given to the Saints Jude 3. which notwithstanding comprehends in it the Historicall Faith of Scripture to be the word of God and that in a higher degree and measure then any Reprobate can have even as the Rationall Soule of man being it comprehends in it the Sensitive faculty in a more excellent manner then it is in the bruit beasts and the Vegetative faculty in a more excellent manner then it is in the plants because as the sensitive and vegetative qualities of the soule of man being comprehended under the Rationalls are subjected to the rule and command of Reason and so doe participate in some kind of the very nature of the Rationall faculty man being both moving and seeing and hearing and smelling and tasting and touching not as a bruit beast but as a Reasonable creature So Historicall Faith being comprehended under the Saving and Justifying Faith in a true beleever it is in him more excellent and advanced to a higher pitch of perfection then it is or can be in a naturall man so as it participates so farre of that plerophorÃa tes pÃsteoes that full assurance of Saving Faith as that it not onely apprehends and beleeves the Scripture to be the word of God but doth beleeve it so certainly and firmly and with such an affiance and affection as that the Beleever will rather dye then for the terrours of death it selfe be brought to deny this truth And what is this trow you but a full and certaine demonstrative knowledge that perswades him to this But for This Historicall Faith in a meere naturall man or one unregenerate though he be sufficiently convinced in his Conscience that the Scripture is the word of God yet he hath neither so much affiance in it nor affection to it as that he wil be content to loose life and all if need be for the maintenance of this truth This full Demonstration he wants But for that Faith which the Apostle speakes of and describes Heb. 11.1 which you make to be your Historicall Faith and the evidence of it in regard of the objest not so cleare as being of things not seene it is
Preachings by word of mouth of the Lawfully sent Pastors and Doctors of the Church are able to breed in us Divine and Infallible Faith Nay are the very word of God So A. C. expresly And no lesse then so have some accounted of their owne Factious words to Say no more then as the word of God †in the margent at this marke For the freeing of Factious and Silenced Ministers is termed The restoring of Gods word to its Liberty In the Godly Author of the Late Newes from Ipswitch p. 5. P. That the Sermons and Preachings by word of mouth of the Lawfully sent Pastors and Doctors of the Church are able to breed in men Divine and Infallible Faith being according to the Rule and Evidence of Scripture as true Preaching is what good Christian makes a doubt though you deride it I pray you you that are the great Rabbi and Champion of the present Church of England What Say you of the Apostles words How shall they call on him in whom they have not beleeved And how shall they beleeve in him of whom they have not heard And how shall they heare without a Preacher And how shall they Preach except they be Sent So then Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God But we shall heare your judgement by and by As for A. C. with whom you yoak the precise party in the same sentence surely were he no Jesuite nor illegitimate Priest but either a Sound Christian or a Lawfully sent Pastor and Doctor of the Church of Christ the words rightly meant and understood are most true I remember I have read a Story of a Grecian State I take it of Athens where when a vitious Senator in Court on a time gave very good Counsell for the Common-Weale they approved of the Counsell but would not have it Registred in his name but caused an honest man to utter the same forme of words in Court and so under his name it was recorded So I may here Let a good Christian or if you will one of the precise party you mention utter these words and not A. C. and then the sense wil be good and true And by your own words we shall convince you of folly by and by Now for the precise party in the Reformed Churches doe you not meane those who are most reformed in their life and conversation and most refined from the drosse and dregges of all Deformed Churches Superstitions and Idolatries in the pretended worship of God and from all grosse errours in Faith and Doctrine Surely those you must and do meane as whom you most deadly hate and therefore in your wretched malice do couple them with A. C. Of which precise party Iesus Christ is the head that pure and precise Nazarite and Seperatist from all sin and errour with all the Apostles Prophets and Martyrs And what do they say No lesse say you then A. C And what faith A.C. Expresly that Sermons c. as before are the expresse word of God And how prove you that this precise party saith no lesse Nay you say more that they account their own Factious words no lesse to say no more then as the word of God To Say no more Nay surely you have said enough if it be true But if not true a great deale too much Well true or not true 't is enough you Say it and so you make this precise party to be ten times worse then the Jesuite And so you would have it For say you the Jesutie saith Sermons are the very word of God but the Precise That their own factious words are What The word of God No but As the word of God Why do you call them factious words because they are As the word of God Doe you not know that true Preachers words should be hoes logâ—â—â—eou as the Oracles or word of God as Peter speakes such words as become Sound Doctrine Sound Speech that cannot be condemned but unjustly by such as doe heterodidaskalein teach strange Doctrines and agree not to wholsome words keeping the Forme of Sound words But you charge here the precise party with factious words How prove you that For Si sat est accusasse quis innocens erit If your single Accusation be sufficient who shal be Innocent But you bring your proofe è Scriptis good evidence sure What 's that †For the freeing of factious and Silenced Ministers is termed The restoring of Gods word to its Liberty But where do you find these factious words In the Godly Author of the late Newes from Ipswich Well then here be 2 things obserbable 1. The Matter 2. the Author 1. The Matter charged The freeing of factious and Silenced Ministers is termed The restoring of Gods word to its Liberty And who are these factious and Silenced Ministers Namely a matter of about an hundred godly and Conscientious Ministers in Norfolke Suffolk Essex Kent Surrey and other Shâ—res who were in one Summer and the most in the Circuit of one Visitation some silenced some suspended some also excommunicated from Church and Chimney ab Aris ac Focis aqua igni and with their Wives and Children exposed to beggery and all calamity Wherefore They were factious Wherein They would not obâ—y and conforme to the Orders of their Ordinary What Orders For the reading in their severall Congregations the Book for Sports on the Lords dayes For the setting up of Altars in their Chancels For the causing of their People never accustomed to it before to come up to the Altar and there receive the Communion or the Lords Supper on their knees For these and the like which they refused to do they are doomed Factious But the Ministers aledged these were new Impositions praeter praescriptum Legis besides the prescript Law or Statute so as their obedience should have incurred a Premunire No matter for that They are a sort of factious fellows and ringleaders of Puritan-people as you apologised in the Starre-Chamber and so being once silenced 't is too late to talk Yet these men were all Conformists to the Discipline by Law established and lived peaceably How then were they Factious Why surely they would not observe Orders They would notwithstanding an Order to the Contrary preach twice every Lords day They would open the Catechisme-points and not content themselves with the bare words of Question and Answere as it is in the Booke they would hold the people so long with their preaching in the Afternoons that they had no time left to goe to their Laudable Sports nor could the people enjoy their pleasures with a quiet Conscience the Ministers would so trouble them with pressing the Sanctification of the Sabbath according to the 4th Commandement and the like Well then diligent Preachers they were and they preached the word of God by expounding and applying it which we shall heare you by and by to commend if we may beleeve your words when we see your deeds contrary So
did they speake this out of any disesteem of those Fathers but when they were I say so urged to defend the truth against the Adversaries of it by the evidence whereof they were able to make good what they sayd that those Fathers were but men and might erre Now for this who is more apt then your Lordship to cast in the dish of this precise party as you call them that they should upon just cause speake thus of your antient Fathers What would you say then if all this party should as one Man rise up and openly professe against you as a notorious enemy of the truth and of the Church of God in England and elswhere and of all pious sincere and zealous Preachers of the Gospell and that under the Name of the precise party which you so yoake with the Jesuites you doe maliciously not onely seek to undermine but even professedly to invade and oppugne the whole Kingdome of Iesus Christ as also your practises and this your Book can witnesse And how doe you come to know the thoughts of this precise party so well that you say they think their own preachings were infallible Surely you do but think so You might therfore judge more charitably But as I said of those Fathers so do I of these what they have a good and sure ground in Scripture for to preach and teach they may be sure and they know it to be the truth and so infallible As for those that preach of cursing and lyes as David speaks and suggest slanders and false reports into the eares of Princes and Courts against Gods Ministers and Preachers let them thinke and be assured too that what they preach or print is not onely not infallible but most malicious and detestable both before God and Man as tending also the blinding and so to the downfall of such as beleeve such falshoods to be infallible L. p 104. When the Fathers say we are to rely upon Scriptures onely they are never to be understood with exclusion of Tradition in what causes soever it may be had Not but that the Scripture is abundantly sufficient in and of it selfe for all things but because it is deep and may be drawn into different senses and so mistaken If any man will presume upon his own strâ—ngth and goe single without the Church And citing an excellent sentence out of Vincentius Lynnenâ—is quum sit perfectus Scripturarum Canon sibique ad ommia satis superque sufficiat c. Forasmuch as that Canon of Scripture is perfect and superabundantly selfe-sufficient to all things and if you adde this your note upon it in the margent And if it be sibi ad omnia then to this to prove it selfe at least after Tradition hath prepared as to receive it P. A little before you cite also Augustine seting downe 4 speciall notes and marks internall to the Scripture to prove it to be the word of God As 1. The Miracles 2. That there is nothing carnall in the Doctrine 3. That there hath been such performance of it 4. That by such a Doctrine of humility the whole world almost hath been converted And there also to the same purpose Lynnenâ—is who placeth the Scripture before Tradition And here againe That the Scripture is selfe-sufficient to all What room then for Tradition Or if Tradition have any place at all it were good manners for it to come behind as a Handmayd waiting on her Mistris But you can salve all with a wet finger or with one drop out of your pen If it be sibi ad omnia that is selfe-sufficient to all things then to this to prove it selfe at least after Tradition â—ath prepard us to receive it This is your own Addition or Comentary and Glosse of your own Mother wit which is as Tertullian saith of the old Roman Senate which had made a decree that none should be taken into the number of their Gods but such as the Senate it selfe should first think worthy and approve of So as Tiberius Caesar under whose Empire Christ suffered when he had heard much fame of Christ he moved the Senate that Christ migh be entertained for one of their Gods But the Senate for the foresaid Reason rejected it because they first had approved of it Whereupon Tertullian saith Ergo nisi homini plaâ—uerit Deus non erit Deus Therfore except it please man God shall not be God A fit parralell for this very purpose The Scripture by the consent of all the antient Fathers is abundantly selfe-sufficient to prove it selfe to be the word of God but the present Church hath a Senatus consultum a Decree Tradition which must first give her voyce and approbatiton that the Scripture is the word of God otherwise in vaine are all those Encomiums and Commendations of the Fathers though never so antient affirming and confirming the Scriptures selfe-sufficiencie even beyond all measure The Tradition of the present Church must first give her voyce Ergo nisi homini placuerit Scriptura non erit verbum Dei Therfore except it please man the Scripture shall not be the word of God Onely herein you goe beyond the Roman Senate for their Decree for the admiting of a God was by the generall voyce of all the Senators But yours is here from the sole and single Oracle of the Church of England The Chaire of Canterbury 'T is enough that you tell us with an if if the Scripture be Sibi ad omnia then to this to prove it selfe at least after Tradition hath prepared us to receive it Otherwise never talke of Fathers Authority all is in vaine The Scripture cannot be beleeved to be the word of God unlesse The Tradition of the Present Church prepare the way to receive it And at least you say which is no small deminution of the Sâ—riptures selfe-sufficiencie which you put with an if at least But of this sufficiently But let 's heare your Reasons further for your Tradition The Scripture Say you is deep and may be drawn into different sences and so mistaken that any man will presume upon his own strength and goe single without the Church So it seemeth your Articles of Religion are deepe as which not onely may be but are drawne into different sences and so mistaken and that by the presumption of one mans strength going single without the Church But for the Scripture though it be deep yet it affords us both line and Bucket sufficient to draw water out of those wellâ— of Salvation and so to give us a full tast whereby to relish and resent whose word it is except the Tradition and Authority of your present Church doe cut off our line and breake our Bucket The Scripture hath both Milke for Babes and strong Meat for Men. In the Sea both the Elephant may swim as AUG and GREG. saith and the Lamb wade and when it is by unstable men wrested and drawn into different sences and so mistaken yet it remaines the
same unchangable truth still and hath in it sufficient evidence both to reconcile those differences and to convince the gainsayer 'T is true Let no man presume upon his owne strength for the secret of the Lord is with them that feare him Whaâ— was the cause then that you have all along your Booke as in part hath been shewed so perverted the Scriptures was it not because you took not with you for your guide the Tradition of the present Church And was not this then a prusuming upon your own strength when you goe so solely and singly to worke But what meane you by going single without the Church The not consulting the Prelates Or because the Papists object as you The Scriptures are deep and darke therfore we must in all things take the present Church Tradition in our way where it may be bad and be guided by that as by Ariadnees Thread through those manyfold Meanders of that intricate Labyrinth the Scripture as you make it Or that you meane by Church Tradition the Authority of the present Church of England as one with that Church whereof none is and that this Authority must needs proceede and like a Candle before the Sun at noon-day as before shew us the way to know the Scripture to be the word of God if we be willing to shut our eyes and blindfold to be led by the Traditionall Authority of this your Church what know we but by such Authority you may tell us puting the â—ible clasped into our hands All that is cantained within those claspes is the word of God This you may be sure of you have Authority for it you need goe no further And all your Bibles of your present Church of England being by expresse Charge bound with the Apocrypha so as they are punished that doe it not all the Books forfeited which may breed an opinion in the people that those Bookes also are a part of the word of God If now one hereupon opening the Bible and lighting upon either that ridiculous tale of Tobies Dog or that of the Angel who tells Tobiaâ— that he is his kinsman and of the Smoke of the Fishes Liver that drives away the Devill or of Razis killing of himselfe and commended for it by the writer of the Books of the Maccabees or that of the same Authors doubting whether he hath done well or no in writing that Story and the like he may possibly by this meanes be brought to think meanely of the Scriptures and that they are not the word of God because he finds such things in the Bible so as it is bound as are ridiculous false vaine impious and uncertaine whether the rest be done as it should be c. And thus by your Apocrypha delivered into his hand by the Authority and Tradition of your present Church he is brought to beleeve that either the Scriptures of thaâ— Old and New Testament are not the word of God as wherwith those Apocryphall Books are equally bound in all Bibles or else that such Tradition of the present Church it little to be regarded while pretending to lead men to the beliefe of the Scriptures to be the word of God there is no more difference made between them and the Apocrypha so full of vain lyes and ridiculous tales And perhaps you may come in also as Time and Plaâ—e will permit with your Verbum Dei non scriptum to boot the word of God not written of which you tell us before agreeing therein with Bellarmine And at last when your Tradition and Authority hath sufficiently prepared the way you will perhaps bring in your Traditions Apostolicke accompanied with the Decretalls of Gratian which your Sister Church of Rome equall with the 4 Euangelists But however were it for nothing else but to maintaine the credit of your present Church Tradition and Authority in commending to men the Scripture to be the word of God you might doe well to take away your Apocrypha which your Zeale will have placed in the midst between the two Testaments not suffering any Bibles to be bound without it which is as one saith as a Blakamore placed between two pure unspotted Virgins Nor doe I think that your Lordship so placeth your Blackamore as Ladyes put a black patch upon their Cheek or Chin as a foyle to make them seem more fayre so you to make the Scriptures the more lovely and desireable or the better to be known as things by their contraries as white by blacke or the straight by the crooked or truth by error standing near it And though Hierome who excludes the Apocrypha out of the Canon of Scripture saith they may be read ad morum institutionem non ad confirmationem Fidei for instruction of manners and not for confirmation of faith yet considering both the fooleries and falsities and vanities and commended impieties and confessed uncertainties in them as aforesayd all these things put together might be me thinks of sufficient strength to thrust out that Blackamore by the head and shoulders from betweene those two fayre and unspotted Virgins L. ibid. It is most reasonable that Theology should be allowed to have some Principles as well as other Sciences which she proves not but presupposes And the chiefest of these is That the Scriptures are of Divine Authority P. How Is the chiefest of these Principles allowed to Theologie This That the Scriptures are of Divine Authority Doe you not forget Tradition now Doe you not reckon that for the first and so the chiefest as without which the other cannot be granted Or perhaps you doe not reckon your Tradition or Authority of the present Church to be a Principle of Theology What then Perhaps of Muthology the science of setting forth Fables Or of Buttologie the science of much babble to no purpose Or Argologie the science of vaine and frivolous talke Or Carphologie a gathering of Chaffe as if you would by the heape of Chaffe shew us where the Wheat is Onely your Tradition is no Principle of Theologie and therfore a heape of chaffe wherein there is not one grain of the pure corn But let us come to see what is most reasonable It is most reasonable say you that Theologie should be alowed to have some Prinâ—iples as well as other Sciences which she proves not but presupposes And what is Theologie but the Scripture it selfe and the Doctrines therein contained And however it be with other Sciences which in comparison of Theologie are but imperfect and beggerly so as they have need to begge their a'itemata some Principles to be granted them as grounds to worke upon as the Mathematicks c. yet you might have given that honour to Queen Theologie to which all other Sciences are but handmaids as to exempt her from being a begger yea and of that too which is her own and in her own possession namely That the Scripture is the word of God This is one of Theologies prime Principles which
witnesse to it selfe But this Say you it hath not Ergo not the other Againe you Say pag. 81. Church-Authority must first light the Candle Ergo the Scripture hath no light of it selfe much lesse light enough for faith to beleeve But though it should though it be granted that Scripture had light enough for Faith to beleeve yet light enough it gives not to be a convincing Reason and proofe for knowledge As if you said Neither for Faith for we have proved before that faith and knowledge goe inseperably together true faith being a seeing and knowing faith and not a blind faith The Scripture teacheth no blind faith And why should not Scripture give light enough to be a convincing Reason and proofe for knowledge When it is a sufficient light to discover unto a man the secret thoughts and intents of his heart wherof man himselfe is thorowly convinced and thereby in himselfe condemned of his own Conscience But this knowledge you cannot away withall But you can never put out the eyes of your Conscience though you may for a time fold it or lull it fast asleep Much lesse shall you be able to put out the light of Scripture which is greater then the light of your Conscience As Saith the Apostle If our heart or Conscience condemnes us God is greater then our heart and knoweth all things If therfore the heart or Conscence that is in man be a sufficient witnesse of all his thoughts good and bad and layeth them before him as the Apostle saith much more is Gods word a sufficient witnesse and giveth light enough to be a convincing reason and proofe for knowledge And Solomon Saith The spirit of man is the Candle of the Lord searching all the inward parts of the belly If such then be mans spirit the Candle of the Lord searching all the inward parts of the belly that is all the secrets of mans heart how much more is the Spirit of God in the Scripture his Word such a searcher yea saith the Apostle The Spirit searcheth all things yea the deep things of God And these deep things of God he hath revealed unto us by his Spirit And where but in his word the Scripture is the voyce of this Spirit of God And it was the constant sentence of all the Ancient Fathers whom you would seem so much to adore which Augustine expresseth in these words In Scripturu sacris apertè continentur ea omnia quae necessaria sunt ad Sâ—lutem In the holy Scriptures are clearly contained all those things which are necessary to Salvation Now how should this be true if the Scripture doth not give light enough to be a convincing reason and proofe for knowledge L. p. 113. To prove the Scripture to be the word of God first cometh in the Tradition of the Church the present Church So 't is no Hereticall or Schismaticall beliefe Then the testimony of former Ages c. P. Here at length you come neere the winding up of the long thread of your endlesse Discourse in this your 16 th Section the summe wherof is to prove that the Scripture is of no selfe-credit and Authority And first and last your present Church Tradition must be the Prime hand to lead the blâ—nd to this beliefe that Scripture is the word of God For otherwise the beliefe thereof should be Hereticall or Schismaticall For thus you say To prove the Scripture to be the word of God First comes in the Tradition of the Church the present Church So 't is no Hereticall or Schismaticall beliefe Ergo Beliefe of Scripture to be Gods word comes by any other way as by the word of God it selfe read and heard in the preaching of it and by Gods Spirit speaking in it then wherein the Tradition of the Church the present Church hath been the Prime leader This beliefe is Hereticall and Scismaticall Ergo this beliefe in all the Apostles Martyrs Ancient Fathers and Doctors of the Primitive Ages who never knew any such Tradition of the present Church as whereon this beliefe should depend for its necessary prime inducement was Hereticall and Schismaticall They constantly held till Rome and you brought in this your blind guide to tread down under feet the light of the Scripture and to exalt the Authority of your Antichristian Hierarchy that the Scripture was of self-Authority and Sufficiency to prove it selfe to be the word of God and by the hearing of it preached and read to beget and confirme faith in al beleevers without any such inducement of Church Tradition as you speake of And therefore here you passe your sentence of condemnation of this beliefe in all those forementioned for Hereticall and Schismaticall But how justly may this sentence be retorted upon your selfe and your present Church as both Hereticall and Schismaticall Hereticall as in the maintenance of Doctrines of Devils as afore of the Pelagian and Semi-Pelagian Heresies under colour of your doubtfull Articles of Religion as you have made them by publik Edict and Declaration and flatly forbidding to preach of the Saving Doctrines of Grace as they are clearly layd down and taught in the Scripture and in seting up and maintaining of your Altars whereby the onely Altar Iesus Christ is denyed and in dâ—spensing with the 4 th Commandement yea destroying and unmoralizing of it and so overthrowing the Lords-day-Sabbath wherein you subvert the whole worke of Redemption with the Resurrection and the like thus your present Church is Hereticall as also in this in holding and stiffly maintaining by you a necessity of your present Church-Tradition for the inducing of beliefe of the Scripture to be Gods word as not sufficient and wanting light of it selfe to doe it and which otherwise is of no credit at all Thus I say you are damnably and desperately Hereticall Secondly your present Church is also Schismaticall being a Seperation from the true Church of Christ in your Hierarchy or Prelacy which being altogether â—ntichristian hath no communion in that respect with Christs Church and therfore is notoriously Schismaticall yea in this also Schismaticall that you account and brand that beliefe of Scripture to be Gods word for Hereticall and Schismaticall which is not first induced by your present Church-Tradition wherein you are Schismaticks from the Faith and so from the Church of the Apostles and Ancient Fathers and succeding Churches which never held any such Hereticalll opinion concerning any such insufficiencie of the Scriptures and Authority of the present Church as you most pertenaciously and pernitiously hold Therfore I Conclude that if the present Church of England approve of your Book and hold as you doe it is both Hereticall and Schismaticall But you conclude L. p. 115. So then the way lyeth thus as farre as it appeares to me The Credit of Scripture to be Divine reduces finally into that which we have touching God himselfe and in the same order For as that So this hath three main Grounds to which
Foundation being already layd For you say It is to build up the Truth for the benefit of the Church We have discovered before what the truth is you speak of through your Book which is as much to say as all that wherein you agree with the Church of Rome as one and the same Church for the benifit where of you have writ this Discourse to discredit the word of Truth So as by your building up of Truth is meant your pulling of it down with that hand that wrote this Book And for satisfaction of all men Christianly disposed that is of a peaceable Disposition and not perverse peevish and refractory but willing to meet Rome at least in the halfe way And in a word All your Labour is for Edification not for Destruction For Edification Wherin By rasing the Foundation of Faith the Scripture to build up the Tower of Babel againe in England And not for Destruction but onely of the Puritan Profession and Religion and the power of Godlinesse and the Purity of Gods worship and the sincere Preaching and Preachers of the word of God and in a word in rooting out the precise party where ever your Arme of flesh can reach them This being your practise too well known this must needs be your meaning and sense of these words of the Apostle For Edification and not for Destruction Which as you most wickedly pervert and abuse as you doe all other Scriptures to your false purposes so in this respect it is a Conclusion not unsutable to your whole Section while thus you make the word of God of no Authority by your Traditions And so here an end of this Section But not an end of the prosecution of the same subject still For it follows L. p. 118. You see neither Hooker nor I nor the Church of England for ought I know leave the Scripture alone to manifest it selfe by the light which it hath in it selfe No but when the present Church hath prepared and led the way like a preparing morning light to Sun-shine then indeed we settle for our Direction but not upon the first opening of the morning light but upon the Sun it selfe P. In the former Section 17. consisting of one page the Jesuite objecting your words The Bishop said That the Books of Scripture are Principles to be supposed and needed not to be proved your Answere is Did I say it needed no proofe at all to a naturall man or to a man newly entring upon the Faith yea or perhaps to a doubter or weakling in the Faith Can you think me so weake I doe but mention this by the way as taking notice with what a pretty slight you put off your recantation of that speech But the next passage will cleare this more fully Now this your Comparison of the morning light let us clearely see how weake and improper it is for your purpose For what is the morning light but a beame or beames of that Sun which as children of the Bridegroom doe usher him out of his Chamber signifying his neare approach These beames I say are of the very same nature of that light which is in the body of the Sun and do immediately issue and spring from it inlightning the Sky or that part of heaven above the Horizon which beames or morning light as the Sunne advanceth nearer to his Rising waxeth clearer and clearer unto the perfect day But now the Authority of the present Church which you compare to the morning light is no such beame of the Sun of Righteousnesse shining in the Scripture as in his Sphere as that it is of the same nature of the light of the Scripture For the Scripture light is Divine and Infallible but of Tradition you say I cannot find that the Tradition of the present Church is of Divine and Infallible Authority Which if you could by all the light in the Sky at noon day find you would be no Churle in hiding it from the world or puting it under a bushell But to hold you to the propriety of your Comparison which at first blush showes as faire as the first morning light you may know That the Sunne makes the beames to shine and not the beames the Sunne whereas you say The Authority of the present Church lights the Candle of Scriptures which otherwise gives no light and so makes it to shine Againe 2 dly The morning light is an Infallible Index or immediate foregoing token of the approach of the Sunne riâ—â—ng which it ushereth in but you dare not say yea you deny that the present Churches Testimony or Authority is infallible for the inducing of beliefe that Scripture is the word of God Thirdly the morning light so soon as ever it first peepeth or dawneth we say and that truly It is day but an Infiel or doubting or weake Christian upon the first hearing of the testimony of the present Church That the Scriptures are the word of God is not so infallibly Convinced and perswaded as therfore to beleeve it to be true Fourthly The morning light is alone a sufficient and infallible signe as being an immediate effect an essentiall quality issuing from the Sun of its neare rising but you confesse that though your present Church Authority be the Prime yet it is not the Sole Index or finger to point us out the Scripture to be the word of God but you joyne with it sundry other helps as before you tell us Thus no way can we find your Comparison proper or pertinent to your purpose being as a blind Horse that halts downright of aâ—l foure But this by way of application to the right purpose I conclude out of it That as the morning light which certainly and infallibly tells us of the approching of the Sun rising and which perswades every man whose eyes are awake of the truth therof is an immediate beame of that Sun and of the same nature and quality of its native and essentiall light So that which is both Prime and Sole in leading us Certainly and Infallibly to beleeve that the Scripture is the word yea and working also and begetting this Faith in us is the light or beame of the Scripture it selfe displayed by the Ministry or Preaching of the Word which is as the dawning of the day or the Day Stars first arising in our hearts as Peter speakes by meanes whereof we come actually not onely to beleeve without any other externall Cause that Scripture is the word of God but also to know and feele that the Sun of Righteousnesse hath now begun to shine in our hearts by the beame of his Spirit the immediate forerunner of his rising unto the perfect Day L. p. 120. A C. Cannot but perceive by that which I have clearly layd down before that when I said Scriptures were Principles to be supposed I did not I could not intend they were prius cognita known before Tradition since I confesse every where that
because they are seperated from the Church of Rome and from all Prelacy and Hierarchy we do exclude you and Rome with your Prelaticall and Hierarchicall Churches and Government Ecclesiasticall from being any true Churches of Iesus Christ. And whereas you say Rome was once Right and Orthodox 't is true that in Pauls time the faith of those Christian Romans was famous throughout the world and so it might continue pure for a time after but when once the Prelacie and Hierarchy of Rome and that but within Romes Diocesse was erected it became Ipso facto Antichristian and after when the Bishop of Rome became supream over all Christendome then it was the Church of Antichrist from which it is necessary for all true Christians to make a perpetuall Seperation L. p. 133. The Roman Church which was once Right is now become wrong by imbracing superstition and error P. Such is your stile to touch that delicate Woman tenderly as saying She is now wrong by imbracing superstition and error But not by defiling her selfe with abominable Idolatries This you never once charge her with in all your Book as we shall see more at after And onely error as humanum est errare but you never tell her of her Heresies and Apostacie from Christ and her Doctrines of Devils Beware of that You have therfore put me to the greater paines in dealing plainly both with her and you L. ibid. 'T is too true indeed that there is a miserable rent in the Church and I make no question but the best men do most bemâ—ane it nor is he a Christian that would not have unity might he have it with Truth P. You are often putting your finger into this scarre or rent An Argument it paines you because ubi dolor ibi digitus And I am perswaded the more you put your finger in it the wider you will make it And certainly those that are indeed the best men are so farre from bemoaning such a rent as they rejoyce in it the cause considered as in their glory and safety And such Christians as have the greatest wisdome tempered with their goodnesse do see such an Impossibility of Reconciliation with Rome that they account it the greatest folly in the world once to dreame of such an unity as is coupled with a condition of Truth I mean Truth indeed not such a Truth as you mean there where nothing but superstition and error Idolatry and Infidelity Hypocrisie and Iniquity Ambition and Avarice Pompe and Pleasure are the onely supporters of Peters Infallible but counterfeit Chaire Unlesse you mean as you must doe those good men which are your Confederates in your Idolatrous Altars and other Superstitions and Idolatries halting between two opinions God and Baal and have already one foot over Romes thresholdâ— accounting themselves with your Church of England one and the same Church with Rome as two branches of the same tree as two Sisters of the same venter ready to salute each other with the kisse of amity and unity as Aâ—ab did his Brother Bâ—nhâ—daâ— then much may be what should hinder your unity And for your Truth as we sayd before we know very well what it is Rome will not want for that which you call Truth L. ibid. But I never said nor thought that the Protestants made this rent P. I pray you do you think as you speake But admit it Why should you think so Or why are you so zealous in makeing such an Apology which true Protestants indeed will never thank you for But you are such a Protestant as I dare say would not have been the first that should have made the rent no nor the hindmost neither so firme you are for peace But I noted before a necessity of Seperation to be made by the Protestants from Rome as Christ admonisheth Rev. 18.4 Come out of her my people c. L. p. 135. He must leave my words to my selfe and their sense either to me or to the genuine construction which an Ingenious Reader can make of them P. 'T were well If you would observe the same Law your selfe to others Then you would not so frequently as you doe make a poore Minister an offender for a word and lay a snare for him that reproveth in the gate and turn aside the just for a thing of nought as the Prophet speaks L. ibid. The Protestants did not get that name by protesting against the Church of Rome but by protesting and that when nothing else would serve against her errors and superstitions Do you but remove them from the Church of Rome and our Protestation is ended and the Seperation too P. Yes by protesting against the very Church of Rome got they and that deservedly the name of Protestants For were not those errors and superstions you speake of yea and Antichristianisme and abominable Idolatries and universall Apostacie become the very body and soule of the Religion faith and practise of that Church Was not your Dalilah the Church of Rome become that Harlot and Mother of whoredomes and all abominations before the Seperation and rent was made Could they then protest against her corruptions and not withall against her selfe Were not all her corruption so incorporated unto her as they were altogether inseperable from her like the Blackamores skin or the Leopards spots which cannot be changed And do not you confesse that they protested against her Corruptions when nothing els would serve when there was no remedy left when she was grown incorrigible So as they might have said as in the Prophet we would have healed Babylon but she is not healed Forsake her and let us goe every one into his own Countrey for her judgement reacheth unto heaven and is lifted up even to the Skies It applyes it selfe And my Lord you speake too late and in vain to A.C. to remove Romes errors and superstition A C. is not of the Faith to remove such mountaines He cannot wâ—sh the Blackmore white You must procure such a Generall Councel as is at least equall to that of Trent to reverse all those Decrees whereby all Romes superstitions and errors are so ratified as England will sooner heare of a Parliament for Reformation then Rome will indure the thoughts of any more Generall Councels to question or meddle with her Trent Decrees Rome is now setled upon her lees and you shall sooner remove the City of Rome it selfe from her muddy Tiber then the Church of Rome from her superstitions Nor is the black skin more conaturall to the Ethiopian nor spots to the Leopard then Idolatry Superstition Infidelity Apostacie and all error is conaturall to the Beast with seaven heads and ten hornes as making up both the Complexion and Constitution of that painted Whore And therefore you might have saved all this labour in vain in writing such a Volume out of a hope to worke an unity with Rome when her superstitions and errors shal be removed and that is ad Graecas Calendas
when men sheere their Goates so in this respect you may safely say That when Romes errours and Superstitions are removed our Protestations and Seperation is ended And so may I. L p. 136. Protestants doe but protest the sincerity of their Faith against the Doctrinall corruption which hath invaded the great Sacrament of the Eucharist and other parts of Religion P. Well were it for you and your present Church of England as you have lately made it or would at least make it if you had such sincerity of Faith to protest against Romes doctrinall corruptions as true Protestants have But why doe you call the Lords supper The Great Sacrament of the Eucharist Is it Great because you give it a Name not known in Scripture Or because it is so grandized in the Church of Rome as it is made like the Great Diana of the Ephesians whom all the Pontifician world worshipeth Or it is Great comparatively to Baptisme because this is celebrated in the Font at the Church doore neere the Belfrey and That upon your high Altar which you have advanced at the chiefe as you esteem it and East end af your Chancels and of your stately Cathedrals Or Great because in your Devotion you bow towards that place whence it seems you look for your help yea so lowly fall down and worship before it as before the Lord your maker Or what is it that your Eucharist is become with you so Great a Sacrament Because it or your selfe is Great with Child of a young new God-Almighty But however For my part I reverence every Ordinance of God but I dare not make nor esteem them greater then God hath made them nor give them other Names and Titles then God hath given them least I either seem to be wiser then my Maker and their Author or should give more honour to them then is due this being as wofull experience hath taught the ready way to rob God of his honour to transferre it to the creature and set it up instead of God But loth you are I know to call the Sacrament the Lords Supper as the Scripture calls it least it might call for the Lords Table as the Scripture also terms it and so your high Altar should have no more Room in the Church But doe the true Protestants protest the sincerity of their Faith onely against the Doctrinall Faith which hath invaded your Great Sacrament of the Eucharist Yes you adde and other parts of Religion What be those That we may know those speciall Doctrinall Corruptions against which you say Protestants do protest the sincerity of their Faith For Rome hath many Doctrinall Corruptions against which true Protestants protest which you do not so much as mention in all your Book and such too as do â—â—atly overthrow the Foundation Christ. As Iustification by works for one which we have touched before Yea and Rome hath many and those most damnable corruptions which you are so farre from accounting corruptions as you make them Essentiall parts of Gods worship I name Altars for one Of which also before And these things we Protestants protest the sincerity of our Faith against But you are none of those Protestants as not professing much lesse protesting the sincerity of any such Faith L p. 138. A right sober man may without the least touch of insolence or madnesse dispute a businesse of Religion with the Roman either Church or Prelate as all men know Irenaeus did with Victor so it be with modesty and for the finding out or confirming of truth free from vanity and purposed opposition against even a particular Church P. This passage I cited before in my Preface to your Lordship yet I here recite it again because perhaps all wil be little enough to put you in mind therof For as I told you before the Greatnesse of the Cause hath caused my stile and Spirit to mount upon the wings of zeale for my Christ and for his Church in a higher degree and strain then ordinary And that for this you Censure me of insolence or madnesse as I feare it wil be the best defence you can make for your Cause alwayes excepted the Bill in Starre-Chamber I have no remedy but patience committing the Cause to him that judgeth rightly And as I have done it for the finding out of the truth so this hath caused me a great deale of moyle in digging and removing away a masse of earth and rubbedge which you had cast to hide this Treasure from us So as a purposed opposition was not it that set me upon this Great taske but yet I oppose you and purpose to detect your falsities so fairly guilded over with hypocrisie that you might not impose too much upon your Credulous Reader You aledge for this purpose the Example of Irenaeus arguing a Case with Victor Bishop of Rome which you say all men know But my Lord I suppose all men do not know it And because it is a matter both worthy and not unnecessary for all men to know it I will take occasion here to speake somthing of it as not impertinent also to our present purpose Towards the end of the second Century there was a difference between the Asian Church and the Roman about the Day of Celebrating the memory of the Lords Resurrection The contention grew hot as commonly men are most eagre in propounding their own devises in matter of Religion so as because the Asian Churches would not conforme to Victor Bishop of Rome he began to fume and to thunder and threaten them all with Excommunication Irenaeus who lived in France for this reproves Victor telling him that he ought not to proceed and deale so with Asian Churches for such differences as were of things at that time accounted Indifferent Some saith he fast one day before Easter some two some more some 40. houres together whereupon by the way it seems that those 40. houres were afterwards turned into forty dayes for your Lent Fast kaì cudèn élatton pà ntes oâ—uioi eirteneusà n tè kaì eireneúomen pròs alluious yet neverthelesse saith he all these lived peaceably together and we also are at peace one with another Kaì he diaphonìn tes nesteÃas tèn homónoian tes pÃstâ—os sunistesi And this difference about Fasting commendeth saith he the unity of Faith And he relates unto him also the examples of sundry of his Predecessors in the Sea of Rome who neither kept it themselves nor command of it to others and yet neverthelesse they that observed it not were at peace with those that came to them from the neighbour Churches or Congregations wherein it was observed Nor were any at any time cast out of the Church about the Manner or Custome But those Presbyters saith he who before you observed it not sent Commendations or kind salutations and greetings as tokens of Charity to those of other neighbouring Churches who did observe it And blessed Polycarpus sojourning at Rome in the time of
the making of it That is That it is ill very ill done of those who ever they be Papists or Protestants that give just cause to continue a seperation P. Here you speake plain Papists or Protestants and why not then Protestants as well as Papists that did very ill in making the seperation as they doe ill in continuing of it But yet your meaning here may possibly be that as it was ill done of the Roman party to give the first cause of the separation so it were no lesse ill done to continue the same cause to the continuing of the Schisme You may doe well to perswade Rome to lay down all her Corruptions which the Protestants have and doe protest against her that so if the Schisme be any longâ—r continued it may then appeare to be long of the Protestants â—ut if Rome be obstinate and incorrigible in her errors you have no reason to say it is ill done on the Protestant party to continue the Schisme But it may be perhaps ill done of the Protestant Church of England notwithstanding to continue the Schisme for as it may be well done of you to sowder it againe And therfore while the case is thus in agitation and Rome maks no more hast to meet you the multitude of her impedimenta bagge and baggage and all kind of Trumpery retaining her peace and which in no sort she will part withall and so will not stirre a foot over Tiber what 's wanting on her part you will supply with all expedition dressing up her sister the Church of England in Romes fashion unto such a conformity and symphony as promiseth a making up of the maâ—ch with all faults on both sides sooner perhaps then Rome could hope for L. ibid. The Kings and the Church of England had no reason to admit of a publick Dispute with the English Romish Clergy till they should be able to shew it under the Seale or Powers of Rome That that Church will submit to a third who may be an Indifferent Iudge between us and them or to such a Generall Councel as is after mentioned P. First the English Romish Clergie are by the Laws of England Traitors and therfore to be disputed withall at Tiburne So as if you put them to shew their warrant to dispute with you under Romes seale they will require of you perhaps to shew them under Englands seale an abrogation of the Laws against them And you tell us before that the Church of England knows well that a Parliament cannot be called at all times Nor will the Powers of Rome permit their Religion to be disputed on And whom will you chuse to dispute with them some peaceable men that will not be apt to fall out with the Jesuites your Lordship being Moderator But you know Rome denyes the Rule of Faith the Scripture And Contra negantem Principia non est disputandum Who shall else be the Umpier Who the Third Who the Indifferent Iudge Could both the Churches joyntly chuse a more Indifferent Iudge then your selfe Sure Rome her selfe would nominate you before Bellarmine himselfe if he were living A Generall Councel indeed of Romish English and other Prelates might do much so you should be sure to exclude all the Protestant Reformed Churches for wranglers as Franciscus à S. Clara well adviseth And then if a Generall Councel should reconcile and compose all differences though never so erroniously yet the Error must stand till another Generall Councel shall reverse it as you tell us at after But you adde L. p. ibid. and 146. And this is an honest and I think a full Answer And without this all Disputation must end in a clamour and therfore the more publick the worse because as the Clamour is the greater so perhaps wil be the Schisme too P Nay my Lord if you stand upon termes of honesty indeed you should have nominated the Scripture for the onely sufficient and upright Iudge between you This had been honest in one that professeth but the name onely of a Protestant But for that you told us enough before whereby we understand that this point of honesty is no part of your meaning But if your Answere were not in this respect honest I must tell you neither was it full but an empty and frivolous Answere To dispute of Divinity or Religion where Scripture is not the onely Iudge is as to judge of gold by the colour without the touchstone And so he that could shew the best colour for his matter by a false light should carry it away And I may say truely without the Scripture be Iudge your disputation must needs end in a clamour where the voyce of God is of no authority But then also if Scripture should be the Iudge you might well say The more publicke the worse For it is such a light as would discover all your fallacies and so raysing a clamour of the publicke Audience when they should observe such collusion between the English Clergie and the English Romists it might breed such a detestation against all Reconciliation with Rome as would make the rent the wider and so all your labour should be in vaine And then you might use the Proverbe As good never a whit as never the better L. p. 148. That there are errorr in Doctrine and some of them such as most manifestly indanger salvation in the Church of Rome iâ— evident to them that will not shut their eyes P. To indanger Salvation is much and for you to say so much is much too and you saying so much we need not make much doubt of the truth of that you say in this Case And yet in saying so much you speake not all truth The truth is as we have proved and shall yet further That Romes Errors in Doctrine are damnable and cannot consist with salvation as is evident to those whose eyes are truly opened L. ibid. A. C. himselfe confesses that error in Doctrine of the Faith is a just cause of seperation so just as that no cause is just but that Now had I leasure to descend into particulars or will to make the rent in the Church wider 't is no hard matter to prove that the Church of Rome hath erred in the Doctrine of Faith and dangerously too And I doubt I shall afterwards descend to particulars A. C. his importunity forcing me to it P. By A. C. his canfession then the Protestants are able to justifie their seperation abundantly As for your Lordship you are so charitably and peaceably affected that you are loth upon any termes though it concerne the salvation of mens soules in such a case to speake the truth home to make the rent wider till by your Adversaries importunity I would say A. C. you be forced to it You have too tender a heart to be a Surgion when for feare least the opening of the wound make it wider you suffer it to fester inwardly It were well if you were halfe so tender hearted to the
then to Iudas the Standard-bearer of that troope that came to apprehend Christ for Iudas came to Christ with Hale Master and kissed him and with this kisse as by the signall given betrayed him And is not your Ordine primus by this very Character known to be Antichrist while pretending to be Apostolick and a Successor of the Apostles he doth the more easily betray Christ in his Word and Members into the hands and bands of men Object But Peter was Ordine primus What such as to avoyd confusion As a head uniting all the members and governing all the body as your Ordine primus to avoyd confusion necessarily imports Did Peter at any time convent the Apostles Was he that Ordine primus that struck the stroke and gave the Difinitive sentences in that first Generall and Apostolicall Councel Act. 15. Did not Iames determine and the whole Church assented And Gal. 2.9 Is not Iames set before Peter And was not Peter and Iohn sent by the rest of the Apostles to Samaria When was this necessity then of an Ordine primus to avoyd confusion And what confusion is avoyded this day in the Church of England by your being Ordine primus nay prim-as both in honour and Authority and Iurisdiction Have you not by that your Ordine primus brought a confusion upon Religion Upon the Doctrinall Articles Upon the Consciences and Faith of men not knowing what to beleeve or what to doe or how to live in any peace inward or outward But you thinke to shift well enough for one so long as you put an other Ordine primus before as before is noted upon whose back you may lay all your burthens So as if any thing be amisse or succeed not well you are not then the Ordine primus Lastly one thing I observe more from your Ordine primus and that is the necessity of it which say you some one must be What one soever this is whether the Patriarch of the greater world or he of the lesser or other World but Rome rather must be she there 's a necessity for this that one be Ordine primus What 's this By the necessity of this Ordine primus is brought in a necessity of your new Catholicke Militant Church consisting of the Prelacy or Hierarchy which is so one as one must be Ordine primus as generall of the whole Army as the Dragon and his Angels to warre against Michael and his Angels So as here is an indissoluble and inseparable combination and confederacy of Prelates throughout the world making up that one Militant or Malignant Church whereof one must 〈◊〉 the chiefe to order the battel that there be no disorder but that every one keep his ranke and fight in his station against the true Militant Church of Christ as was before noted L. p. 182. Let Rome reduce it selfe to the observation of Tradition Apostolicke to which it held in Irenaeus his time and I will say as he did That it will be then necessary for every Church and for the faithfull every where to agree with it P. Let Rome reduce it selfe to the rule of the Scripture in all things which the faithfull there held in Pauls time when he was prisoner yet Preacher in Rome and then I will say and wil be the first that will doe it I wil be one of the faithfull that will agree with it But for Tradition Apostolicke I know not what you meane and therfore I dare not say as you doe But still you hold with Ordine primus I am sure of it You hold fast together for your Hierarchy wherein you place the Pope your Ordine primus Which while you doe Whatsoever Tradition Apostolicke Rome shall reduce it selfe to it wil be most perillous and pernicious too for any of the faithfull to agree with it And I am sure the Hierarchy and our Ordine primus in that was no Tradition Apostolicke So for that ther 's no talke of reducing either for Romes or Canterbury And could you perswade the world to agree with with the Ordine primus at Rome then that speech of yours pag. 182. would easily take place in these our times as well as Irenaeus his time Very great reason was there in Irenaeus his time that upon any difference arising in the Faith Omnes undique fideles all the faithfull or if you will all the Churches round about should have recourse that is resort to Rome being the Imperiall City and so a Church of more powerfull Principality then any other at that time in those parts of the world But the meaning of A.C. is we must so have recourse to Rome as to submit our faith to hers And should I grant them their own sense that all the faithfull every where must agree with Rome which I may give but can never grant yet were not this saying any whit prejudiciall to us now For first here 's a powerfull Principality ascribed to the Church of Rome so you Here are many words conningly woven and packt up together that to discover your full meaning you had need to unâ—old your whole pack Now all round about Rome is a large compasse for the whole world lyes round about Rome it being also at least there the Imperiall City and so a Church of more powerfull Principality then any other which might therfore challenge resort of all unto it as to the onely Oracle for resolving all your faithfull every where in doubts of Faith Yea and if you should grant too that all must submit their faith to Rome you say it were no whit prejudiciall to us now And should you not grant it how should it agree with your necessity of having one Ordine primus For to what purpose should there be one Ordine primus to avoyd confusion iâ— to his Call Summons and Judgement all your faithfull resorting they should not rest this their faith in his Determination Otherwise how should Confusion be avoyded For then to what one Ordine primus should they goe But do you yeeld it or no You say you may give it but can never grant it I pray you whether shall your affirmative giving or your negative granting be of more force Or if you give it how do you not grant it too Yea giving is more then granting If therfore you give it you doe more then grant it But suppose you restrain it onely to Irenaeus his time Had Rome then an Infallible Oracle in the Popes brest Or was his Iudgement the more infallible because his Chaire was in the Imperiall City Or his sentence of the more credit because his Church had the more powerfull Principality Then why in all doubtfull cases of Faith should not all the faithfull in England resort to the Chaire of Canterbury as which hath the most powerfull Principality of all the Prelates in England Why should not the thresholds of your Palace be as much worne with the footsteps of those that come to your Oracle for resolution
in matters of faith as the Shrine of your Predecessor S. Thomas of Canterbury with the keyes of his blind votaries And so much the more in these dayes as wherein you have put all England to a stand and stagger what to beleeve in point of Faith considering that the Articles of Religion like Meteors hang in suspense in the ayre no man knowing what to make of them whether they be white or blacke or what such Comets portend untill to that Edict of the Court that binds up the sense of the Articles fast asleep or in a slumber between Hawke and Buzzard or as a speaking in a dreame you shall superadde the Definitive Decree of the Chaire of Canterbury to interpret unto us what they have dreamed all this while But I suppose the Board calling you so much away from your Chaire you are the more willing and that in such a case of necessity to send all the faithfull to your Ordine primus at Rome and to Peters Chaire there if any such thing be there which may like Iunoes three footed stoole resolve all their doubts And so as you say to A C. Rome may thanke you for it But alwayes provided tha◠Rome first reduce her selfe as you say to the Observation of Tradition Apostolicke and then you will say Latinè plainly That it wil be then necessary for every Church and for the faithfull every where to agree with it to have recourse to Rome and to rest their Faith there where is the most Powerfull Principality And thus as well as I could I have pickt up your meaning wherein if I have come short you must pardon me and blame your selfe for your being no more perspicuous in matters of such moment as about consulting of Oracles considering that that of Apollo and Delphos was long agoe put to silence But to proceed L. p. 199. The Bishop of Rome hath no power from Christ over the whole Church to be Iudge in Controversies nay out of all doubt 't is not the least reason why de facto he hath so little successe because de Jure he hath no power given P. Not over the whole Church This seems to imply that the Bishop of Rome hath a power from Christ to be Iudge in Controversies over all the Churches at least within his own more powerfull Principality And consequently that the Primate of Canterbury hath the like power from Christ to be Judge in Controversies over the whole Church of England If you have yet it wil be some ease to the English that they have an Oracle so neare home to resolve them in all doubts so as they need not as formerly go trudge to Rome for the matter But neither to the Pope in his Powerfull Principality nor to you in your Primacy hath Christ given any power at all to be Judge in Controversies of Faith And because you have no Calling nor Commission from Christ therfore 't is true you say in this that the Pope hath no better successe And I pray you what successe have you had since you took upon you to sway the Crosier staffe of Canterbury and to be Judge in Controversies of Faith making and raysing controversies there where there was none before as namely in the Articles of Religion 'T is true you have put many a good Minister to Silence thrust many a one out of his Cure and Countrey levied your way for an universall Conformity to Rome prevailed much in your Designes that way but yet have you any great cause to boast of your successe all things Considered I say no more Verbum sapienti you understand me well enough And certainly when you cast up your reckoning you will find your selfe to be as much behind hand for successe as you do the Pope And your Reason is true because you have no power no Authority no Calling no Commission from Christ either to possesse such a place or to execute such an Office For as the Lord saith in Ieremie speaking of false Prophets I sent them not neither commanded them therfore they shall not profit this people at all saith the Lord. So neither have you reason to thinke that because you may do what you list in turning things upside down in seting up your Altars in suppressing Gods word in oppressing Gods Ministers in advancing your Arminian and Popish faction and you hitherto prosper therein while there is never a man left that dare so much as mutter a word against these your practises so great is your Power and so terrible your Cruelty and Ministers so Cowardly so as by this meanes your Cause and Course seems to prosper while you can crush any that shall interpose himselfe or lawfully in his place oppose your violent courses therfore Christ hath given you this power thus to tyrannise wherein you doe so prosper True it is that Christ hath given way to Satan to rage in these times because he knows he hath but a short time and hereby Christ will try and humble his people that he may doe them good and be glorified in their deliverance and in the destruction of all such Papall and Antichristian Tyranny L. p. 200. The Church being as large as the world Christ thought it fitter to governe it Aristocratically by Divers rather then by One Viceroy And I beleeve that this is true For all the time of the first 300. yeares and somwhat bettter it was governed Aristocratically to wit by the Bishops c. P. Here you give us occasion further to launch into the Deep of this Mystery that we may sound the bottome of it and so discerne what ground it floats upon mudde or sand or both although we have in part discovered it before Here you say and you say you beleeve it too it is an Article of your Creed that Christ thought it fitter to govern the Church Aristocratically by diverse rather then by one Viceroy And you give the Reason The Church being as large as the world We will first take an Assay of your words and then of your Reason For to a vulgar Reader some of your words are somwhat obscure and some also very finely couched that every eye cannot at the first discerne the Mystery of them And first for Aristocratically Aristotle the famous Philosopher and no meane statesman in his Politicks layes down 3 kinds of Civil Government taken in the better part The first is Monarchia which is a government by One the second is Aristocratia which is a Government of the Best Men the third is Democratia which is a Government Popular or of the People Opposite to these three he sets three sorts of bad Government the first is Tyranny which is opposed to Monarchy Tyranny ruling either without or contrary to the good Laws established but a Monarchy governing according to the established good Laws of the State Kingdome or Common-weale The second is Oligarchia which signifies the Government of a few and this standing in opposition to Aristocratia
Government is nothing according to our Great Kings Laws but according to your own devised Canons and in nothing in Nothing I say agreeable to the Laws of Christ in the Scripture for the right Government of his Church Nay that Government which Christ hath prescribed in his word and which is practised in the best Reformed Churches beyond the Seas you doe utterly and openly condemn and the Churches themselves that doe practise the Discipline of Christ and his Apostles while you deny them to be any Churches of Christ at all Againe Every Kingdome as it hath but one King over it so it is capapable of no more then onely one Vice-Roy so as by that Title he that is your Ordine Primus and hath a more Potent Principality the Pope had he but a good Title would carry that honour from you all if you value the worth and Dignity of that Vice-Royship after the value of your Bishopricks and not after vertue Either then you must acknowledge the Pope to be the sole Vice-Roy which you are loth to doe For why should not the Patriarch of the other world be as capable of that honour as he or you must give us leave to find out the onely true Vice-Roy of Christ in his Church and that is The Holy Ghost For when our Great King went into his Celestiall Kingdome to his Church Tryumphant leaving his Militant here on Earth under the Kingdome of Grace as touching his bodily presence he sent the Holy Ghost to be his Vice-Roy or Vice-Gerent to be perpetually resident in his Kingdome of Grace here for the Governing of his Church Militant and that according to the Law of Christ in his written word leading the People of Christ into all truth by revealing unto them all the Mysteryes of Christs will contained in the Scripture As Christ saith He shall gâ—orifie Me for he shall receive of mine and shew it unto you And v. 13. When the spirit of Truth is come whom v. 7. I will send unto you he will guide you into all Truth for he shall not speake of himselfe but whatsoever he shall heare that shall he speake Loe here then a faithfull Vice-Roy indeed And will or dare you deny this Spirit of God to be an All sufficient Vice-Roy who doth execute Christs Kingly Office in his Church in all things just so as Christ himselfe willâ—th And therfore except you can prove that Christ hath many Kingdomes of Grace here on earth or any more Churches Militant then one onely here is no Rome for any such Vice-Roys as you pretend to be For here we see it plain that of Christs one and onely Kingdome of Grace here on earth the Holy Ghost is the onely Vice-Roy And who is fit to be Christs Vice-Roy in his spirituall Kingdome but the Spirit of God and of Christâ— Ye are therfore no Vice-Roys because you are altogether carnall and your Kingdome is of this world And therfore Thirdly how can you Prelates pretend to be Vice-Roys over Christs Church whenas as is noted before ye are not so much as any members at all of Christs Kingdome For you are the Members of Antichrists Kingdome and so you are or may be Antichrists Vice-Roys over his severall Provinces 'T is true you style your selves spirituall Lords spirituall and your Courts spirituall and you are an Hierarchy as much to say as a Holy Kingdome or Government but it is not spirituall of Christs spirit but of that spirit that ruleth in the ayre that gave you all that Authority So as you do with Bellarmine turne those words of Christ to Peter Pasce oves meas Feed my Sheep to Regio more Impera Rule as a King And what similitude is there between Christ and you that you should be his Vice-Roys in his Church-Militant When he was here in person he was among his own as a servant and Minister He had no staâ—ely and Princely Palaces he kept no such Pontificiall house nor Court he governed not his Church by Chancellors Arch Deacons Deanes Chapters Commissâ—â—â—â—s Offiâ—ialls Pursuivants Apparitors and all that Rabble Christ had no such face of a Kingly Government So as you have altogether perverted the Kingdome of Christ which is altogether spirituall and holy into a meere temporall and carnall Kingdome wherein therfore you are none of Christ Vice-Roys but Viâ—ious Roys and Tyrannicall Lords O Antichâ—istian Generation O notorious Hypocrites O proud and blind Guides How shall you escape the vengeance to come that dare thus impiously abâ—se the Name of our Lord Iesus Christ and so impose upon the world by your bold usurpations Vsurpations indeed You call your selvs Vice-Roys Apostolicke Bishops Spirituall Church Grace Holinesse meere Nominalls which you have usurped and patched together to become a veile to cover your deep hypocrisie and to seem glorious in the eyes of the world and all to hold up your earthly Kingdome which consists altogether of earthly things honours riches pleasures But blind world that suâ—ferest thy selfe to be thus guld and befoold with such glittering stuffe and to be made a slave to such Lords and to be cheated of thy salvavation by these Antichristian Mountebanks And yet they pretend and professe that this their carnall pompous and Pontificiall Kingdome is Christs spirituall Kingdome here in the state of Grace Let them then cleare themselves herein from that damned Heresy of that old Heretick â—erinthus who lived in S. Iohns time His Heresy was That Christs Kingdome after his Resurrection was earthly and that now the flesh conversing in Ierusalem was to serve lusts and pleasures See Euseb. Eccl. Hist. lib 3. cap. 22. Now is not the Prelates Kingdome just that in practise with Cerinthus his Heresy If so As S. Iohn forsook the Bath wherein Cerinthus was what cause have Christians to fly from that roofe where such an Antichristian Hierarchy domineereth But in the next place let 's consider of your Reason How stands it good that because Christs Church is as large as the world therfore he thought it fitter to governe it by Diverse then by One Vice-Roy Now we have proved your Hierarchy not to be an Aristocrasie a Government of the Best men and that by good Laws seeing therfore you must needs be some Government then it must be an Olegarchie that is the Government of a few of the worse men such as rule by their lusts and not by any good Laws either of God or Man But now tell me my Lord if you argue upon this ground that because the Militant Church is as large as the world therfore 't is fitter it be governed by many Vice Roys then by one why may not aswell one Prelate as the Pope be sole Vice-Roy over the whole world as my Lord of Canterbury be a Vice-Roy over all England For doth not the Pope and you Governe your Churches by substitutes Why then may not the Pope Governe the whole by his Curates as you doe all England by your Curates For
Resurrection Indeed you inatate â—he Apostles in their Philâ—â—â—ikÃâ— emulation and contention which should be the greatest which Christ condemneth and utterly forbiddeth in them But this was in them onely before they knew the Mystery of Christs Kingdome aright They dreamed of a Temporall Kingdome but after Christs Resurrection when they had received the Holy Ghost they were of another mind no such emulation then who should be the chiefest there but who should shew greatest love and fidelity to Christ in preaching the Gospell and building up spirituall Temples to God But you I say imitate them in their carnall estate wherein that which they blindly imagined you have erected an Image of namely a Temporall Kingdome like that of Heathen Kings and Princes and other Temporall Lords Which shews that you are none of Christs Disciples I say or the Apostles successors and that you have not Christs Spirit but are altogether carnall and sensuall as the Apostle saith For had you Christs Spirit you would be truly spirituall as the Apostles were But you are sâ—nsuall having not the Spirit And if any man have not the Spirit of Christ the sâ—me is none of his And in that you veile your hypocrisie and all your sensuality and carnall state which you call your Hierarchy under the specious termes and Titles of spirituall Holy Grace Church Bishops Christs Vicars or Vice-Roys Apostoliâ—ke successors oâ— the Apostles wherewith you gull the blind world this is that very Mystery of Iniquity the Apostle speaks of which began to work even in his dayes as we noted before you being those false Prophets that come in Christs Name in sheeps clothing but are inwardly ravening Wolves You may think my language sharpe but it cannot be too sharpe against such a cursed proud Generation as you Prelates are usurping Tyrants Rebells against Christ Perverters of all truth and faith corrupters of all true honesty holinesse Religion and the worship of God who are made to be destroyed with that Beast of Rome whose Image you beare and with whom the false Prophets such as you are and all those that in you do worship the Image of the Beast and receive his marks shall goe into the bottomlesse pit and burning lake L. p. 204. Now it the Church of Rome must be a Tryumphant Church here Militant no longer P. I hope then if Rome be here as she is a Church Triumphant and no more Militant but in warring against Christ and his Saints for she saith in her heart I sit a Queen and am no Widow and shall see no sorrow And in her Decretalls she hath made a firme Decree for her perpetuall tranquility and felicity here in all pleasures and prosperity free from all incursions and invasions which is an estate Tryumphant there also you and your Hierarchicall Lady Church of England will not be farre behind your Sister Queen at Rome For you are both one and the same Church and one in that especially which makes you a Church Tryumphant and that is your Kingly Hierarchy and Lordly Prelacy and therfore if that Queen be tryumphant at Rome your Lordship and your Churches Ladyship must be tryumphant in England as indeed you are in all your Ruffe and Gallantry And as Rome hath now a long time tryumphed over the poore Saints of God and Martyrs of Iesus martyring and massacring them and garrowsing full cups of their blood even unto drunkennesse and surfet so your Tryumphant Chariot marcheth after her apace trampling the Saints under your feet and tryumphing over them in shedding their innocent blood and so glorying in your Bestiall and Diabolicall cruelty in oppressing and tyrannizing over Gods people and that so fiercely as if you would outstrippe your Elder Sister in all her bloody barbarisme and therein exalt your tryumph above hers For wherein else should the Glory and magnificence of your Prelaticall Princes and Heroicall Vice-Roys shine forth but in being mounted on Horsebacke while the true Princes lacky it by them on the earth And thus you ride in tryumph as the Heathen Kings were wont to doe Oh how you tryumphed when you looked through one of your Court-windowes when you passed your tryumphall Censure to behold those THREE looking through your Pillory-windowes whose blood you had before how justly your own Conscience can tell you condemned there to be shed But the wonder was that they even theâ—e as in their tryumphall Chariot tryumphed over your Barbarous cruelty But thus you are a Tryumphant Church too and in nothing Militant but as is noted before in your warring against and persecuting the poore Saints of God But your tryumph shall end in your shame and confusion verifying that which shall be fulfilled in your Sister or Mother Rome Reward her even as she rewarded you and double unto her double according to her works in the Cup which she hath filled fill to her double How much she hath gâ—â—rified her selfe and lived delicioutsly so much torment and sorrow gâ—ve her for she saith in her heart I sit a Queen and am no widow and shall see no sorrow Therfore shall her plagues come in one day c. L. p. 205. The Kings under the Law but sâ—ill according to it did proceed to necessary Râ—formations in Church-businâ—sses and therin commanded the very Priests themselves as appeares in the Acts of â—lesechiah and Iosiah 2 Chro. 29.4 and 4 King â—â— 2 P. All this is true you here affirme so as iâ— confirmes what we said before of Christian Kings in matters oâ— Religion that they ought to doe nothing but still according to the Law of God All Allways in All things not varying in the least Circumstance or Ceremony All this is well But what makes this for your Priest What saith your practise This Ergo the King giving way to the Priest or Prelate of Canterbury he may of his own head appoint and impose what Ceremonies his Romish Devotion thinks fit in the worship of God This is your usuall Logicke This your usuall perverting and abusing of Scripture Well What more A little before ibid. you tell us Omnis anima Every soule All spirituall men even to the highâ—st Bishop and in spirituall Causes so the foundations of Faith and good Manners be not shaken must be subject to the Higher Powers And where they are shaken there ought to be Prayer and Patience there ought not to be opposition by force Now for your highest Bishop and all spirituall men we have done withall That all Obedience is due from all men to Kings and Princes in all things where the foundations of Faith and Good Manners be not shaken we all acknowledge with you and where they are shaken there ought to be Prayer and Patience of every particular and private Christian without his opposition by force when he is pressed to doe that which is against Gods word and his own Conscience Now here by the way I pray you resolve me as in a Case of
England because her Great Metropolitan a little before beleeves it Or because Ipse dixit he said Christ thought it fitter to governe his Church by Divers Vice-roys then by One Is there such an Infallibility in your bare word as for the Church of England to establish her beliefe upon Certainly this is an Addition to the Articles of the Faith of the Church of England which in her former dayes she was not acquainted with Well for your Arch-bishops and Bishops we have said I hope enough and perhaps you will say too much and desire no more to be troubled with them Yet I see we must whether we will or no. For first here againe you doe most impiously ne dicam impudenter ye blasphemously bely the Lord Iesus Christ as before you have done more then once or twice and are not yet ashamed but rather hardned in your Habit as being reserved to be confounded Secondly as before you would make Christ to be the Author of such Governours and Vice-Roys as Arch bishops and Bishops so here Besides his Law-Books the Scripture he hath you say made you visible Magistrates and Iudges Surely That is besides the Scripture indeed yea not onely praeter but contra not onely besides but against the expresse Scripture as is but a little before proved that Arch-bishops and Bishops though they have gotten a degenerate Beeing as Mules in Rerum natura yet should have any Beeing at all in the Church of Christ much lesse that they should be Iudges at all in spirituall matters being themselves altogether carnall And For Arch-Bishops it hath not so much as a Name in Scripture as your Bishops have usurped that Title from Scripture and you confesse the Apostles were all equall in what night then grew up this Mushrum And we have before given a touch and tryall what kind of Iudges you would prove would men but pin their faith on your White sleeve But except you can bring some better Authority then your own blasphemous speech that Christ hath left such visible iudges to his Church your Church of England will have but a cold pull of it when she shal be put to give a reason of this her beliefe that Christ did so Or what Or why For truth and peace These words are with you as Mel in ore verba lactis honey in the mouth words of milke but we can discerne by them Fel in Corde fraus in factis Gall in the heart and fraud in actions But by what means will you procure us truth and peace By governing How or by what Law or Rule According to the Scripture say you Stay there and govern according to that for that is the onely way were your Prâ—laticall Government according to the Scripture both to procure and preserve truth and peace But unlesse you can prove which you never can by the Scripture and not by your own single-soled bold affirmation that Christ hath made you Governours of his Church you shall never perswade us to beleeve or hope that you will ever Govern according to the Scriptures But yet is this all Will you be such honest Governours as you will not go beyond Christs Law-books the Scriptures Nothing lesse For there follows immediately a dangerous Conjunction Copulative And. According to the Scriptures And. And what I hope you have no other Law-books to adde to Christs Law-books Have you Produce them And her own Canons and Constitutions Nay then Farewell Christs Law-Books Christ may put up his Pipes as it is said When your Canons and Constitutions come in Place And then farewell Truth and Peace your own Canons and Constitutions can make no Room for them For he that shall hold the truth never so right and firm and shall transgresse but one of your Canons what peace He shal be put to read the Canon that is he shal be shattered to pieces with your shooting off of your Canon And he that comes under the command of your Canon is ipso facto brought under the Babylonian and Antichristian yoak so as not onely his peace is destroyed but the truth power and verture of Christs death which hath freed his people from the bondage of all humane ordinance as hath been shewed in Gods worship and service is overthrown As also your selfe elswhere saith That Peace and Truth are rent by superstitious deâ—iâ—es from which I hope all your Canons and Constitutions are not altogether free How much lesse can that Church be free from most miserable slavery that puts her neck under the yoak and her shoulders under the intollerable burthen of your Canons and Constitutions Nay I will say more If you be the visible Magistrates and Iudges of the Church as the High Priests and Pharisees were although the High-Priests office was grounâ—ed upon Divine Ordinance and Authority and had Christ himselfe to stand at your Barre to be judged though you had not as the Jews said they had a Law to put him to death yet you would find Church-Canons and Constitutions enough or some new devise though not to condemn him to be Crucified yet to Censure him to be Pillorified and to have his Eares closse cropt and his blood shed in a great measure and stript naked and perpetually Imprisoned and exiled as being the Arch-enemy of your Hierarchy Tyranny Hypocrisie and all Impiety And all this you would do by vertue of your Canons and Constitutions which yet were never ratified by any Law of the Land or Act of Parliament But yet seeing you must have your Church-Canons and Constitutions besides Christs Law-Books to govern by yet the Church of England may think her selfe well appayd and in some tolerable though intollerable case if she have but her own Canons such as her selfe hath constituted and assented to For volenti non fit injuria If the Church of England be willing to be an Asse to her Prelates as once she was to the Pope she may And so she hath her amends in her own hands If the yoak of Canons pinch her she may thank her selfe for putting her neck under I but this is not all There be other Canons besides that are not hers that she must be governed by What more Bonds and Fetters yet for thee poore Church of England Yes As well her own Canons and Constitutions as Those also of the Catholicke Church What are those Alas your Church of England is an Ignoramus in all such Canons as you call Catholicke And your Church Catholike you know and tell us doth Comprehend that of Rome and Rome hath innumerable Canons Consâ—itutions and Decretalls so as under the Canons of the Catholicke Church you may bring upon the Church of England all the Canons and Decrees of Trent all the Popes Decretalls and the whole body of the Popes Canon Law so large a field is your Canons and Constitutions of the Catholicke Church But you qualifie the matter in adding Which crosse not the Scripture and the just Laws of the Realme That 's somthing
But who shal be Judge of that Alas we are never the nearer if you Prelates be the visible Iudges For then what Canons or Constitutions shall crosse either Scripture or Positive Law of the Land which you shall define and determine to be fit for you to govern the Church by What Laws of the Realme shal be just which crosse one of your Canons Did not in a Cause pleaded in your High-Commission the Popes Canon aledged by the Advocate on the one party preponderate a Statute of Edw. 6. alledged by the Advocate of the adverse party so as the Popes Canon carryed the Cause So as while you will be the visible Iudges you will lead us all in a Circle and make us so turne round as we should not know where we are imagining that all the world went upon wheels Yea but there is yet one qualification may help at a pinch For you say Archbishops and Bishops under a Gratious Keng to governe c. 'T is true indeed that under the shadow of a Gracious King to you you are imboldened to do all you do Lastly you say the Church of England doth not beleeve there is any necessity to have one Pope or one Bishop over the whole Christian world And are there not trow you many thousands in the Church of England which doe not beleeve there is any necessâ—y of having One Pope or Arch-Prelate over the whole Church of England the other world as before And I beleeve there is no more necessity of the one then of the other but that they might be well spared as Christ will one day not spare them And as I said before the Pope by as good a Title may argue a necessity of his being uneversall Bishop over the whole Christian world as you can setting the Law of England aside for your being Pope over the whole Church of England And that upon your own Ground for you say The Church of England and the Church of Rome is one and the same Church no doubt of that and The Church of England may find her selfe where Romes is now just there then if so that both are one and the Popes Principality more powerfull then that of Canterbury and if there be a nccessity that Canterbury be over the whole Church of England which is but a part of the Catholicke and that for order and unity why not the like necessity for the Pope to be supreme over all for preserving order and unity seeing your Militant Church is but one and to make many heads many Vice-Roys is to divide the body and Kingdome and so make rents in it which you like not of But to conclude I beleeve and with me all true Beleevers who have their judgements rightly informed wherever they be in any part of the world that there is a necessity of duty lying upon all Christian Magistrates to exterminate and exterpate the whole Hierarchy and Prelacy as Antichristian enemies of Iesus Christ and of his Kingdome yea and the band of Civil States and people out of the world For so we read Rev. 17.16 17. A place worthy to be written in the hearts of all Kings Christian. And it is the duty of all true Christians to rowse up the Spirit of prayer in them and to stirre up the coals of zeale to flame forth in offring up of pure Incense of fervent Prayer especially in these times wherin Satan so rageth and his Instruments grow so malapert and mischievous that God would hasten the accomplishment of Antichrists Kingdome that so the Kingdome of Iesus Christ may be exalted and inlarged and he alone rule and raigne in his Church L. p. 212. Somwhat may be done by the Bishop and Governours of the Church to preserve the unity and certainty of Faith and to keep the Church from renting or for uniting it when it is rent And this pag. 198 one Pope cannot doe P. Somwhat Why you tell us immediately before that the Pope or a Bishop may perhaps despense in some cases with the Decrees of a Generall And this I hope is somwhat more then somwhat Or perhaps at least And we have shewed before how you Prelates do either preserve the Church from renting or when it is rent make up the breaches of it namely by an uniting and confederating against Christ and his true Church and by labouring tooth and nayle to support and keep safe and sound your Antichristian Hierarchy which is not truly and properly an unity but a conspiracie against Christ from whose true Mysticall body you have made the Great and unreconciliable Rent And therfore you to preserve the unity and certainty of Faith intire which even as you are Prelates you are altogether Apostates from and enemies unto Or is the spirit of Infallibility intayld to the Prelates Chaire For doth not this necessarily imply either an Infallibility or at least a greater dexterity and a more excellent and Divine spirit to be in Prelates qua Praelati Infulati as they are Mitred Bishops then in all those that are no Prelates when onely by Prelates though but somwhat to this purpose may be done But we have shewed before what ability or soundnesse of judgement in divine spiritual matters we may expect to be in Prelates in comparison of others who are both learned pious judicious Divines L. p. 194. To draw all together to settle Controversies in the Church there is a visible Iudge and Infallible but not living and that is the Scripture pronouncing by the Church and there is a visible and living Iudge and that is a Generall Councel P. Here I goe backe a little to fetch in this passage as fiâ— here to usher in a many other Passages scattered here and there in your Book which is hard to reduce to any order or forme But we must do as we may And I shall not wittingly offer violence to any part in the least though somtimes here and there I am faine to pull them in by the head and shoulders And here you doe with the Papists make the Scripture to be but a dead letter for say you it is not a living Iudge no nor yet a speaking Iudge but as it is pronounced by the Church Wheras the Apostle saith of it Zonâ—o lógos tou Theou The word of God is living or lively nor onely so but e'nergès effectuall as it is before noted And if you will apply this to the Word preached that 's true too Although you will not confesse preaching of Gods word to be the Scripture or yet the word of God But it must be pronounced by the Church as the onely mouth of Scripture and that must be also in the Churches sense Of which sufficiently before Yet this you adde to all your other indignities you put upon the Scripture that you make it a dead Iudge and so indeed no Iudge at all as before you plainly tell For if it be blind as wanting light and if it be mute or dumb
what one wise and honest man did in preventing so wicked a Decree of a whole Generall Councell of many Prelates And assure your selfe were there but a few sound Puritans admitted to your Generall Councel and might have free liberty to speake you would not be able to resist the evidence of Truth which they should bring in as Arelatensis told the Prelates in the Councel of Basil concerning the poore inferiour Priests But if you shall exclude the Puritans and so all Reformed Non Prelaticall Churches out of your Prelaticall Councel Generall how should it be a Generall Councel But I cry you mercy Puritan Reformed Churches are already by you doomed for no members of your Catholicke Church whereof and wherein yours and Romes Church are one and the same and therfore as Heathen they ought to be shut out for Wranglers as they were from the Councel of Trent Another Reason against a Generall Councel being Iudge in Controversies is because all sound and Orthodox Divines both Ancient and Moderne both Forraigne and Domesticke in the Church of England formerly with all the Orthodox Fathers in this point have held professed and beleeved That the holy Scripture is the sole sufficient Iudge in all Controversies of Faith And for proofe hereof What say you to Dr Whitakers Lectures against Bellarmine and Stapleton in this Point Or how do or can you answere any of his Arguments drawn from cleare Scriptures and Testimonies from the Ancient Fathers But it seems you have not been acquainted with him as not once mentioning him in all this For that were besides your Purpose But you will except against him as a Puritan which is a sufficient confutation with one puffe of your mouth And so you doe all honest sound learned Religious Orthodox Divines whatsoever whom particularly to alledge here would but make your stomacke rise and so I passe on to the rest Secondly and Thirdly and againe and againe I deny that the Decrees of Generall Councels bind any true Christians Faith and Conscience so much as to outward obedience to any one Ceremony as before Yea though your Councel Decree according to the Scripture yet jure proprio and absolutely of its own Authority it binds not the Conscience That 's proper and peculiar to the Scripture alone immediatly the onely binding Rule of Faith and Conscience How much lesse doth a Councel bind in a matter of error in a point of Faith This is such an abominable point of Divinity as never any Arch-Prelate of Canterbury since the Reformation and I presume before ever uttered Divinity say I yea Divinity Diabolicall and monstrous Impiety and Antichristian Tyranny to be hissed out by all that beare but the bare name of Christians And this Answereth also to the Fourth which is as full of ridiculous absurdity as of impious folly You hope forsooth that a Councels errors will not be so great as all men shall discerne them That may well be when many thousands take no notice at all of any such Councel Decrees And how many men have not the eyes to discern even the grossest errors How many in the Church of England doe discerne the grossenes and danger of your seting up of your Altars in all the Churches of England as namely that it is a denying of Christ the onely Altar And the bringing in of the Popish Priesthood and sacrifice But what if you could in a Provinciall Councel of Canterbury make a Decree for seting up and worshiping of Altars as you doe and that all men did see the grossnes of it Would the sight of it exempt them from at least externall obedience being once defined in that your Synod And so of a Generall Councel for universall obedience No the knowledge of the grossnes of the error will not serve their turnes to excuse them from obedience For you tell us We must notwithstanding yeild obedience If so surely it were the safest way then for men to close their eyes that they may not see at all and so yeeld blind obedience to your Decrees pinning their soules as I said to the Prelates Innocent white sleeve to be led blindfold to hell then seeing and knowing to sin against their Conscience in yeelding obedience But how ever seeing or not seeing hang or be damned the Decree of a Generall Councel even in point of error in the Truth yea though men know it to be against Gods word must be universally obeyed till evidence of Scripture or a Demonstration to the contrary made the error appeare and untill thereupon another Generall Councel equall to that did reverse it Which may be long enough before all these things concurre What Must the Decree of the seventh Generall Councel the second of Nice for the worship of Images bind all men to Obedience till another Generall Councell equall to that upon Demonstration to the contrary shall reverse it Or must the Decree of the Councel of Lateran under Pope Innocent 3. for Transubstantiation be beleeved and obeyed by all men at least in externall obedience to worship the Altar and Hoast till another Councell equall unto that shall reverse it Or must the Decree of the Generall Councel of Constance for the taking away of the Cup in the Sacrament from the People bind all to obedience till another Councel equall unto that shall reverse it Or lastly shall the Decrees of the Councel of Trent which calls it selfe a Generall Councel ratifying the worship of Images Transubstantiation and the taking away of the Cup wiâ—ing the Peoples nose of it besides all those other damnable and damning errors against the cleare Truth and Faith of Christ bind all to obedience till another Councell equall to that shall reverse it Then certainly all Papists by your sentence are bound to be damned Nay are not you and your Church of England bound to obey all those Decrees of Former Generall Councels as that of the second of Nice for worship of Images not yet reversed by a Generall Councel equall to that though by a Councel at Frankford called by Carolus Magnus Emperour of the West that wicked Decree was condemned But the Decrees of this Councel are smothered and kept in hugger mugger as being outfaced by such a prevailing generallity of unblishing Images and so have lost their place among the Records of the Councels And besides that Councel at Frankford was not for generallty equall to that of Nice under that wicked Empresse Irene Which being so and so that Decree of Nice not yet reversed why say I doe not you obserue your own Rule in obeying that Decree in worshiping of Images Or why at least though you here write somthing against them to some small purpose as coming neare to Idolatry doe you not yeeld externall obedience in doing corporall Reverence to those Images you have set up onely reserving your internall worship and keeping your Faith to your selfe But to satisfie us for that you have over or upon your Altar in your own Chappel at Lambeth
they renounce all such lords Aske them againe why they subject their Consciences soules and bodies to the will and lust of man in will-worship forbidden by the Apostle ô they answere they never knew that before and now that they know it they repent of it and from henceforth they renounce it and resolve to loose rather life and all then they will doe so any longer Thus even a good Christian through ignorance may for a time in a dangerous errour but so soon as he is convinced of it he will not for all the world continue in it So he that hath true saving faith in Christ resting on Christs merits alone for his justification he neither will nor can be brought to beleeve that he must be justified by his works For this is against the very nature of saving faith which rests onely on Christ renouncing all other respects So that 't is impossible that any true member of Christ should by any errour be so seduced as to be seperated from Christ for he is preserved by the spirit of Grace by the power of God through faith unto salvation So that as the whole body of the Church of Christ so every particular member of this body hath the certaine and infallible seale of the Spirit of Truth given him of Christ according to his promise purpose and intention for all truth absolutely necessary to salvation having both his Spirit and word to guide them into all truth Finally 't is very true being taken in a true sence that Christ never intended to leave an infallible certainty in his Church to satisfie either contentious or curious or presumptuous spirits And if not presumptuous spirits certainly not such spirits as usurpe a Prelaticall and Lordly Authority and to sit as visible Iudges of Scripture in Generall Councels imposing upon all men a servile yoake of obedience to their Decrees whether right or wrong true or false Nay to such presumptuous spirits God hath given eyes not to see and hath made their hearts fat not to understand the truth not to see the light that shineth in his word and therfore they say it is darke and speake disgracefully of it So as the presumptuous is properly yours As for the contentious and curious these are they that contend for the truth against your undermining and oppugning of it and are curious â—o search and sound the bottome of that Mystery of Iniquity which is cunningly yet grosly enough folded up in the voluminous leaves of this your Booke So as for these so contentious and curious Christ did intend to leave an Infallible certainty in his Church to satisfie them and to assure them of the Truth so as not all the opposition and contradiction in the world can beate them from it To the Tenth you make no matter of it if Generall Câ—uncels erre in one or a second or a third so it be not in things necessary In other cases it makes no matter if they erre And what matter is it then if there be none of your Generall Councel at all For you confesse that they may possibly though not easily erre in things necessary and in fundamentall points of Faith and yet obedience must be given If then it be no matter if in other things they erre onâ—e twice thrice yea or if you will in a hundred things take all these together and the world should be free from many dangers if it were rid of Generall Councels altogether But in the meane time you make no matter of it if in so erring they load the world with an intollerable burthen of errours which all men must bow their necks under till another Generall Councel doe free them and perhaps in stead of freeing them may lay as much more load upon them Truly my Lord if you had not a liberty to talk with your pen what you please and a strong opinion also that whatsoever you write or speake must needs be of every body highly applauded as if all you write were Oracles you would never have suffered such foule blots to have dropped from your pen. But 't is no matter If you erre in this and that and another c. aswell as your Generall Councels so as we knowing them may not in obeying or assenting erre with you To the Eleventh you say for necessary faith to salvation we have the Scriptures Creeds 4 first Generall Councels So then being furnisht of necessaries what need we any more I think the Apostles rule for temporall things may hold well in spirituall he saith having food and rayment let us therewith be content So Having all things necessary for faith to salvation let us use these well and bâ— content not affecting to be loaden with a multitudo of humane devises which Prelaticall Councels Courts and Canons put upon us And are Generall Councels so Cheape as that you should keep such a doe having no Necessaries to trouble them withall But it seems you have some other necessaries besides those of faith that will require a Generall Councel For you tell us pag 211. The setling of the Divisions of Christendome as the reconciling of England with Rome the making of Canons which must bind aâ—l particular Christians and Churches cannot be concluded 〈…〉 but there to wit in a Generall Councel Why but there For the Church of England you may doe what you please onely you desire perhaps a Generall Councel to conclude for Altars and other utensils and so ease your shoulders of the envy and crime of Innovation but for that also you have a sufficient put off as is shewed before But the reconciliation and setling of the Divisions of Christendome will conclude all But still the Scripture with you is not alone sufficient for necessary faith to salvation without the Creed and at least the 4 first Generall Councels Why was the Scripture before there were any either Creeds or Councels And was not the Scripture then alone sufficient for all things necessary to salvation The Creeds and Councels are not to be added to the Scripture as if without them it were not an absolute and compleat Rule As for the Creeds they were for the summe and substance of them extracted from Scripture and must still be reduced to Scripture for their true sense and interpretation as before And for the Decrees of the 4 Generall Councels we approve of them no further then the Scripture warrants them And therfore though Twelfthly you humbly submit to the Scripture as it is interpreted by the Primitive Church and Generall Councels and not els yet we submit our faith onely to the Scripture as it is interpreted by it selfe and by the spirit of Christ speaking and breathing in it which by the Scripture interprets the Scripture unto us as Augustine doth well observe in his Second Book de Doctrina Christiana And herein you shew your faith not to be Divine but humane as which you submit not meerly to the Scripture but unto the Iudgment of men as
they shall interpret the same unto you And so I leave you to your faith wherein you declare your selfe to be quite from the true Catholicke Church of Christ whose Faith is built upon the onely foundation of the Apostles and Prophets Iesus Christ being the Chiefe corner stone without any depending upon humane testimony and Authority And so here an end of your Generall Councels But yet one thing remains unresolved on your part for you have told us that Generall Councels may erre even in fundamentall truths but whether at any time they doe actually so erre you resolve us not Nay in some places you make it so ambiguous whether they can erre or no that we know not what to make of it fish or flesh For pag. 223. you propound the Question saying whether a Generall Councel may erre or not is a Question of great consequence in the Church of Christ. To say it cannot erre leaves the Church not onely without remedy against an errour once determined but also without sense that it may need a remedy and so without care to seeke it which is the mystery of the Church of Rome at this day To say it can erre seems to expose the members of the Church to an uncertainty and wavering in the Faith to make unquiet spirits not onely to disrespect former Councels of the Church but also to slight and contemn whatsoever it may now determine into which errour some opposes of the Church of Rome have fallen Thus you Now this Question of so great consequence and that in utramque partem on both sides pro con you seem in your last words here to resolve and determine as if to say it can erre were an errour into which some opposers of the Church of Rome have fallen Now the Church of Rome hath had many opposes many Protestant Learned and Judicicious Divines of former times in the Church of England who have clearly proved that Generall Councels can erre as we have shewed before Now then do you prove they erred in so saying Or which is all one how do you prove that a Generall Councel cannot erre For if it be an errour to hold they can erre 't is no errour in you to hold they cannot erre Thus I find you fast upon the hooks get off and quit your selfe as well as you can But pag. 239 you distinguish which in summe is That all those Popish Authors alledged by Bellarmine for Generall Councels not erring either speake of the Church including the Apostles as all of them doe and then all grant the voyce of the Church is Gods voyce and infallible Or also they are Generall unlimited and appliable to private Assemblies as well as Generall Councels which none grant to be infallible but some madde Enthusiasts Or else they are limited not simply into all truth but all necessary to salvation In which I shall easily grant a Generall Councel cannot erre suffering it selfe to be led by this spirit of Truth in the Scripture and not taking upon it to load both the Scripture and the spirit Thus there Now here I would aske the most perspications and Judicious Reader that reads these lines and ponders them well'-what certain conclusions or resolutions he can picke or deduce out of your words either for Infallibility or not First That all grant The voyce of the Church is Gods voyce divine and infallible if you speake of the Church including the Apostels Whence your conclusion should be this That Generall Councels being the Church representative are infallible their voyce is Gods voyce divine and infallible understanding the Church whereof they are the Representative to include the Apostels Ergo by vertue of the Apostles understood to be included in the Church wherof Gen. Councels are the Representative their voyce is Gods voyce divine and infallible and so can not erre in any age unto the end of the world still understanding that in the name of the Church the Apostles are included can any rationable man or reasonable creature make hereof any other conclusion Secondly In all truth necessary to salvation you easily grant a Generall Councel cannot erre suffering it selfe to be led by the spirit of Truth in the Scripture This is just as Arminius said in answere to that place in Iohn for the certaine Perseverance of Gods Saints Whosoever is borne of God doth not commit sinne for his seed remaineth in him and he cannot sinne because he is borne of God Now how doth that Heretick avoyd so cleare a Testimony and evidence That is saith he so long as the seed of God remaineth in him but it may depart But the Apostle gives this as a reason why the Saints cannot fall away Because seed of God abideth in them being Regenerate Ergo it ever abideth in them and therfore they cannot fall away And as he so you here A Generall Councel is infallible while it suffers it selfe to be led by the spirit of Truth in the Scripture As if you said A Generall Councel while it doth not erre it doth not erre but in that iâ— infalliblepunc as you told us before But what if a Generall Councel doe not suffer it selfe to be led by the spirit of Truth in the Scripture That is what if a Generall Councel have not this spirit of Truth in it to keep it that it suffer it selfe to be led by the spirit of Truth in the Scripture What is your Resolution here you leave us still upon uncertainties concerning Generall Councels infallibility And you seem to grant that a Generall Councel may take upon it to lead both the Scripture and the spirit O miserable perplexities of a man whose spirit itcheth to speak somthing which he dare not But tell us ingeniously and plainly if there be any ingenuity in you Hath a Generall Councel this spirit of Truth in the Scripture alwaies to make it Infallible in all necessary Truths or not That 's the point But this you doe not dare not grant Yet thus much you are bold to say That the Assistance of the Holy Ghost is without Errour That 's no Question and as little there is that a Councel hath it How Is there as little Question to be made that a Councel of Prelates hath the Assistance of the Holy Ghost as That the Assistance of the Holy Ghost is without errour No more Question I Question whether a Generall Councel have the Assistance of the Holy Ghost will you therfore as well question whether the Assistance of the Holy Ghost is without errour Nay I am so farre from making question that I am confident and that upon cleare evidence that your Generall Councels of later times especially under Antichrist neither have had â—or have beene capable of the Assistance of the Holy Ghost to preserve them from errour For they have been still assembled against Christ and his Truth and the true Church and Children of God and either for the decreeing of wicked errours in in Faith or
confirming of them and establishing of the throne of the Beast and power of Antichrists Kingdome against Iesus Christ. Nor were it a hard matter to demonstrate this by many instanecs which for the present I omit In the meane time How prove you here your As little Question Or how come you to name This spirit of Truth in the Scripture What after all that you have said before of the Scripture that it is not bright enough that it hath no light till it be lighted by the Authority of the present Church and the like come you now to confesse that The spirit of Truth is in the Scripture Told you us not a while agoe That the Scripture is no living Iudge What not living when the spirit of Truth breaths in it Is not the spirit in the Scripture living And is not a Iudge a living Iudge when and while his spirit is in him What nothing but absurd and sencelesse contradictions with you Nothing but Babilonish language But thus we may see into what gulfes of perplexities they plunge themselves that presume and undertake to exalt their high imaginations against the Truth of God And you say againe A Generall Councel hath not this Assistance to Infallibility but as it keeps to the whole Church and Spouse of Christ whose it is to heare his word and determine by it As it keeps closse Why is it not your Catholicke Churches Representative How can it then but keep closse being of the same Body and spirit with your Church Secondly speaking here of the whole Church the Spouse of Christ you doe equivocate applying that to a false Church which is univocè univocally proper and peculiar to the misticall body of Christ. For your whole is Prelaâ—icall that of the Hierarchy and none other which we have before proved to be the Synagogue of Antichrist which heareth not Christs voyce but as your Church is pleased to interpret it and to give it Authority And that which you say of your Generall Councâ—ls may be truly said of any particular Assembly two or three met in Christs name which doth not erre being led by the spirit of Truth in the Scripture Christ himselfe according to his Promise being in the midst of them No nor yet any particular single Beleever erreth being so led So as you speake to no purpose when you say A Generall Councel cannot erre in that wherin it hath already determined according to the Scripture the vanity wherof we shewed before But the conclusion is you still leave the the Infallibility of your Generall Councel unresolved upon yea and nay sometimes affirming somtimes denying except your negative be according to that Rule in Logicke That one Negative is of more Force then a thousand Affirmatives L. p. 213. Sect. 27. My Answere was That the Councel of Trent was not onely not legall in the necessary conditions to be observed in a Generall Councel but also that it was no Generall Councel P. Though this be true you say yet the Councel of Trent was so legall according to Romes own Law that it wanted no conditions observable to make it in that behalfe not onely a legall but a Generall Councel too And secondly so Generall for the Romane Catholicke Church of Rome that all the Decrees thereof doe bind all Papists to a necessary obedience and conformity unto them and that under Anathema And your Rule is That a Generall Councells Decrees and Canons bind all Christians and a Provinciall Councels Decrees bind all of that Province And therfore I hope you will grant that the Papall Councel of Trent is of force to bind all Papists who acknowledge and accept the Pope for their Head or Primate So as though it were not a Generall Councel in the largest sense yet it was a Generall Councel for the Roman Catholicke Church which say they is the onely Catholicke Church And with which say you the Church of England is one and the same Now this I doe here touch by the way as whereof I shall have occasion to make some use anon though perhaps your thus Arguing against the generallity of Trents Councels is one of those Passages which you think may be an ingredience of the salve of your Reputation But this I say by the way L. p. 227. It may seem very fit and necessary for the Peace of Christendome that a Generall Councel thus Erring should stand in force till evidence of Scripture or c. P. This passage I cited before upon occasion among sundry other of like nature and now I repeat it onely for this to shew how your zeale for Peace made you forget Truth For still you are telling us of Peace and Truth or Truth and Peace But here your Peace stands single without Truth What Peace without Truth For you say It may seem very fit and necessary for the Peace of Christendome that a Generall Councell erring should stand in force What will you force a Peace against Truth by an Authorised errour O blush for shame L. p. 254. Suppose they Key of Doctine be to let in Truth and shut out errour and suppose the Key rightly used infallible in this yet this infallibility is primeâ—y in the Church in whose person not strictly in his own S. Peter received the Keys P. Suppose Do you make it but a supposit on that the key of Doctrine is to let in Truth and shut out Errour So it seems with you when you use that Key of your Doctrine to shut out Truth and let in errour as both your Practises and writings do shew But what is this Key of Doctrine Is it not the sincere Preaching of Gods word And then this Key is rightly used and here is the use therof Infallible But say you this Infallibility is primely in the Church How Can we get no other language from you Still all Primely in the Church Certainly not at all in your Antichristian Church where the spirit of errour raigneth and where the whole bunch of Keys hangeth at the Prelates gâ—râ—le As Pope Paschall 2. when he rode in Pompe had his seven Keys hanging at his girdle the Chiefe wherof was to open and shut Paradise to whom he pleased But we say still that this infallibility is primely in the Scripture and not in the Church not in Christs own Church For the Scripture containes that infallible Truth which the Ministeriall key Christs own ordinance and voyce openeth to the Church or Congregation of Gods people And this Ministeriall key Christ committed to Peter not simply as sustaining the person of the whole Church but chiefly and properly as he was an Apostle and Minister of Christ to preach the Gospel in which respect also he might represent the person of all faithfull Ministers of the Gâ—spel rightly and truly called to the Function to whom Christ did in Peter as afterward he did in all the Apostles commit and entrust the key of knowledge of the Doctrine of Christ to be used and imployed to that end to
And yet for all this doe you call such ignorant though perhaps well-meaning men that refuse to communicate with you in your Romish superstitious Idolatrous Altars and service I tell you who ever they be that doe so they are out of all question the deare Children of God And are they not warned by the Apostle to beware of all such will worship Ye cannot drinke saith he the cup of the Lord and the cup of Devils ye cannot be partakers of the Lords Table and the Table of Devils If then your Altars and Altar-service be a worship done to the Devil because it is of mans presumption in devising and imposing it whereby Christ and his true worship is overthrown call you such service a duty to God No God abhorres it as he did the Altars of Bethel set up for the Calves as he did Aarons Calfe though they said These are thy Gods ô Israel which brought thee out of Aegypt Even as you say Christ God Allmighties seat is there the Mercy-seat there the Sanctum Sanctorum there as in your Printed allowed Books Christ that redeemed Israel out of Aegipt there No surely as those by their false representations and Altars worshiped the Devils so doe you as before is shewed Ye have no shift for it So as when truly Religious Christians see you set up and use all your Popish Superstitions in that place which you call Gods house so your Altars Images Adorations Praying towards the East where your Altar standeth and a Crucifix over it and round about guarded with your Images have they not cause to be affraid even to step over your Church-threshold And may I not here justly and rightly apply to your now Church of Englands Altars and Images that which the Prophet Hosea doth to revolted Israel◠Israel is an empty vine he brought forth fruit unto himselfe to wit his own Devises in Religion according to the multitude of his fruit he hath increased the Altars according to the goodnesse of his land they have made goodly Images Their heart is divided now shall they be found faulty he shall breake down their Altars he shall spoyle their Images Ye◠by this meanes your hoysing up your Altars and Images well-minded Christians come now to be affraid of your old Ceremonies allowed by statute They now begin to find they smell ranke of Romish superstition and to appeare to be links of the same Chaine now made up with your Altars and other Superstitions whereby they see themselves bound and carryed captive backe to Babylon and Aegipt againe Wheras till your New came in their stomack did though with much difficulty digest the Old But now it is with many Christians as with Man who seeing a bare hand and foot and habit of one that is a notorious thiefe yet till they come to see his face clearly cannot by those judge whose parts and members they be whether an honest mans or a knaves so the Church of England having formerly seen but a hand as in signing with the Signe of the Crosse and a legge or foot as kneeling at the Sacrament and a habit as a Surplice and all these 3 being called by some of note The three innocent Ceremonies she generally took them to belong to some honest Matron but now Popery beginning to put off her maske and to shew her face more clearly then before as in hoysing up of Altars in all Churches setting up of Images in many and repayring of some old as in Pauls and other Cathedralls and Chappels Adorations before towards and to them Publication of Popish Pamphlets in English by Authority oppression of Gods word and Ministers open and allowed Profanation of the Lords day open and most terrible Persecution of Gods witnesses testifying against such notorious Innovations and the like And now that the Church of England openly professeth and proclaimeth to the world by you in this your Booke if indeed she have made you her mouth that she and the Church of Rome are one and the same Church no doubt of that Now I say men and even the most ignorant unlesse they be stone-blind begin to see that all those Ceremonies formerly so pressed by the Prelates whereby they held the poore peoples noses to the grindstone and yoaked their perhaps tender Consciences were but the hand legge foot habit of the whore of Babylon who durst never have shewed her impudent face so boldly in these dayes where the Gospell hath been so long professed and the beames thereof till now with such mysts out of the bottomlesse pit darkened had shinned forth so bright had not your Old Ceremonies ushered her in so as now as those Syrians with halters about their necks when Ahab said of Benhadad He is my brother catcht the word presently out of his mouth replying Thy brother Benhadad so the Church of Rome being styled by you a sister of England and you being in all things suited Sister-like in Romes Rites and Reliques dare and doth quickly catch the word out of your mouth Thy sister if not Thy mother Rome so as the Proverb may come to be in all other things verified Like Mother like Daughter if you may prove the Father Again One thing I cannot well passe over which seems to me very ridiculous where you say that by the judgement of godly and learned men those former Ceremonies have continued in the practise of this Church Now who knoweth not that these Ceremonies have so continued even by the judgement of profane and ignorant men And what needs then the judgement of godly and learned men for the matter as to testifie this Except you meane by the judgement of godly and learned men that godly and learned men have had most cause to know it by undergoing the severe judgement of Censure of suspension and silencing and other vexations onely for not conforming to the practise of your Old Ceremonies as many doe now for not conforming to your New Or els you so shuffle these words in and so packe them together that when they meet with a Reader that weighs your words more by the sound then by the sense or rather want of sense he may run away with this apprehension as if godly and learned men had in their judgement approved of those Ceremonies whereas few godly and learned but rather wished them all long agoe at Rome again from whence they came But to come to your Conclusion out of Rhenanus which by puting it down with approbation you make to be your own Doubtlesse Ceremonies doe not hurt the people but profit them Doubtlesse How prove you that Nay doubtlesse we have already proved that both they doe hurt and no way profit the people they are good for nothing for no body unlesse for you Prelates to uphold and exercise your Tyranny over Gods people and to bring Fees into your Courts And Beatus Rhenanus spake according to the Time and Place and Church he lived in although he was a
They are taught this one Maine Principle That they must be saved not by Faith onely but by their good Works whereby they must merit their Salvation Now this all Papists learned and unlerned professe This unlesse they cease to be Papist they live and dye in and so they are necessarily and certainly damned For to adde any thing to Faith in Iustification is damnation as before it shewed And saith the Prophet They that observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy But Thirdly you say They may be saved so they conforme to a Religious life Now what is the Religious life of a Papist and especially of a silly ignorant Papist Namely to goe to Shrief or Confession to the Priest his Ghostly Father as often as may be as the Fernall Glory published by your Chapleins licence teacheth or at the least once a yeare against Easter to keep his Lent-fast strictly so as upon paine of damnation or greivous penance not to eat an egge all that time and so observe all othor Fasting-dayes in the yeare together with all Holydayes to say over their Beads every day in repeating their Pater Noster Ave Mary Creed and ten Commandements â—f either they be so learned or devout to goe to their dayly Masse and Mattens where it is their safety to understand never a word nor to say Amen to the Priest but by the sound of his voyce which they understand no more then the chattering of a Magpy to call upon such a Saint his speciall Mediator and say a Pater Noster and Ave Mary before such an Image and especially of their Lady and a thousand such like observations wherein a Popish Religious life consisteth And so this is the Religious life of your ignorant silly Papist wherin living and dying he may be saved if he may beleeve your Doctrine But to this you adde An humble and peaceable obedience To What Or to whom As to the Priests Ghostly Discipline when he injoynes sore penance as whipping-cheare in Lent or the like Or if you meane peaceable obedience to the Civil Magistrate as in England that must be according to their Ghostly Fathers direction and limitation they must not take the Oath of Supremacy nor in some cases the Oath of Allegiance when it makes for the Catholick Cause And though to satisfie the Law and save his purse he come once a moneth to Church and heare your service yet Sermon he must not heare especially if the Preacher be Puritannicall for that might turn him quite from his Popery And thus such partly by their peaceable civill life and partly by their humble Popish Religious life so living and dying may be saved And therfore to such silly Ignorants we must not deny salvation Why so For first We have not so learned Christ say you Wee What wee Wee to wit you and your present Church of England And surely you had not need to deny salvation to that Church with which you and your Church is one and the same Church least otherwise you might leave your selves as little hope of salvation as others doe them But this is a piece of your learning of Christ it seems to beleeve that a silly ignorant Papist that knows not the right hand from the left that is drowned in Ignorance blindnesse superstition Idolatry Infidelity and as a drowned man knows it not may securely wrappe himselfe in the shrowd or mantle of his silly ignorance and so goe to heaven Thus have you learned Christ. But Wee Wee I say that renounce all communion with the Whore of Babylon and with all her Abominations have not so learned Christ as having heard him and been taught by him as the truth is in Iesus as to beleeve there is salvation to be hoped for of any but such as walke according to Christs rule and live and dye in his Faith And what 's Christs rule Even that which follows in the same place vers 22 To put off and renounce the former conversation of the Old Man which is corrupt according to the deceitfull lusts waâ—king v. 18. in the vanity of our minds having the understanding darkened being alienated from the life of God through ignorance as the Gentiles because of the blindnesse of their heart who being past feeling have given themselves to all â—â—sâ—viousnesse to worke all uncleannes with greedinesse Wherupon the Apostle addes But have not so learned Christ so as to thinke to be saved in a Heathenish life drowned in ignorance from which you cannot distinguish the life of an ignorant Papist except that it is infinitely more stupid and fuller of grosse ignorance and all abominations then the Heathen were and saving that Papists professe the name of Christians We have not I say so learned Christ. What is then the learning of Christ To put off the Old Man and that ye be saith the Apostle renewed in the spirit of your mind putting on the New man which after God is created in Righteousnesse and true Holinesse This is the learning of Christ. So as without this learning neither any silly ignorant Papist nor the most pregnant acute learned Arch-Prelate can be saved We must have both the Righteousnesse of justification by Faith imputed and of Sanctification of the spirit of Christ inherent and shining forth in a holy life and conversation It is not a Pope-holynesse in keeping of a Lent fast or worshiping of an Altar and such like counterfeit holines of mans devising This you learne not of Christ. For Christ saith In vaine they worship me teaching for Doctrines the Commadements of men or humane Traditions This holinesse saves not but shuts men out of the Kingdome of Heaven But secondly You call it stifnesse and churlishnesse in Protestants to deny all Papists salvation We shall by and by see your Charity to Papists which is so extreame great as we need not wonder at your malice against those some Protestants you speake it Is it stifnesse to avouch the truth And if they do bebaiousthai as the Apostle exhorteth Titus constantly affirme what not onely is truth but also necessary to be spoken as being a matter of such moment and consequence as concernes the savation of soules by denying salvation to whom it belongeth not and when men are seduced in a false perswasion therof call you this churlishnesse Certainly this churlishnesse in so denying is better then your charity in affirming a falshood Nay what will you say if this which you call churlishnesse be found to be true Charity when your Charity will be found to be deadly hatred against the soule of that silly ignorant Papist For true Charity ever consists with verity els it is no Charity but vanity Now those Protestants which deny salvation to all Papists living and dying in the Roman faith doe it upon sound and solid grounds even upon cleare evidence of Scripture For the Roman Faith is not the true Christian Faith as we have proved And without the true Christian Faith
no salvation And that one Doctrine of Justification by works were there no more which all Papists professe and hold is alone sufficient to shut out all Papists living and dying therein from salvation This being so cleare should Protestants grant notwithstanding a possibility of salvation to any Papist living and dying in that Romish faith they should utter a manifest untruth and falshood and so should bewray themselves to be notoriously uncharitable How First to Protestant Professors 2. to Papists To Protestant Professors causing the weake at least to waver in their faith and make them the apter to be seduced by Romish Priests and Jesuites who prevaile not a little with vulgar Protestants and that by this very Argument which you hold That Protestants yea the Primate of Canterbury grant a possibility of salvation in the Roman Church Whereas we say the Jesuites deny salvation to be had in the Protestant Church Although I hope they will not extend this to the Church of England which you say is one and the same Church with that of which Rome is Againe secondly Protestants in not affirming this truth Then it is impossible for any Papist living and dying in the Roman faith to be saved should be very uncharitable to the Papists themselves For seeing them running on in a way which is full of false ground and deep pits covered over with green leaves and the end whereof is certaine and unavoydable destruction should they not cry out unto them to abandon that way and by all meanes and speed to get them out of it they were very uncharitable And the Scripture calls this hatred of our Brother As Levit. 19.17 Thou shalt not hate thy brothâ—r in thy heart thou shalt in any wise rebuke him and not suffer sin upon him And for ignorant Papists we are not to cast off all hope of them but erranti comiter monstrare viam shew those wanderers the right way instructing them with meeknesse proving if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledgement of the truth And that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the Devil being taken captive of him at his will Ob. But for Protestants to have no better an opinion of Papists and of their Religion would as you tell us before make the rent wider which you are loth to doe The rent is too wide so to be sowed up with the rotten thread of your Charity Nay such your Charity keeps Papists the further off from the true Protestant Religion when they may be provided of salvation nearer home and that so easily too But however the truth must be spoken as you â—old us before As Augustine saith in the point of Predestination at the Preaching whereof some in his dayes as too many in ours taking offence he answereth Numideo tacenda est veritas c. Is the Truth therfore to be concealed because some unjustly are offended with it to their damnation and not rather to be spoken that he which is able to receive it may receive it to his salvation And here the Papists take offence at Protestants for speaking the truth it is not scandalum datum but acceptum not an offence given but taken And though some take offence yet others weighing by reason may thereby through Gods grace forsake their errour and imbrace the truth If they will not we have freed our own soules and Truth is Truth still We must keep our distance and not because they will not come to us goe the halfe way at least to draw them to us as before As the Lord saith to his Prophet concerning revolted Israel Let them return unto thee but return not thou unto them And if thou take forth the Precious from the vile thou shalt be as my mouth We must not mingle and confound the precious and pure gold with the base drosse not truth with errour not light with darknesse Yet for your part you say Thirdly Not to deny Papists salvation living and dying Papists to wit in the Roman Faith is not mistaken Charity and if it be mistaken Charity is better then none at all But first we have shewed that this is no Charity at all but an erronious opinion arising from a spirit destitute of the Truth and too much in love with the Romish whore And Secondly such mistaken Charity is worse then no Charity at all in this kind It were better if ye had no such Charity For your Charity towards your silly ignorant Papists in perswading them that they are safe enough in any society of men and there is salvation for them living and dying in the Roman Faith is a nuzzling of them in their ignorance and like the Apes Charity to her young one a strangling of them with too much hugging and bewrayes you to be of the spirit of those false Prophets that strengthen the hands of the wicked that he should not return from his wicked way by promising him life that dawbe with untempered morter that call evil good and good evil that put darknesse for light and light for darknesse and wo to such that say peace peace when there is no Peace Ob. But you will say shall we shut out silly ignorant Papists from Gods mercy Nay you your selfe shut them out from Gods mercy while you shut them up in their blindnesse and so from the meanes of Gods mercy For meanes of mercy they have none in their Popish Religion and blind faith and therein you lull them fast asleep while you tell them so long as they are ignorant of the Errours of Popery they are safe among any part of men Thus you shut them out from Gods mercy as much as in you is when we by shewing them the truth and their errour would lead them to Gods mercy Nor doe we deny but God may in the riches of his Grace and mercy prevent and overtake a silly Papist in causing him to imbrace Christ by Faith even when he lyes on his death bed and truly beleeving in Christ and so dying he is undoubtedly saved But dying thus a true Beleever he dyes not in the Roman faith but in the saving faith of Christ which the Roman faith is not So as thus dying within the Verge of the Roman Church yet he dyes no member of the Roman Church but of the true misticall body of Christ. And this Charity we have towards silly Papists praying that God would shew them mercy in delivering them from under Antichrists yoake to take Christs yoake upon them and bring them out of darknesse into his marvellous light To proceed L. p. 294 295. Io. Frith saith Of the presense of Christs naturall body in the Sacrament that neither side ought to make it an Article of Faith but leave it indifferent And B. Ridley we confesse all one thing to be in the Sacrament onely we differ in modo in thâ— manner of Beeing P And of this of Ridley you say ibid. 'T is well if some
Protestants except not against it For this difference de Modo of the manner of the Presence of Christs naturall Body in the Sacrament we have spoken before at large And was this Difference trow you so small that cost both Ridley and Cranmer and Frith their lives For you cite them all 3 in one Page calling them the learned of those zealous in Queen Maries dayes Martyrs you do not call them beware of that So as times kà rin for honour sake you mention them not So you cite Calvin a little before whom in the High Commission you honoured with the Title of Rascall And these Martyrs are they whom one of your Divines of note and worth Dr. Heylin in a Booke licensed by your Chaplein stiles with the Honourable Title of Schismaticall Hereticks But to let this passe for currant with you The summe of your whole passage touching this point from pag. 292. to 296. is to perswade us to acknowledge a reall presence of Christs naturall body in the Sacrament onely differing from the Papists quoad moaum as touching the manner of presence Now I confesse this is a very pretty and ready way to lead to your Reconciliation But let me tell you even words and names and verball expressions are of no small force many times to lead men into great errours although at first they meant no harme that used them For instance The Primitive Fathers when they began to call the Lords Table an Altar they little dreamed what an Altar it would prove afterwards as wheron to offer up in sacrifice Christs naturall body So when they called Ministers Priests they imagined not that those Priests would prove afterwards such sacrificing Priests as now are in the Church of Rome And when they called the Lords supper a sacrifice which they meant to be Eucharisticall of thanksgiving they never suspected that this would become afterwards a corporall sacrifice of Christs very body and bâ—ood And yet these very Names so taken up gave occasion afterwards of setting up the greatest Idol that ever was in the world as we see at this day So dangerous is it to expresse Divine matters by any other Name then what the Scripture hath given them Seeing then that in Scripture we find no such words as Reall Presence of Christs naturall body in the Sacrament it is not safe for Christians to take them up And so much the more because we see by experience the mischiefes that this reall presence so called and so understood as the Papists doe hath done in the Church of God How many Martyrs hath it made How much innocent blood hath it spilt So as it hath gotten and that deservedly a very bad Name And it is the Name or Word wherby the Romanists expresse their Great Idol in the Masse And David saith Their Drinke offerings of Blood will I not offer nor take up their Names into my lips So as Christians ought not to use the Names of Idols invented by man to expresse Divine things of Scripture by Yea K. Hezechiah when the Brazen Serpent which God himselfe had commanded to be made for the present occasion in the Wildernesse though he commanded it not to be kept for a Monument began to be abused unto Idolatry he brake it to pieces And so in this case though these words The Reall Presence may beare a good sense yet being and that of long time abused to the setting up and upholding of most grosse Idolatry we are to stamp it to powder and never use it more And we have as little reason to be perswaded hereto by your Lordship as by any For as this word Reall presence is very suspicious in it selfe and much more in regard of the Papists abusing of it so it wants not suspicion that you so commend it unto us First in regard of the whole matter of your Book which generally complyes with Popery Secondly in regard of the main scope of your Booke which is to bring on a Reconciliation with Rome And Thirdly and more especially in regard of some speeches which have now and then dropped from you in publick Court where speaking of Altars-placing you said you would have none to sit above God-Allmighty which must needs imply as before is noted that either your Altar is your God Allmighty or els God Allmighty hath a locall presence and residence there upon your Altar And so Fourthly your eager zeale in promoting of Altars makes us much to suspect your Reall Presence as fearing all will not be well when once we have taken up and let down this Reall presence of God Allmighty into our bellies And so also Fiftly your Priests by that Name doe increase the suspition And Sixtly because you tell us before of a Transubstantiation taken properly and improperly And Seventhly Because you tell us by and by that Transubstantiation Purgatory Forbearance of the Cup are but Disputed and Improbable Opinions Lastly it is used to Idolatry and so to be broken in pieces as the Brazen Serpent was And therfore for all these Reasons we desire not to be troubled with your Reall presence but leave it to the Papists or to you to restore it where you had it or if you like it so well to use it let it be to your selfe or Chappell at Lambeth trouble not the Church of England with it any more which desireth not more matter for a new Booke of Martyrs Now to come to the Martyrs First for Ioh. Friths words Not to make it an Article of Faith but leave it Indifferent First However the words sound we must weigh them by the sense And the best Commentary of his words is his death which he suffered even therfore because he made it an Article of his faith to beleeve that Christ was not Really Present in the Sacrament as the Papists do hold and therfore on the contrary he held it as an Article of his faith That Christ was onely vertually and spiritually present to the Faith of the Receiver according to the true meaning of those Sacramentall words This is my body as a little before we shewed Secondly to take Friths words in your sense doth overthrow a Christians faith as touching the Sacrament wherein the beleever receives and applyes by faith the merits of Christs death to the comforting nourishing and strengthning of his soule And a man is bound to beleeve aright concerning the Sacrament and to put a maine difference between truth and erroâ—â— therein And is it not an Article of Faith to beleeve Christs body not to be corporally present in the Sacrament seeing he saith Me have you not alwayes It is expedient for you that I goe away who sits at Gods right hand whom the heavens must receive till his coming againe And lastly admit his words may be stretched to the full bredth of your sense which is erronious wee must measure all mens words by the Rule of Scripture in divin matters If they dissent or come short or goe
what Of no lesse then Heresie and Schisme and other sinne too living and dying in the Roman faith Nay if there be but perill though great perill these pregnant Wits have wayes and wiles enough to avoyd all such perills and that by the cleane strength of their Art of equivocation wherein they are become the most expert Masters in the world Except they have forgotten it it is so long agoe since our Judges were wont to put them shrewdly to it as to confesse whether they were Priests or no which confession then was as good as to be hangd And you say elsewhere such can make a short cut to heaven when they lye a dying saying They renounce all their own merits whither their many bad or their few Good merits is not known and rely onely upon Christs merits for salvation As your good Brother Stephen Gardiner did at his death as before But when they dye in so good a mood though they may seem as Gardiner seemed to dye in the faith yet in charity they do not while they leave not the same gappe open for the people by which themselves get through concealing Iustification by Faith from the silly vulgar In which desperate case had not your Lordships charity put in to helpe at a dead lift to teach them a blind way to heaven which scarce any Jesuites before you ever knew What had become of them But alas As you delude those silly ignorants by telling them such a way leads to heaven which will carry them straight to hell so on the other side you doe but dally with A. C. and his fellows in telling them they are in perill onely when they are in the very precipice of perdition But if you intended to be their Ghostly Father indeed you should have told them plainly Their Religion is Idolatry Heresie Schisme Apostacie Antichristianisme Infidelity and all manner of Inâ—quity and Impiety so as to live and dye therein is inevitable damnation to all Papists whatsoever but double damnation to those that know it For as Christ saith That servant which knew his Lords will and prepared not himselfe neither did according to his will shal be beaten with many stripes But he that knew not and did commit things worthy of stripes shal be beaten with few stripes But what should a man speake to the deafe Adder that stoppes her eare and will not hearken to the voyce of Charmers charming never so wisely I will follow my Lords Councel Let them alone They be blind leaders of the blind and if the blind lead the blind they shall both fall into the pit And as he saith to the Pharisees Fill ye up the measure of your Fathers But how come you to say Ther 's danger of Schisme living and dying in the Roman faith What Can a man be a Schismaticke being a Romanist Then is not the Church of Rome her selfe a Schismatick And so the Church of England all one Church And so your Catholicke Church of which you and Rome are all Schismaticks Look to it But I may not leap over that which you have stumbled upon namely Romes Tyranny to boot And it were well if such Tyranny were confined to Rome saving that all Tyranny is such as it will not be confined to any place within any bounds You say that the Church of England and that of Rome are one and the same Church Certainly then this One Church what ever you pretend of the Catholick Church is of such a constitution as whose very foundation is Tyranny because Hierarchicall As Pope Hadoian 4. an English man lying extreme sick said That there was no life more wicked then the Popes whose Popedome was founded in blood and is maintained with blood wherein he is Romulus his successor who in laying the first foundation of Rome slew his brother Remus And wherein doth the Tyranny of your Popedome in the Church of England come short of the Popes saving that he hath a more powerfull Principality then you have Have not you in your hand like that Roman Iupiter the Pope your thunderbolâ— of Excommunication to blast and cast out of the Church whom you please or those who do not please you Do not the Censures of your High Commission like the Popes Court of Inquisitâ—â—n extend to the spoyling of good Ministers and Christians of all liberty and livelyhood You will say You use no fagots as Rome doth 'T is true 't is not yet come to that But wheâ—'s the default You onely want a Law But in the mean time you want not your devises armed both with your own power and borrowed of others to afflict men worse then with death as before is shewed in the forenamed examples And therfore from all such Tyranny both English and Romish the Lord deliver us L. p. 299. I do indeed for my part leaving other men free to their own judgement acknowledge a possibility of salvation in the Roman Church But so as that which I grant to Romanists is not as they are Romanists but as they are Christians that is as they beleeve the Creed and hold the Foundation Christ himselfe not as they associate themselves wittingly and knowingly to the grosse superstitions of the Romish Church P. Now you speake a little more plaine then before But how do you leave other men free to their own judgement when for not being of your judgement in this point you censâ—re them of stiffenesse and churlishnesse and want of Charity And yet you your selfe say that there is no possibility of Salvation for Romanists as they are Romanists So as your judgement is That Romanists as they are Romanists have no possibility of Salvation Ergo no Papist as a Papist living and dying in the faith and Religion of Popery can possibly be saved And just so say those Protestants whom you Censure for stiffe churlish and uncharitable Onely you qualifie it with this Condition If they wittingly and knowingly associate themselves to the grosse Superstition of the Romish Church so as still you save harmlesse your silly ignorant Papists that know nothing at all whether they doe and beleeve right or wrong And you distinguish That as Romanists they cannot be saved but as Christians beleeving the Creed and holding the foundation Christ. But we told you before that your silly ignorant Papists do not so much as understand or know the very letter of the Creed how much lesse beleeve it If they can mumble over their Creed as many a blind Priest doth his Mâ—sse 't is in a strange tongue and they say it for one of their blind and superstitious Prayers as they doe their Ave Marie So that way what hope or possibility can they have of salvâ—tion And for holding the foundation Christ to that we have before sufficiently proved the Contrary But say you they are Christians So you say they are Romanists too As one telling the Emperour Sigismund of Iulianus the Cardinal speaking somthing in his Commendation he
reward he had in his life time and what he hath now I cannot tell that the Lords Grace of Canterbury is pleased to Grace the late Lord Bishop of Eli by being of the same opinion with him Well what 's the Opinion That there must be some one Church or other continually visible That some one Church or other hath still been visible I shall not grudge you But take my meaning withall Some false Church or other hath been though why must be I see no reason saving that there must be Heresies even among the Churches of God continually visible ever since the Apostles times And the Church of Rome for Instance hath bore the bell away which degenerating into an Antichristian Church hath been still visible though not alwayes in one and the same place but most What at Rome and somtimes at Aninion in France for where the Popes Court is there is the Church in its glorious conspicuity yet somtime without a Head somtime with two Heads somtime with three Heads that a man might say The Porter of Heaven-gates had three Heads as the Poets fained Cerberus the Porter of Hell to have had But for the true Church of God that may somtimes be hid For first as we shewed before there was no true Church visible among the revolted Ten Tribes Secondly not in Ahaz his time when he shut up the Temple and and served Idols in every Corner of Ierusalem and then where was the Church visible the while when the whole publick service and worship of God was suppressed the Temple being shut up Againe also in Ioah his time was the like as ye may reade 2 Chro. 24.17 to 22 c. Lastly when the Temple was burnt and all the people of God dispersed Captives in Babylon where they could not sing one song of Sion Where was then the visible Church the while But you will say They might have Synagogues in Babylon But you cannot prove it And the Prophet Esay saith That they were hid in Prisons As many of Christs deare servants are at this day in your Church of England And what say you for that 30 dayes Interdiction that no man should make any suit to God or man during that space Where was then the Church visible But that was but for 30 dayes But you and Dr. White are for a continuall visibility And it seems you herein jumpe with the Jesuites who stand upon a continuall visibility every day alledging that of Christ And loe I am with you paâ—as tà s e mâ—meras which our English turnes Allwayes but they All the dayes to wit everyday Which they doe to puzzle Protestants in shewing their visible succession every day without fayle since Christs time But you will say perhaps Daniel was found praying in those dayes But he was but one single Man and so not Ecclesiâ a Church or Congregation And if he prayed with his Family it was but in his private house and you will hardly allow that for a visible Church but rather call it a private Conventicle And if with this Family then if at least you had but sent your Pursuivants not onely Daniel but according to the Kings strict Decree his whole Family should have been cast with him into the Lyons denne So during the Aegyptian servitude what conspicuity of a Church in Israel Now and then perhaps in some godly Families there might be two or three assembled Yet this private still visible you will not call it For you will not allow Churches in private Families though they were in the Apostles time And such Churches so visible as two or three are visible when you see them but the world takes no notice of them as Churches Christ never fayles to have in the world And these Congregations in private Families being driven from your publick Idolatrous Superstition in your Churches are so hid many times that your blood-hounds cannot trace them or hunt them out But as for such a Conspicuous Glorious Visibility of succession of such Prelaticall Heads of Hierarchicall Churches though such may be alwayes in some Countrey or other resplendent eminent and apparent yet Christs poore Church the while may be and commonly is hid as little starres especially where such great Luminaria as your Lordships spread out your hot and fiery beames As the Woman the Church as before which here we recapitulate to incounter two such Giants when she fled from the Dragon and his flood of persecution into the Wildernesse who saw her then and there And when the whole world was turned Arian where was the true Church visible And so since Antichrist came to his Xenith or Vereticall point to his Meridian brightnesse how hath Christs Church been hid in corners as among the Merindolians Cabriers Waldensis and others who were still persecuted by that Beast and his Crew As Solomon saith When the wicked rise men hide themselves And so we may truly say When Prelates rise and beare sway and grow most resplendent and predominant in their Potent Principalities then Gods people hide themselves And the Apostle saith of the beleevers in the Old Testament in times of persecution or captivity or of the Maccabees They wandred about in sheep-skins and Goat-skins being destitute afflicted and tormented of whom the world was not worthey they wandred in Deserts and in mountains and in dennes and caves of the earth And who were all those trow you but the true Church of God And how was then the Church of God visible but that one might see another But such you will not allow to be visible Churches 1. because you cannot see them 2. because you do not allow to be Churches visible no more then you do the Reformed Churches in Geneva and among the Canâ—oâ—s and those mountains where you cannot see them which is their safety as not to feele you And where was the visibility of Gods true Church in England in Queen Maries dayes in the midst of the black tempest of persecution where you could not discerne one true Professour and Protestant but by the light of that fire which was by the Prelates kindled to burn them for Martyrs Or if you or your Beagles had hunted among the Woods perhaps ye might have found halfe a dozen poore soules under some Tree shading them from the present heat of persecution where they did solace their soules with having among them some few leaves of St. Pauls Epistles which they read to strentghen and arme them against their â—urne came Call you this a visible Church But you will say The Church of England was then visible and conspicuous in the Bishops and the publick Congregations throughout the Churches of the land where Divine service or Masse was sung or sayd every day Then was the Church visible in Edmund of London and Stephen of Winchestr and other their Associates who were as Zealous Champions for the Church of England then as you are now So as that Church
then as now was no lesse sensible then visible when sitting most conspicuous in their Courts they condemned Christs true Church for an Heretiâ—ke delivering it over to the seculer power for a burnt sacrifice And was not this that Church then of which you tell us when you say Our Church was just there then where Romes is nâ—w So as we need make no doubt but your now conspicuous Church of England was one and the same with that in Maryâ—s dayes onely that Church by vertue of a Law burned the Saints of God and you without Law bury them quick You aâ—e all for a conspicuous visibility of a Prelaticall or Hierarchicall Church But Christs true Church as before is otherwise which hath for the Bishop of her soule the Lord Iesus Christ who is no Non Resident Bishop but perpetually resident and present with all his Congregations Yea where but two or three are assâ—mâ—led in his Name there is He in the midst of them He saith not In a Cathedrall or other Church but indefinitely Wheresoever as in a Chamber in a private room as the Apostles were for feare of the High Priests During which time where was the conspicuous visibility of the true Church untill the day of Penticost came when there was a new Church collâ—ctive of all nations under heaven Againe Christ saith not Where there is a multitude but Where two or three nor assembled in a Prelâ—tâ—s name as members of a Prelaticall Church but In may Name saith Christ in the faith of me according to my word then and there am I in the midst of them to rule and protect as King to teach as Prophet as Priest to present their persons and sacrifices to my Father These these are those Churches or Congregations which you scorne and scoffe at and which you persecute and punish as â—alefactors for so assembling as where Christ is present among them which plainly bewrayes your selves to be the false Church which you say must be continually visible L. p. 320. A Church may hold the Fundamentall point literally and as long as it stayâ—s there be without controwle and yet erre grosly dangerously nay damnably in the exposition of it And this is the Church of Romes case For most true it is it hath in all Ages maintained the Faith unchanged in the expression of the Articles themsâ—lves but it hath in the exposition both of Creeds and Councels quite changed and lost both the sense and meaning of some of them So the Faith is in many things changed both for life and beliefe and yet seems the same Now that which deceives the world is that because the barke is the same men thinke this old decayed tree is as sound as it was at first and not wether-beaten in any age But when they can make me beleeve that painting is true beauty I le beleeve too that Rome is not onely sound but beautifull P. First here I must note the perplexed and confused frame of your first sentence You say A Church may hold thâ— fundamentall point literally and as long as it stayes there be without controwle and yet erre grosly dangerously nay damnably in the exposition of it As much as if you had sayd That a Church may hold the fundamentall point literally and erre grosly dangerously nay damnably in the exposition of it and yet be without Controwle As for As long as it stayes there namely in holding the fundamentall point literallâ— how is it without controwle when notwithstanding the holding of the letter it erre grosly dangerously nay damnably in the exposition of it For you joyne and jumble all together the holding of the letter and the overthrowing of the sense and yet want controwle And what 's the letter where the sense is lost What 's the barke when the pith and marrow is gone As Iâ—rome saith Gods word standeth non in verborum cortice sed in medulla sententiarum not in the barke of words but in the pith of the sense Well And this is Romes case say you How Most true it is say you that it hath in all ages maintained the faith unchanged in the expression of the Articles themselves but it hath in the exposition both of Creeds and Councels quite changed and lost the sense and meaning of some of them So the faith is in many things changed both for life and beliefe and yet seems the same Here againe do you not most pittifully enterfere Faith is lost in the exposition and yet kept in the expression of the Articles Have not you lost sense in this expression except you can recover it by a better exposition For you separate the expression from the exposition So you leave the Articles as a dead carcase without a soule For there is no faith kept in the expression of the letter without the true exposition of the sense And if the sense be lost the faith is lost And what expression of faith doe you call that which is abstracted from the sence But Rome hath lost the sense but of some of them Of which And whether of Creeds or Councels For here you shuffle both together too as making Councels of equall Authority with the Creeds I did not thinke before this nor yet that Councels Decrees are to be taken as Creeds Onely I might have learned of you before That Councels Decrees though they be erronious must bind all to obedience and then sure they are little inferiour to Creeds saving that those may be reversed by another Generall Councel but these not But however Rome is the same barke of a Church still Ergo a true Church still Why the Barke is not the Tree no more then a Sheep-skin is a Sheep No nor yet hath Rome so much as the barke of the true Church of Christ left Looke upon her outward hew and habit and there we shall find nothing but the habitements of the great Whore and the Ensignes of Antichrist with his Church Malignant warring against the true Spouse and Church of Christ. And both these we find in that one Chapter where the Woman is set out to the life Her Habilements She fits upon a scarlet coloured Beast full of Names of Blasphemy having seven Heads and Ten Hornes and she is arayed in purple and scarlet colour and decked with gold and precious stone and Pearle having a golden Cup in her hand full of abominations and filthinesse of her fornications with a Label on her forehead to know her the Better a Name written Mystery Babylon the Great the Mother of Harlots and abominations of the Earth and she is drunken with the blood of the Saints And a little after we see her Ensignes set up and those be her ten Hornes the power of Kings which she instigateth to make warre with the Lamb and those on his side the Called and Chosen and Faithfull Now the Whores habit is not the habit of Christs Spouse This is not the barke of the weather-beaten Tree of Gods
Church whose outward beauty is black but inwardly is glorious outwardly blasted as an Oake but the holy seed is the substance thereof And if by black you understand the bare name of a Church and profession of Christianity That she hath changed too as the Snake doth her skin slipping off the old and taking on a new For she is not content to be called Christs holy Church but the Roman Catholicke Church Whereas Christs Church is not denominated from any place And as she is the Roman Church so the Papall Church being denominated from the Pope as her Head Ergo none of Christs Church for this acknowledgeth none for her Head but Christ alone who is the root of this Vine and Olive Tree that ministers sap and fatnesse unto it If therfore Rome be any Tree at all she is such as is in Daniel the Embleme of the Old Babylonian Tyranny and so a Type of Romes Babylonish usurped Power § That Tree stretched out its boughs over the whole Earth under whose shadow all the Beasts must have their sanctuary as Rome applyeth that of the Psalme 8.6 7. And is this Tree say you but wether-beaten Or but in some things unsound When it hath lost not onely the barke but the pith of Christs Church being all rotten within Being such a Tree as Iude describes déndron phthinoporinòn akarpon dìs apothanòn a corrupt Tree without fruit twice dead and to be hewed down plucked up by the roots and cast into the fire So as Rome is altogether naught Intus incute Pith and Barke Root and Branch Fruit and Leafe Onely a painted Tree by which painting as you say she deceives the world and your Lordship too while you would be glad to take her with all faults and be reconciled to her takeing her painting for true beauty or at the least on her outside more beauty then painting and in her inside more soundesse then corruption For you say In some things onely both for life and beliefe corrupted L. p. 321. Dr. White sayd onely that some Errours of the Church were fundamentall reductive that is if they which imbrace them did pertinaciously adhere to them having sufficient meanes of Information And againe expresly That none were damnable so long as they were not held against Conscience P. Thus we come to know Dr. Whites judgement and therein yours also But against you both as erronious in this point I alledge the Scripture What saith Christ of the Pharisees Let them alone They are blind leaders of the blind and if the blind lead the blind they both fall into the ditch So you may see here if ye be not blind that blindnesse is damnable But you will say This was obstinate blindnesse fighting against the light 'T is true that the blindnesse of the Pharisees was obstinate against the cleare light and their own Consciences but the blind people whom they led were simply blind out of meere ignorance and so not against their Conscience and yet both the leader and the led fall into the ditch of damnation He that drinks deadly poyson ignorantly perisheth as he that wittingly drinks it The poyson is in it selfe mortall to all that drinke it with what mind soever they doe it And such is the poyson of sin and errour Onely he that erres of ignorance is more easily recovered then one that is obstinate in his errour and both living and dying in the same errour as of infidelity and the like which all Popery is both are tormented in hell but the obstinate more then the other yet God is just in punishing both So as all errour is damnable in all but in some more in some lesse And it is of the same righteous judgement of God to deny to the ignorant means and to others the right use of the means by withholding his grace and accordingly he is just in punishing all with a due proportion And so ther 's a difference between simple Papists living in the midst of the Aegyptian darknesse where there is no light nor meanes of knowledge and simple Papists living in Goshen where the light shineth where the Gospell is preached and doe close their eyes wilfully so as they obstinately refuse to see or heare The sin of these certainly is much more damnable then of the other who have no meanes at all Againe Errours that are in their own nature damnable are damnable in whomsoever they be onely in some more in some lesse but we cannot say they are to some damnable and to others not damnable All sinne in its owne nature is damnable and brings damnation with it to every Mothers son is it then damnable to some and not to others Did not death come upon all men in asmuch as all men had sinned And is not Errour whether in life or beliefe whether in the ignorant or men of knowledge sinne Thus you and Dr. White mazzle ignorants in sinne And if the blind lead the blind both shall fall into the pit But enough of this L. p. 32â— I would faine soe any one point maintained by the Church of England that can be proved to depart from the Foundation P. Would you see it againe We have proved it before and that abundantly that you maintain not one but sundry points wherein you depart from the foundation Look before and you shall see how you depart from the Foundation in your Tyrannicall Hierarchy or Prelacie in your Altars in overthrowing the Doctrines of Grace in destroying the Doctrine and Practise of the 4 th Commandement in sanctifying the Lords day in forbidding Meates and Marriage at certaine times which the Apostle calls directly and expresly a departing from the Faith and Doctrines of Devils Look backe and see L. p. ibid. There is a latitude in the faith especially in reference to different mens salvation To set bounds to this and strictly to define it for particular men Iust thus farre you must beleeve in every particular or incurre damnation is no worke for my pen. P. For the ground of this your speech you quote Bellarmine in the Margent I thought you raked it out of some puddle seeing the Fouâ—taine it selfe the Scripture affords you no such corrupt stuffe Nay more then that you expresse your selfe in farre worse termes then Bellarmine doth For Bellarmines words which you quote are these Multa sunt de fide quae non sunt absolutè necessaria and salutem There be many things of Faith which are not absolutely necessary to salvation But you bring it down to every mans salvation as if some things of faith were more absolutely necessary for some mens salvation then for others I passe by Bellarmine and insist upon your own words leaving him to cleare himselfe There is say you a latitude of faith especially in reference to different mens Salvation Oâ— saving and justifying faith you must meane no question For what faith is necessary for every mans salvation but the saving faith which comprehends in it
whatsoever faith is requisite and necessary to salvation as the beliefe of Scripture to be the word of God as is shewed before And this saving faith is the faith of all them that are heires of salvation to wit of all Gods Elect and all the Saints But it seems with Father Bellarmine you have an Implicit faith for your ignorants and an Explicit for you that are great Clerks or the letter of the Creed for those and the sense for these But I handled this also before Onely you propound a Paradox which is no worke for your pen wherein you are the wiser not to take upon you to read or expound such riddles had you been so wise as not to have propounded â— And yet it is the worke of every good Minister of Chrâ—â—t to teach the people what to beleeve and to exhort them to grow in Grace and knowledge and Faith and so declare unto them the whole Counâ—el of God and to keep nothing backe and to build men up in knowledge more and more unto perfection As the Preacher saith Because the Preacher was wise he still taught the people knowledge yea he gave good heed and sought out and set in Order many Proverbs The Preacher sought to find out acceptable words and that which was written was upright even words of truth The words of the wise are aâ— Goads and Nayles fastened by the Masters of Assemblies which are given from one shepheard But this is not a patterne for you to follow neither by your tongue nor pen. You have other imployment for them But though we cannot set a bound to faith in respect of perfection of degrees yet we ought to teach the people all the parts of saving faith and knowledge striving unto perfection And besides it is the duty of every good Minister of Christ to limit and set bounds to all the negatives of faith in discovering all manner of sins and errours which are all contrary and enemies to faith and salvation For which end they must open all the ten Commandements as Christ did Mat. 5. and all other points of saving Doctrine in the Scriptures Now though you have not the skill or will to set bounds how farre men shall beleeve yet you want no will nor power to inhibit and restraine Preachers shewing them how little a way they must goe in teaching the people and so consequently how little a way the people must goe in beleeving and saving knowledge as in restraining and forbidding to preach the Doctrines of Grace as before forbidding Lectures and especially all Sermonâ— on the Lords day afternoon forbidding long Preaching at any time forbidding expounding of the Catethisme as many of your Prelates doe and the like Thus you can finely set men bounds how little thy shall beleeve or know of God to their salvation That 's a worke if not for your pen or hand yet for your head and not unlikely of your hand and pen too L. p. 327. The Romanists dare not beleeve but as the Roman Church beleeves And the Roman Church at this day doth not beleeve the Scripture and the Creeds in the sense in the which the ancient Primitive Church received them P Dare they not How then say you there is possibility of salvation in the Roman Church for any when it condemneth and accurseth saving faith and justification thereby with other saving truths For if the Papists dare not beleeve but as their Church beleeves then they are bound to good behaviour they dare not beleeve to their salvation And if they dare not beleeve to their salvation then they cannot be saved And if they cannot be saved what possibility of salvation for them living and dying in that faith And here Why do you noâ— say in the sense of the Scriptures themselves and not of the Primitive Church But you doe not like the Scripture sense except the Church interpret it You allow not Scriptures to speake for or testifie for themselves You are the same man still And as we sayd before you doe wisely in that to stoppe the mouth of Scripture as Ahab did Michaiahs for it never speaks good of you but evil alwayes L. p. 232. I will acknowledge every fundamentall point of faith as proveable out of the Canon as we account it as if the Apochryphall were added unto it P. As if Apocryphalls were any divine proofe at all of the fundamentall points of faith in Scripture or ought any way in that respect to be so much as named with the Scripture Apocryphalls saith Ierome may be read for instruction of manners but not for confirmation of faith as before L. p. 336. I have lived and shall God-willing dye in that faith of Christ as it was professed in the ancient Primitive Church and as it is professed in the present Church of England P. As you handle the matter ther 's a vast difference between the faith of Christ professed in the ancient Primitive Church and that which is now professed in the present Church of England For the Ancient Primitive Church taken properly and strictly as somtime in your Booke as before you put it was that wherein the Apostles lived Now will ye be tryed by the Ancient Primitive Church of the Apostles held and professed What say you my Lord for your faith in this case Will you put your faith and Religion to the tryall of the most intire and upright Jâ—ry the Twelve Apostles Certainly if you decline this tryall 't is a shrewd suspicion that the faith of yours wherein you are so resolute to live and dye is not right Therfore for shame of the world you must at least professe or pretend that you wil be tryed by the the Faith and Religion which the Apostles and the true Church of God in their time as being the most Pure Prime Ancient Primitive Church held and professed First then That Primitive Church neither held nor professed nor practised any Hierarchicall government of Prelates or Bishops but have câ—ndemned it in their writings the Scriptures of the New Testament And yet I are say you resolve to live and dye Primate of Canterbury and Metropolitan of all England Secondly The Apostles and the ancient Primitive Church in their Age and time had no Altars but onely the Lord Iesus Christ Heb. 13.10 as it is formerly proved but you and your Church of England both set up and worship Altars and â—each the people both by your Books and practise to do so too and force Ministers to erect Altars or force them out of their Churches And this Faith and Religion also I dare say you resolve to live and dye in Thirdly The Apostles and the anciciâ—nt Primitiâ—e Church in their time celebrated and sanctified every Lords day in holy duties onely and in preaching as well in the afternoon as in the fâ—â—enoon never forbidding but still exhorting to preach in season and out of season giving no liberty to vaine and profane sports and Pastimes either upon
Precious stones metà polles phantasÃas with her great pompe Visible no question and so visible and sensible too as otherwise we could not know her to be the Great Whore Thus she was shewed first to Iohn in a visible representation by which we also come to know her to be the same Woman when we doe but looke upon her Well visible we all grant her to be What more God hath hitherto preserved her That 's true too For even the wickedest men upon earth and the most Tyrannicall states that they are for a time yea and a long time too preserved in life and doe prosper also they owe it to God But to what end are the wicked preserved Their finall end is destruction to which they are râ—served as Peter speaks and Paul too Cain and his Posterity whose Family was a type of Antichrists succession continued and were preserved and grew great for almost two thousand yeares till at last the Flood swept them all away But of Rome you have better hopes doubtlesse For you say God hath preserved her for a better end doubtlesse then they have turned it to Now doubtlesse I will shew you what that better is for which God hath hitherto preserved that Woman which hath been made drunke with the blood of the Saints Whom saith the Apostle the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth and shall destroy with the brightnesse of his coming And Rev. 14.8 Babylon is fallen is fallen that great City because she made all Nations drinke of the wine of the wrath of her fornication And Rev. 18. read the whole Chapâ—er of Romes ruine Yea and all that partake with Rome shall drinke of the wine of the wrath of God c. Rev. 14 9 10. What the Scripture hath spoken of Romes fall would fill a Volume And is not this the best end that God is pleased to preserve her for when he shal be glorified in executing his justice and judgements upon her for all her abominations and for all the blood of his Saints which she hath shed And in her confusion God will magnifie and exalt the Honour and Kingdome of Iesus Christ which thaâ— Woman and her Crew had oppressed and the Saints shall tryumph over her Yea saith the Lord Rejoyce over her thou heaven and the holy Apostles and Prophets for God hath avenged you on her And Chap. 19.1 2. I heard saith Iohn a great voyce of much people in heaven that is in the true Church of Christ saying Alleluja salvation and Glory and Honour and Power unto the Lord our God For true and righteous are his Iudgements for he hath judged the great Whore which did corrupt the Earth with her fornication and hath avenged the blood of his servants at her hand Behold here for what a glorious end the Lord hath preserved that Great Whore But it seemeth you do not mean to make one of that Company either to sing Alleluja or to say Amen when the Lord shal be magnified in that day For you hope doubtlesse for better then all this And so I am perswaded you have the like hopes that God hath preserved and prospered you thus long for no lesse then to be after scores of yeares in a flourishing estate here Canonized for a Saint in heaven for all the blood of the Saints both of their soules and bodies which you have shed Wherein you may have as much hope for your selfe as for old Mother Rome and all one But I leave you to the Righteous Judge who knows how and when to glorify himselfe as well upon the wicked his enemies by destruction as in his own Saints and servants by deliverance Here is the Patience of the Saints L. p. 375. Truly I say the same thing with him Neither may a Protestant that is resolved in Conscience that the profession of the true faith is in the Church of England goe to the Romish Church there and in that manner to serve and worship God P. Thus you jumpe with the Jesuite in this that as he saith 'T is not lawfull for one affected as the Lady was that is for one that is resolved of the truth of the Roman Church to goe to the Church of England there and in that manner to serve and worship God so c. Why will you let the Jesuite run away with it so Do you not know that the Law of England injoynes all Papists under penalty to come to your Church Now doth the Law injoyne that which in it selfe is unlawfull for a man to doe that is otherwise resolved in Conscience Nor is this Law repeald though as before it be a â—leep and grown justly in the sheath Now reconcile these two And what say you then in the Case of Conscience touching your Ceremonies There be some Ceremonies which the Law prescribes to be observed in your Church Now a poore soule is not in Conscience perswaded that he ought to conforme to such Ceremonies of necessity imposed as being agâ—inst Christian â—â—â—erty and Christs Prerogative royall in being sole King over his Church ruling in the Conscience of his People Well you say in this case such a man is bound against his Conscience to observe such Ceremonies And if he be not bound why doe you so severely and terribly punish him for not daring to doe that which is against his Conscience Wheras the Papist otherwise resolved in Conscience you hold not bound to come to your English Church And so of your Protestant for going to the Romish Church being against his Conscience Will you not allow to the Conscience of the first as good Law as you doe to the two last Againe you allow a greater and larger liberty of Conscience to your Protestant to go to the Romish Church then the Jesuite doth to his Romanist to come to your English Church For he allows not his Romanist to come to your English Church that is resolved in Conscience of the truth of the Roman Church that it is a true Church and that the truth is there whereas you doe not allow your Protestant to goe to the Romish Church that is onely resolved in Conscience that the profession of the truth is in the Church of England Now there is great difference between the truth and the profession of the truth So as he that is resoled in Conscience that the truth is onely professed in the Church of England and is not withall resolved that the truth it selfe is in the Church of England may with more liberty goe to the Romish Church then the Romanist may come to yours that is resolved of the truth of and in the Romish Church So as herein also the Jesuite hath the advantage of you Againe if the Jesuite did meane by the truth of the Roman Church the profession of the truth in that Church he therein comes no whit behind you For the Church of Rome as well makes a false profession of the truth as your Prelaticall Church
giving her hope that she might be saved living and dying in the Roman faith Is it so easie trow you to send such a Lady to heaven securely wrapped in the Mantle-lap of her silly ignorance But what if she be now in hell Are not you guilty of her damnation by muzzling her in her blind ignorance as wherein onely you taught her to place the hope of her salvation But you told her of some danger But you did not possesse her with such a feare of the danger as both there was cause and you should have done as you puffed her up with the hope of safety and that in the onely confidence of her silly ignorance so as her vain hope overcame just feare And if now by this meanes she be in hell as you set her in the ready high way look you to it Paries cum proximus ardâ—t Tunc tua res â—gitur if she by your leading be fallen into the pit what is like to befall you the leader when the blind leading the blind both fall into the pit But if God hath had mercy on her it was not since her death by delivering her out of Purgatory iâ— she dyed a Papist but before her death by delivering her from her Popery worse then any Purgatory causing her to renounce and repent of that and to beleeve in his mercy and Christs merit onely for salvâ—tion without which faith of Christ â—here is no hope of mercy And we shewed before that this faith of Christ is not the Roman faith but quite opposit unto it L. p. â—88 But 't is time to end especially for me that have so many things of weight lying upon me and disabling me from these Polemâ—ck â—isccurses besides the burthen of sixty five yeares compleat which draw on a pace to the period set by the Prophet David Psal. â—0 and to the Time that I must goe and give God and Christ an account of the Talent committed to my Charge in which God for Christ Iesus sake be mercifull to me who knows that however in many weaknesses yet I have with a faithfull and single heart bound to 〈◊〉 free Grace for it laboured the meeting the blessed meeting of Truth and Peace in his Church and which God in his own good time will I hope effect To him be all Honour and Prayse for ever Amen P. How fitly doth this your Conclusion suit with and succeed that which was last mentioned as matter for your more serious and sad meditation and which I cannot but tremble 〈◊〉 And well weighing also the words of this your Conclusion with all that you have written in this your Booke and with all your Practises in your life all so uniforme and sutable I am surprized with great astonishment The reasons hereof will further appeare in the more particular animadversions upon your words asunder And because we use to take most speciall notice of a mans last words give me lâ—ave to take a full and particular view of yours here as being though not the last words of a dying man yet the finall Conclusion of this your Booke which so soon as I have read over it passeth away tanquam Fabula as the Prophet speaks of a mans life as a taâ—â— thâ— is told And as we looke thaâ— however you have dealt in your Book yet in the close of all you should deale candidly ingeniously and cordially and not dubble with God and the world and with your own Conscience yet for my part as the Spirit of sincerity and truth without flattery or respect of Persons where the truth is wronged hath rnd doth run through all the veines of this my Reply to your Relation so I shall by Gods grace close all with the same spirit not sparing you to the last where still you give just cause And the truth cannot better nor more seasonably be spoken home then as to a dying man who though he have been never so notorious an hypocrite and desperate man in the Course of his life yet when he lyes upon his death-bed and utters some words which seem to savour of some sensiblenesse of his Condition then if ever there may be some hope of working upon him as when the yron is hot by putting home unto him and laying before him his former life that so at the last though late as the Thiefe on the Crosse he may through Gods mercy be brought to repentance and so to salvation Although examples of such penitents indeed and in truth be very rare For as one observeth One Thiefe was saved on the Crosse that none should dâ—spaire and but one that none should presume â—or the saying too ordinarily proves true Qualis vita finis itâ— As a man lives so he dyes And Paenitentia sera rarò vera Late Repentance is seldome true And the Prophet gives the reason of it Can the Ethiopian change his hew or skin Or the Leopard his spots Then may ye also do good that are accustomed to doe evil For as one â—aith Consuetudo peccandi tollit sensum peccaâ—i Custome of sinning takes away the sense of sin And where there is noâ— sense of sin there can be no Repentance for sin And therfore commonly when a man that hath lived wickedly and hath been used to lying and dissembling all his life comes to â—ay on his death bed or at the last gaspe Lord have mercy upon me however we may not judge him leaving him to his Judge yet this is no sufficient argument to perswade us that this is 〈◊〉 Repentance For lightly when such men promising and vowing it God restore them to reforme their life do recover they â—â—turn â—s the Scripture speaks with the dog to his vomit and with 〈…〉 that is washed to her wallowing in the mire According to that 〈◊〉 or Apologie 〈◊〉 Daemon Monachus tunc esse volebat 〈◊〉 Daemon nec tamen est Monachus Which 〈…〉 thus 〈…〉 was 〈◊〉 the Deâ—il a Monke would be 〈…〉 was well the â—evil a Monke was he But I must not doe you wrong in applying of these things to you or that I have any hope of doing good upon you even now at last in the close of all seeing you give me no incouragement of hope at all this way For in all this your Closse not a word expressing the least sorrow for your most enormious iniquites but on the contrary you justifie them and glory in them Wherein you shew the pride of your heart to be out of measure desperate and not to be named with the pride of that Pharisee For though he gloryed in himselfe yet he gloryed not in his evil but in those things that were in themselves good and commendable and for which he gave God thanks as the Author of them but here I find a proud Prelate vaunting in his impiety and in all his wicked practises the ayme whereof is to reconcile the Church of England and that of the Whore of Babylon together and all under a faire pretence
of the meeting of Truth and Peace And not content herwith he must needs make God and his free Grace the Author of all this Mystery of Iniquity and deep hypocrisie which here he veileth under the name of a single heart But stay before I begin is there no hope of doing good upon you It is not impossible but that the greatnesse of your zeale for this Peace hath been so strong in you as whereby you have been perswaded whatsoever you either have done or yet can further doe for the effecting thereof be it by throwing down of Gods word casting out his Ministers chasing away Gâ—ds people howting out all power of holynesse out of the Land and so removing all such impediments as you thought stood in your way and that per â—as aut nefas by right or wrong all waâ— and is well yea very well done Haply the lovely and amiable name of an Imaginary Truth and deceitfull Peace and counterâ—et Câ—urch and the strength of your beliefe that Rome was yet a true Church and so true that England and she were and are one and the same Church no doubt of that did so wholly possesse you that â—o bring England and Rome together againe you thought even 〈◊〉 of the Truth it selfe to be true piety and the 〈◊〉 of the peace of all to be an establishment of unity and confusion of light with darknesse to a perfect Reconciliation Yet this I must say wiâ—hall as Christ said If the light that is in thee be darknesse how great is that darknesse And if in all that you have done for the advancing of this your maine Project you have not wilfully 〈◊〉 against the â—ight of your Conscience and so gone on in that 〈◊〉 course with a high hand certainly it seems to me a 〈…〉 highest admiration and so much the more 〈…〉 have long lived in the midst of such a cleare 〈…〉 as no Age since the Apostles hath seen a greater though now of late it hath suffered and that since your elevation especially no smal Eclipse But if my words shall have no better effect with you then onely to convince you and discover your damnable Hypocrisie jam liberaui animam meam I have now freed mine own soule And now to your words 'T is time for me say you to end And I say as I sayd before it had been in my judgement much better for you if you had never begun this worke But 't is well that at length as Iob speaks vaine words have an end Though it be not for this reason that you make an end But you alledge those many things of weight lying upon you What what weighty things hath this mighty Apostolicall Man lying upon him Such as the Apostle had The care of all the Churches That you pretend too while you would so faine have Altars up in all the Churches in England But the Apostle addes there Who is weake and I not weake Who is offended and I burn not Can you say so You can say Who is offended at my Cerimonies and I burn not with zeale against that man till I have consumed But why do I name the Apostle Your many things of weight lying upon your shoulders are State-matters high and deep State-mysteries the burthen of a vast Iland heavier then Etna it selfe What such so weighty so many things lye upon your weake shoulders Enough to presse you down as low as hell What doe not you professe to be a Priest a Clergy man And is not the Charge of that one Profession being rightly executed had you ever felt the weight of it a burthen heavy enough to breake your backe which as one said the shoulders of Angels would tremble under And the Apostle speaking of a Ministers office saith No man that warreth intangleth himselfe with the affaires of this life that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a souldier But it seemeth you are none of those whom Christ hath chosen to be his souldier except he chose you for such a purpose as he did but one man of the twelve For you are one that warreth and as Iudas the Captain of the rout against Christ in his Ministers and members But you intangle your selfe with the affaires of this life And by this means you have the more power to warre against Christs Kingdome So as Ieromes speech may take place here Negotiaâ—orem Clericum ex inope divitem ex ignobile gloriosum tanquam quandam pestem â—uge A negotiating or Polypragmaticall Clerke or Clergy man and who of poore bcomes rich of base vain-glorious fly from him as from a kind of Plague But who hath compelled you to take the burthen of so many and great things upon you What did the Pillars of the State shake and tremble and threaten a fall and therupon 〈…〉 in and put under your shoulder to stay it up As the Pope at the Councel of Lateran dreamed that the Lateran shooke and was ready to fall but that Dominicus came in the nicke and upheld it wherupon the next day the Pope made Domiâ—iâ—us the Father of his Order And so well may you prove a supporter of the Popes Lateran but how a supporter of Civil States I know not nor meddle with but negatively shewing a disparity and incongruity between your Profession and that saâ—ing that you are rather a Civilian then a Divine as having proceeded Doctor not in Divinity but of the Civil Law But suppose you had been compell'd to it Christ would not be made King when they would have forced him For his Kingdome was not of this world But yours is And your shoulders are able to beare two such intolerable burthens as never any man in the world could beare one of them well and as he should doe Well I will say no more but this To whom much is committed of him shall much be required But you adde also another reason why 't is time for you to end as bearing now the burthen of 65. yeares compleat A great age and yet I suppose you feele it not to be a burthen If you doe then as the Poet saith Solve senescentem maturè sanus equum ne Peccet ad erremum ridendus ilia ducat And you say it draws on apace to the Period set by the Ppophet David Psal 90. You mistake the Pen-man for it was Moses But to let that passe as a common mistake and as a Law which it seems you have imposed your selfe and observed throughout your Book not to cite any Scripture without perverting of it Doth your Lordship hope to reach the period of three-score and ten Alas should you live out but one Lustrum of five yeaâ—es more what would become of I say not the Civil state but the poore Church of God yet in England But our comfort is The Lord Iesus Christ is both against you and above you In the meane time were it not safer for you to think of
be expected there Can or will the Lord Iesus Christ long suffer such things And what doth England now attempt The recovery of Scotland First ô England be thou thy selfe reconciled to God humble thy selfe for thy fearefull Apostacie revoke and call in all thy ungodly Edicts against Christ and his Word reforme all thy oppressions of Gods People and thine owne maintain not still open warre against the Spirituall Kingdome of Iesus Christ least he destroy thy temporall looke up to God as highly offended with thee and who hath for the present rent a whole Kingdome from thee who hast rent thy selfe from his Kingly Dominion over thee Be no longer rebellious against God stand not upon the confidence of thine own conceited Prudence and Power which unlesse thou hast God on thy side shal be but a snare unto thee and shall stand thee in no stead at thy need except thou dost repent and turn to God unfainedly and refraine thy violent courses and reform all My zeale hath carryed me thus farre for my God and for my King and for my Countrey and for all the People of God and the King in all his Kingdomes my dayly prayer being for Truth and Peace as the Prophet Saith Love the Truth and Peace Truth is both the Mother and Nurse of Peace But to proceed you say No externall action in the world can be uniforme without some Ceremony If you speak of Naturall Actictions nature it selfe doth teach a fit manner in doing of them If of Morall or Civill actions we commonly use such Ceremonies as either humane Lawes Customes or a mans owne reason hath brought in use But if you Speake of Religious actions such as are conversant about the worship of God That 's quite of another nature for point of Ceremony Onely thus farre it holds proportion with the other that as every naturall action hath for its manner of performance and carriage certaine Principles of Nature to guide a Man in the decent and orderly doing of it and as every Civil and Morall action hath for its manner of the decent carriage of it some Rule either intrinsecall within a man and in his own choyce and power or extrinsecall and without him according either to Custome or humane Law even so the externall manner of performing Gods worship hath for its Sole Principle and Rule the will of God himselfe whose service it is and over which he is the Sole Lord whose will for his whole service both internall and externall he hath clearely expressed in his word the holy Scripture And this is a principle which every man that seeth not but by the Spectacles of Natures Light assenteth unto as a firme and universall truth namely That every Master is so to be served as himselfe commandeth And if a Servant presume to serve his Master as himselfe listeth and not as his Master commandeth shall have small thanks for his labour How much more and beyond all comparison is God to be served of us not as we fancie but as himselfe hath expresly commanded in his word And this is a safe obedience wherein a man observing his Rule cannot erre Whereas obedience to Mans command is onely so farre good as the commandement it selfe is good and lawfull But Gods Word and Commandement being every way perfect and given us with a strict charge and under a most severe penalty even a Curse to those that shall either adde to it or detract from it who but Children of the curse will presume to invent what manner of externall service of God his own proud fancie liketh best Such service cannot be called the service of God as wherewith he is served and pleased but the service of Man wherein he pleaseth himselfe Yea when a man hath pleased his own fancie in the invention of this or that Ceremony in religious worship and not content herewith doth withall impose and injoyne it to be of necessity observed of all so as their Conscience is now by humane Law captivated thereunto this service of God becomes Hereticall For what is Heresie in the common use among Divines but an obstinate holding and maintaining of an errour in faith which mans pride hath made choyce of But not onely presumtuously to elect and obstinately and pertinaciously to maintain but to make a Law to enforce others to conform to any such errour in faith this is the highest degree of Heresie that can be And that the inventing holding and imposing of such Ceremonies in Gods worship is an errour in faith and so hereticall is cleare For it is a point and Article of Christian faith to bebeleeve that Christ is the onely Lord and King of his Church and therfore in the Creed we say And in Iesus Christ his onely Sonne our Lord. To whom then doth the power of ordaining Ceremonies in Gods holy service appertaine but to the King or Master of this service This power is Christs Prerogative in his Church This is Christs Throne wherein he sitteth raigneth and ruleth in and over the Soules and Consciences of his people as before is touched He is the onely Teletarkes or Master of ordaining Ceremonies in Gods house or family as the learned Budaeus interprets that word out of Dionisius Areopageta so as TeletarkÃa which signifies a Prerogative and Power in GOD incommunicable to ordaine Ceremonies in his worship is used for the Soveraigne Deity or Godhead and so for the Holy Trinity And Christ hath ever from the beginning reserved this power intire and peculiar to himselfe even as his glory not imparting it to any earthly power not to his Church not to his Prophets and Apostles not to the Kings of Israel under the Law nor to the Fathers before the Law For before the giveing of the Law in Mount Sina GOD taught his Church the use of Sacrifices and Altars and other Rites with the difference of Meates cleane and uncleane At the giving of the Law GOD shewed Moses a pattern for the Tabernacle and all things thereunto belonging with a Charge to doe all things according to the Pattern which he had seen Not the least Ceremony no not a pin about the Tabernacle was left in Moses power or choyce to make of his own head So afterward when the Temple was to be built David received the pattern thereof and of all things appertaining to the whole service thereof from God in writing which David delivering to his Son Salomon appointed of God to build the Temple Said All this the Lord made me understand in writing by his hand upon me even all the worke of this Pattern even the Pattern of all that he had by the Spirit So as though David was a King and a Prophet and that of singular eminency a man according to Gods own heart and aboundantly indued with the holy Spirit of God and the Sweet Psalmist of Israel and though King Salomon was indued with admirable and incomparable wisedome yet the Lord