Judges between them and by his Providence prevents or over-rules all those Disorders which may happen either in Church or State in this World and rewards or punishes both Governours and Subjects according to their deserts in the next And this supresedes all farther Disputes about some hard Cases or the sincerity or insincerity of Governours or Subjects for every man must of necessity judge for himself and God will govern and judge us all which there could be no pretence for if we had not the free exercise of our Reason in the government of our selves The Paper But I know'tis urged The Church of England is guided by Antiquity for the Interpretation of Scripture but every one knows that there is great difficulty in that too even for Scholars at least I am told so for no Church admits of all that is ancient for several Heresies are so and since we say Number makes nothing for Truth and that all men may err and that there is no certain mark by visible Succession to find out which are true Believers in this Confusion the Church of England must be very fortunate not to retain too much as the Arians and Macedonians c. say we do or too little as the Romanists say Answer The Church of England indeed has regard to the Doctrine of the Primitive Church in expounding Scripture not that she fetches all her Expositions from ancient Writers but that she takes care not to expound Scripture in contradiction to the ancient Faith of the Church contained in the ancient Creeds and it requires no great skill in Antiquity to know what this Faith is which we repeat every day in the Apostles Creed and this is a good Argument that we expound Scripture right when the Sense we give of it is what the words and reason of the Text import and agrees with the Faith of the first and purest Ages of the Church Had we no ancient Records we could find out the true Sense of Scripture in all necessary Points of Faith but the Traditionary Doctrine of the Church where the Tradition is plain and clear and therefore easie to be known is a great confirmation of those Interpretations we give of Scripture in conformity to the ancient Belief and confutes all the Evasions and Criticisms of Hereticks For when the words of Scripture may with some Art be expounded to different Senses either to justifie some new or ancient Heresies or the Catholick Faith we need not doubt but that is the true Sense which agrees with the uniform Belief of the Primitive Church who were the best Judges what the Faith of the Apostles was by whom the Scriptures were written and though there were indeed very ancient Heresies yet nothing is plainer in Ecclesiastical History than the distinction between those ancient Heresies and the Catholick Faith and therefore Scholars cannot easily mistake them and as for those who are unlearned that short and ancient Summary of the Catholick Faith contained in the Apostles Creed and expounded by the Nicene Fathers in their Creed which is in every bodies hands and part of our daily or weekly Service is Security enough against all Fundamental Mistakes The Christians of the Church of England have a very plain and easie Resolution of their Faith As for the positive Articles of Faith we have the ancient Creeds which have been received in all Ages of the Christian Church from the times of the Apostles and which the most perverse Hereticks cannot deny to have been the Catholick Faith and yet we do not believe these meerly upon the Authority of Tradition but because we find all these Doctrines plainly taught in Scripture and for this the meanest Christian need not depend wholly upon the Authority of his Guides but has liberty to examine their Expositions and the Reasons of them which are so plain and convincing in the great and Fundamental Articles of our Faith that an honest man who meets with a skilful Guide may satisfie himself about it and see with his own Eyes Now what greater assurance can we have in this case than the harmony and consent of Scripture and Tradition which confirm and justifie each other The Apostles no doubt preached and writ the same things and it is a good Argument That is an uncorrupt Tradition which agrees with the Doctrine of the Scripture and that that is a true exposition of Scripture which agrees with the ancient Formularies of Faith delivered down to us by an unquestionable Tradition from the first Ages of the Church As for negative Articles about which is our only controversie with the Church of Rome since nothing can be an Article of Faith but what Christ or his Apostles have taught we think it sufficient to reject all such Doctrines as are not plainly and expresly taught in Scripture and this the meanest Christian with the help of a Guide may understand For as in Reason it must be when men will prove that to be in the Scripture which is not the Scripture Proofs which are urged by the most learned Doctors of the Roman Communion for their peculiar Doctrines which we reject are so apparently unconcluding that it requires very little skill to confute them And though this were reason enough of it self to reject any Doctrine which arrogates the authority and necessity of an Article of Faith that the Scripture does not teach it yet in most cases we can shew and that to the conviction of the meanest understanding which is honest and unprejudiced that such Doctrines are either in express words or by plain and necessary consequence rejected and condemned in Scripture which is somewhat more than not to be taught there because it is certain no Church can have Authority to teach what the Scripture condemns And then as for Authority we appeal to the best Authority of the Christian Church the three first Ages after the Apostles who are the most credible Witnesses which is all the Authority they can have of the Apostolick Doctrine and Practice and can plainly prove from those venerable Records that the Doctrines and Practices in dispute between us and the Church of Rome were either never taught or actually condemned by those Primitive Fathers And though in other cases it is a hard thing to prove a Negative it is not so here because the proof lies all on the positive side For those who will teach such Doctrines and Practices ought to prove them for without such a Proof they are to be rejected on course and therefore if we can confute their Proofs we need do no more and this is a very easie Task especially with reference to the first three Centuries for since they themselves are now ashamed of the counterfeit Dionysius their Decretal Epistles and such like spurious Writings the wisest of them pretend to very few Testimonies from the first Writers and those which they do alledge are such lame ones as need very little confutation These are the Protestant Grounds of Faith as it is
be taught to understand it Thus Mathematical Demonstrations are certainly plain for if a Demonstration be not plain nothing is but yet it is not every man can understand them without a Teacher but since those who do study Mathematicks can understand them and any man of ordinary capacity who will attend to the Instructions of a skilful Master may understand them we may call them plain though they are not obvious at the first sight For this purpose Christ appointed an order of men in his Church whose business it should be to study the Scriptures themselves and to teach others not to impose on their Faith by their meer Authority which our Saviour has expresly warned us against to call no man Master upon Earth and which St. Paul expresly disclaims being Lords of their Faith but to open their Understandings and by easie steps to lead them into the true Sense of Scriptures Thus he taught his Disciples himself as appears from all his Sermons thus the Apostles taught the Christians of their days and this is the only teaching I know of for to teach men to believe without understanding is to teach them to believe they know not what nor why But the Doctrine of the Trinity is not plain in Scripture An Assertion which strikes at the very Fundamentals of Religion and justifies all the ancient Heresies which can never be confuted but out of the Scriptures For is the Doctrine of the Trinity in the Scriptures or not If it be not there how comes it to be an Article of our Faith and if it be not plain in the Scriptures how can any man tell it is there when it is not plain that it is there The Primitive Fathers who opposed those ancient Hereticks wrote great Volumes to prove the Doctrine of the Trinity from the Scriptures and therefore I presume did think it might be proved from Scripture This being a Doctrine which can be known only by Revelation if it is not plain in Scripture it is plain no where and so not the Object of our Faith unless they can shew us another Revelation besides and above the Scriptures The only Argument the Paper urges to prove the Doctrine of the Trinity not to be plain in Scripture is That some denied the Divinity of the Son some believed the Holy Ghost not to be a separate Person but only an Attribute of God That is whatever some men deny is not plain and therefore Christianity it self is not plain because Jews and Turks and Heathens deny it Is the Form of Baptism plainly contained in Scripture to Baptize in the Name of the Father of the Son and of the Holy Ghost and yet many of the ancient Hereticks who corrupted the Doctrine of the Trinity would not use this Form which is as good an Argument that this Form is not plain as that the Doctrine of the Trinity is not And indeed if one be plain the other must be unless we will say That we are baptized in the Name that is into the Faith and Worship of Creatures The Paper And I think the assembling those Councils we receive as General shews that their Opposers were considerable Answer How considerable For Numbers or Interest or Zeal or Authority they were inferior upon all these accounts to the general Enemies of the Christian Faith and why should not the number of Infidels be as good an Argument against Christianity as the number of Hereticks against any one Article of the Christian Faith But this is a fatal Instance to the Popish as well as the Protestant Resolution of Faith and somewhat worse for the Scriptures never complied with Hereticks but the pretended visible Judge did when the Pope of Rome subscribed the Arian Confession But what course did these Nicene Fathers take to confute the Heresie of Arius did they not alledge the Authority of the Scriptures for it Consult their Writings and see what their Reasons are and when such a venerable Council thought the Scriptures clear and plain in this Point is the dissent of Hereticks a greater Argument that they are not plain than the determination of such a Council that they are That this was the constant Doctrine of the Catholick Church from the time of the Apostles was a good confirmation that they expounded Scripture right but had it been possible that there should have been a Traditional Article of Faith which the Scripture said nothing of meer unscriptural Tradition could be no sufficient foundation of Faith and that for this Reason because we could not be sure what the Original of such a Tradition was For the Writings of the Evangelists and Apostles give us the most certain Account what their Faith was and how ancient soever any other Doctrine may be we have no reason to think it came from the Apostles if there be nothing of it in the Scriptures The Paper And that those good Fathers did not think after their witnessing out of Scripture and Tradition the Belief handed down to them from Father to Son that the Christians had so much as a liberty of examining after them Since they positively Anathematized all those that did not receive their Decrees for which if they had no Authority the primitive Fathers were the greatest Tyrants in the World to refuse the blessed Means of Salvation to those that for ought appeared were as sincere as themselves and the generality of Dissenters made Scripture their Rule as well as we do This I do not alledge that I know of any truly General Council we reject but this appears to me that in the best of times there was thought a Power left in the Church without Appeal to every mans Reason and the Guides of the Church did not think a man safe though he to the best of his understanding did expound Scripture if he did not follow the sense of the Church Answer This Paragraph is designed to prove that there is a Power in General Councils to determine Controversies of Faith without appeal to every mans Reason and that the Fathers assembled in those first Councils did believe they had such a Power that when once they had determined what the true Faith was no man might examin after them Now whatever the Fathers of the Council believed of themselves it is plain other men did not believe it The Hereticks whom they condemned did not acquiesce in the Authority of the Council which yet they would certainly have done had it been the general Belief of Christians in that Age that the Decrees of General Councils were final and conclusive to be believed by all men and to be examined by none For the most obstinate Hereticks could never have out-faced such a prejudice as this After the Council of Nice the Fathers did appeal to mens private Reason if writing Books in justification of the Doctrine of the Trinity be such an Appeal as is evident from the Writings of Athanasius Hilary S. Augustine and others Nay it is strange there should be so many other
Councils convened about the Arian Controversie after the decision of the Nicene Fathers if that had put an end to all farther Disputes and Appeals which is a good Argument that the Christians did not then think that the Authority of a Council was so sacred that no man must question it when succeeding Councils examined and many times reversed the Decrees of former Councils nay that Councils which were not general should make bold with the Decrees of General Councils which is but a degree removed from every man's private Reason But the Council anathematized all those that did not receive their Decrees and does this prove that they denied all Christians a liberty of examining after them Might they not declare such Doctrines to be damnable Heresies and reject such men out of their Communion without believing their Decrees to be so infallible and sacred that no man must examin them Do not the Protestant Churches do this without pretending to such an absolute Authority over mens Faith A fallible man who is certainly assured that any Doctrine is a damnable Heresie may declare it to be so and if he have any such Authority in the Church he may cast such men out of Communion and this is all that an Anathema signifies and all this may be done and yet men dispute on and judge for themselves and therefore to denounce an Anathema does not prove that he that does it has such an infallible and uncontroulable Authority as must silence all Disputes and captivate mens Reasons and Understandings to his Dictates As for that Passage That the Guides of the Church did not then think a man safe though he to the best of his understanding did expound Scripture if he did not follow the Sense of the Church it has something of truth but a great deal of sophistry in it It is so far true that a man who embraces damnable Errors is not safe how firmly soever he be perswaded of the truth of them and that it is very hazardous to contradict the Sense not of any Council which may be a pack't Conventicle of Hereticks nor of any particular Age of the Church which may be very ignorant or very corrupt but of the Universal Church in all Places and Ages but in this Sense it is nothing to the present purpose And if the meaning be as it seems to be that it is dangerous for a man to use his own Reason and Judgment in opposition to the Decrees of Councils it may sometimes be so and sometimes not as the Council is and whatever the event be every man must judge of that it may prove dangerous to a man to use his Reason if he do not use it right but yet there is no help for it but every man must use his Reason or act like a Fool. But possibly it will be asked What Authority then do we allow to Councils and I shall very freely speak my mind of it 1. In Cases that are doubtful the Judgment of so many wise and learned and pious men from all parts of the Christian Church is a very probable Argument of the truth of their Decrees and no modest man will openly oppose what they determine unless it appears that there was something of Faction and Interest at the bottom or that the Reasons whereby they were over-ruled were so weak or ludicrous as to render their Judgments contemptible For if the Opinion of one learned man be so considerable much more is the deliberate Judgment of so many great and good men Secondly The Authority of ancient Councils is very considerable as they were credible Witnesses of the Apostles Doctrine and Practice and the constant Faith of the Church in the preceding Ages which is a mighty satisfaction to find by these venerable Records that what we now believe was the Faith of the Church in the best and purest Ages before it was divided by Schisms and Factions or corrupted with ease or liberty or wanton disputes Thirdly General or National Councils have authority to determine what Doctrines shall be publickly professed and taught in their Churches and be made the Articles of Church Communion as it must necessarily be if there be any authority in the Church For it is fit that the Faith of the Church should be one and those who have the government of the Church must have the care of the Faith But then this Authority does not oblige any man to believe as the Church believes and to receive all such Decrees without Examination but only if we will live in Communion with such a Church we must own the Faith of that Church for she will allow none to communicate with her who do not Now if the Faith and Worship of such a Church be pure and orthodox the Church is in the right in requiring obedience and conformity to her Decrees and Constitutions and those who refuse it must answer it both to God and Men if her Faith be corrupt she abuses her Power in imposing it on Christians and no man is bound to believe what is false because the Church defines it to be true If you ask whose Judgment ought to take place the Judgment of the Church or of every private Christian I answer The Judgment of the Church of necessity must take place as to External Government to determine what shall be professed and practised in her Communion and no private Christian has any thing to do in these Matters but when the Question is What is right or wrong true or false in what we may obey and in what not here every private Christian who will not believe without understanding nor follow his Guides blindfold must judge for himself and it is as much as his Soul is worth to judge right For if he reject the Faith and the Communion of the Church without a just and necessary cause he is a Heretick and a Schismatick liable to the Censures of the Church in this World and to the vengeance of God in the next If he reject an erroneous and corrupt Communion he incurs the Censures of the Church which in most Christian Kingdoms are attended with some temporal Inconveniences and if he imbrace it he is in danger of a future Judgment For if the blind lead the blind they shall both fall into the Dith These are the proper limits of all Human Authority both in Church and State below this there is no Authority and above it it is not Human Authority for a blind Obedience can be due to none but God and he himself seldom exacts it If we will grant Governours and Subjects to be men who have the use of their own Reason and Judgment it is impossible to state the Case of Authority and Subjection otherwise than thus That the Faith and Judgment of Governours influences and directs their Government and gives Laws of Faith and Manners to Subjects and the private Judgments of Subjects direct them how far they are to believe and obey their Governors and God himself
professed in the Church of England and there is but one material Objection against the certainty of this way That our Dissenters pretend to Scripture as well as we and so most Hereticks have always done and as for Antiquity the Church of Rome makes a greater noise with it than we do and how then can a plain and unlearned man chuse safely in such variety of Judgments and Opinions Now the force of this Argument consists in this That because some men mistake no man can be in the right or because some men may confidently believe they are in the right when they are in the wrong therefore no man can be sure that he is in the right which pretence would be laughed at in all other cases excepting Religion and here I am sure it deserves to be so There is a vast difference between confidence of Perswasion and certainty of Knowledge the prejudices of Education the Authority of Guides the byass of Interest and such like fallacious Principles may make men very confident when they know little or nothing about the matter or men may reason falsly and think themselves very confident as a man in a Dream does but can no man be certain he is awake because some men very confidently think themselves awake when they are in a Dream The greatest part of the World pronounce a hasty Judgment before they are well awake before they have considered the matter throughly and weighed every circumstance of it and a man who has but half considered a thing may with very good reason think himself certain so far and yet may be grosly mistaken because there is another half which he has not considered Every man is sensible of this when he corrects a Mistake for he discovers something which he had not thought on before which makes him alter his Judgment about it and therefore though some men are confident and yet mistaken it does not hence follow that no man can be certain when he Reasons right for Truth lies so easie in a mans mind who has throughly considered things and has such a native brightness and lustre in it that he can no more doubt of it than whether the Sun be up when he sees its light But let us consider this Objection particularly with reference both to Scripture and Antiquity 1. It is objected That Hereticks pretended the Authority of Scripture as well as the Orthodox and our Dissenters as well as the Church of England But what then Is the Scripture of no use because some men use it ill Is it not possible to find out the true sense of Scripture because some men put a false sense on it Can these Hereticks be confuted out of the Scripture or not If not why do we charge them with Heresie If they may how are such Heresies being fathered on the Scriptures an Argument against studying the Scriptures and relying on their Authority For we cannot confute Heresies by the Scripture unless we can understand the Scriptures and if we may find out the true sense of Scripture notwithstanding that Hereticks put a wrong sense on it then we may be as certain that we understand the Scriptures aright as we are that others do misunderstand them But besides this Though Hereticks pretend to expound Scripture yet they contradict the Faith of the Primitive Church and therefore their Case differs vastly from the Case of the Church of England whose Faith is founded both on Scripture and Apostolick Tradition as I observed before And as for our Dissenters our Dispute with them is not about Articles of Faith but the external Modes and Circumstances of Worship or the Government and Discipline of the Church and the Question between us is Whether we must use no external Circumstances of Worship but what are prescribed in Scripture or Whether the constant Practice of the Church from the days of the Apostles be not the best Comment on Scripture as to the external Government of it And this I think is so baffled a Cause that the Romanists are hard put to it when they use that Argument Secondly As for Antiquity the Church of Rome makes great boasts of it but they are very vain ones and who can help mens pretending to Antiquity when it is apparently against them No man indeed can be a competent Judge of this but those who are skilled in Antiquity and have examined their pretences but there are some considerations which lye obvious to every man and may serve to direct the unlearned what Judgment to make in this matter 1. For had true Antiquity been on their side what need had they of spurious and counterfeit Authors to make some appearance of Antiquity with This has been the great Artifice of the Church of Rome though they begin now to be ashamed of it since the learned Reformers have discovered the Cheat. Who pleases may see some account of this in an English Book entituled Roman Forgeries and this is reason enough to suspect their pretences to Antiquity for no man takes Sanctuary in Falshood who has Truth on his side 2. Another Evidence of this is their corrupting Ancient Authors and because they can find nothing in them to their purpose to insert something which is but the plainest and honestest confession of this matter is their Index Expurgatorius which corrects the Fathers and orders the leaving out of such Passages as make against them now when they are forced to leave out and put into the Fathers it is very suspicious that they are convinced the Fathers are not on their side 3. Where they make the loudest Cry of Antiquity the Scripture is either against them or says nothing for them and though we allow the Ancient practice of the Church in matters of Discipline and Government to be a good Pattern for us to follow in such particulars as are not expressed in Scripture if they comply with the general Rules and Directions of Scripture yet we do not think Antiquity it self to be a sufficient justification of any Doctrines of Faith or new acts of Worship which either the Scripture condemns or does not teach and this is a manifest difference between the Pretences of the Church of England and the Church of Rome to Antiquity The Church of England justifies her Doctrines and Practices both from Scripture and Antiquity which is as sure a foundation as we can possibly have the Church of Rome alledges Antiquity such as it is to prove such Doctrines and Practices as the Scripture either condemns or knows nothing of Now we think the Scriptures have the greatest Antiquity and are a perfect Rule of Faith and Manners and that no other Antiquity can controul the Authority of the Scriptures As for Instance Suppose the Church of Rome could prove the Worship of Images Praying to Saints and Angels Prayers in an unknown Tongue and Cummunion in One kind c. to have been anciently practised in the Church though this they are never able to prove yet what is
pretences of such a Judge If we cannot know what is Canonical Scripture without a Judge how shall we know whether there be a Judge For there is no way to know this but by the Scriptures if there be no such Judge appointed in Scripture we have no reason to own him and if we cannot tell what Scripture is without a Judge how shall we find the Judge by the Scriptures And though the Objection be made only against some particular Books of Scripture yet in truth it equally lies against the whole Canon For if we can know any one particular Book of Scripture without a Judge why not the rest No! some of them have been doubted of Right by some Churches who did not know them till they were satisfied by those Churches which kept those Sacred Records that they were true and genuine But the Question is Whether a Book which has been doubted of when that Doubt is removed have not as certain Authority as the rest If it could not then and cannot to this day be proved to be genuine why is it received What Obligation are we under to own it If any Books which we call Canonical were still doubtful it is more natural and reasonable to reject them than to set up a Judge without any Authority to give Authority to them For whether any Book of Scripture be Canonical is matter of Fact and the Doctors of the Church of Rome themselves do not extend Infallibility to matters of Fact and then by their own confession there can be no infallible Judge of the Canon of Scripture but we must content our selves with such Moral Certainty as may be had And if Catholick Tradition be so uncertain that we cannot learn the Canon of Scripture from it what becomes of the Authority of all their unwritten Traditions which they so much boast of Thus some men if they can but make a shew of saying any thing never attend to Consequences nor consider whether their Objections do not make as much against themselves and common Christianity as against Protestants Thirdly The last Argument is That the Author of the Paper can't make those Articles of the Nicene Creed One Holy Catholick Apostolick Church the Communion of Saints agree with the Protestant Religion Here is a little blunder in calling this the Nicene Creed though easily pardonable for it is a jumble of the Apostles and Nicene Creed together The Holy Catholick Church the Communion of Saints is in the Apostles Creed One Catholick Apostolick Church the Nicene Creed And why does not this agree with the Protestant Religion For we profess to believe both these Creeds as sincerely as the Church of Rome No! How can they be One who disagree by adding in Faith or diminishing from it who do not communicate together in Prayer or Sacraments when they are not agreed in the Essential things how are they One Right Churches which differ in Essentials are not One but I hope there are few Churches do that I am sure they can never prove that we deny any Essential and Fundamental Article of Faith If this proves any thing it proves That all the separate Communions of Christendom are not One Church and what then How is the Church of England more concerned in this than the Church of Rome Can't we believe One Church in the Creed as well as the Church of Rome notwithstanding all the Divisions of Christendom Do the meer Divisions of Christendom prove the Church of Rome to be that One Church or that the Church of England is no Member of this One Church in the Creed The Church is but One from the first planting of it by the Apostles to the End of the World and the Church of Rome as well as We must own that it is but One Church notwithstanding the several Divisions that have been in it in the first Ages of the Church as well as now and therefore the Unity and Communion of the Church must not be estimated by any one Age of the Church but the Apostolick Age must be the Standard of Catholick Unity and Communion as it is of the Catholick Faith Suppose all the Churches of the World at this day were in Communion with the Church of Rome excepting the Church of England Why then you 'l say it would be plain the Church of England were separated from the whole Church of Christ and from Catholick Communion Right from the Church of this Age but the whole Church of this Age is but a very little part of the Catholick Church where it is sound and Orthodox for I hope they will allow the Apostolick Churches and the Churches of the three first Ages to be the best and purest parts of the One Catholick Church and that we must still maintain Communion with them if then the Church of England were separated from all the Churches of this Age yet if she be in Communion with the Apostolick and Primitive Churches she is in Catholick Commun on still if the Apostles themselves were in Catholick Communion To know then whether the Church of England be a true Catholick Church and in Catholick Communion we are not so much concerned to enquire what Churches she communicates with now as whether she be in the Apostolick Communion which is the Fountain and Original of Catholick Communion Now if the Constitution of the Church of England be such as to Doctrine Worship and Government that the Apostles themselves would have owned our Communion had we been in their days how do we come to be Schismaticks now and out of Catholick Communion For if Catholick Communion be the Communion of the whole Catholick Church from the Times of Christ and his Apostles to the end of the world which is but one Church and the Apostolick Churches are the true Measure and Standard of true Catholick Communion then those Churches which to this day are in Communion with the Apostles are in true Catholick Communion And this Test we will stand by though I would not advise the Church of Rome to do so Let us consider whether the Apostles would have rejected our Communion for those Reasons for which the Church of Rome now rejects us Would St. Paul have rejected our Communion because we will not worship God in an Unknown Tongue which he himself forbids 1 Cor. 14. because we will not worship Saints and Angels and Images which the Romanists confess was neither commanded nor practised in those days and which we say was forbid then and understood to be so by all Christians For not owning the Supremacy of Peter when St. Paul himself withstood him as much as we do the Pope of Rome and upon a much less occasion Gal. 2. 11. c. And the African Churches long after in the days of St. Cyprian and by his Authority forbad all Appeals to the Bishop or Church of Rome In a word would the Doctrine of Transubstantiation the Sacrifice of the Mass Indulgences Purgatory Communion in one kind private and solitary Masses
cannot communicate with them for there is nothing sinful in our Communion and whatever they pretend they can never prove that there is any thing wanting in it necessary to Salvation and when we deny Communion to no Church that will communicate with us and require no sinful terms of Communion which can justifie a Separation from us let them tell me wherein our Schism consists The Paper I can't think those glorious Promises sufficiently fulfilled of the Holy Spirits leading them into all Truth and abiding with them and that for ever Answer Pray why not That Promise of Leading them into all Truth was made to the Apostles and was fulfilled in them and extended to no others in that degree of Infallibility as is evident from the manner how the Spirit was to lead them into all Truth viz. by bringing to their remembrance all things which Christ had said to them which can belong only to those Persons who heard the Sermons and Discourses of Christ himself For though a man may be taught what he never knew before yet he cannot be said to remember what he never heard before But when it is added that this Spirit of Truth shall abide with them for ever that for ever must be appropriated to the Apostles as it relates to an infallible Direction and their for ever signifies no longer than they lived for if it must be extended to all the Successors of the Apostles then there must be as many infallible Judges as there are Successors to all the Apostles in the several Churches founded by them which will not serve the Designs of the Church of Rome As for what follows about the Gates of Hell not prevailing against the Church I have already given an account of that for the Gates of Hell never prevail while there is a Church which professes the Faith which St. Peter then professed That Jesus Christ is the Son of the Living God which the Church of Rome her self has done in her greatest Corruptions excepting Pope Liberius his Subscription to the Arian Confession And whereas the Paper concludes with a desire to know how the Church of England is Catholick and Apostolick the Answer is very plain Because her Doctrine Worship and Discipline is Catholick and Apostolick THE CONCLUSION An Address to wavering Protestants shewing what little Reason they have to think of any Change of their Religion WHat I have now discoursed in Answer to these Papers seems to me so very clear and plain that I should not much question its good effect even upon honest Papists would they impartially read and consider it much more upon wavering Protestants if it be only some Scruples not Interest which sways them But the better to fix such People and that in the Modern fashionable way without disputing all the Points in controversie I shall desire them to consider How much more Certainty and Safety they have in Communion with the Church of England than they can have by going over to the Church of Rome And I think this is home to the purpose it being the same Argument wherewith the Roman Priests endeavour to pervert our People and which is the principal design of these Papers 1. First then I observe That all the positive Articles of the Protestant Faith are owned and believed in the Church of Rome we do not believe all that they believe but yet they believe all that we do for our Faith is contained in the ancient Creeds the Apostles the Nicene and the Athanasian Creeds which the Church of Rome owns as well as we And though we do not build our Certainty on the Authority of the Church of Rome but on the express Revelations of Scripture which contain all the Articles of our Faith and is as much Certainty as we desire yet methinks even a modest Romanist should blush to charge our Faith with Uncertainty when our Faith as far as it reaches is the same with theirs Surely they must grant that in these matters which we all consent in our Faith is true and orthodox they must grant that the last Resolution of our Faith into the Authority of Christ and his Apostles is sound and orthodox also for thus they resolve their own Faith They must grant that the Universal Consent of the Church in all Ages not excluding the Church of Rome it self as a part of the Catholick Church is the best External Testimony of the Christian Faith Now when we believe the same things which the Church of Rome does upon the Authority of Christ and his Apostles whose Doctrine is contained in the Writings of the New Testament and expounded by the General Faith of the Christian Church in all Ages what appearance of Uncertainty can be charged on such a Faith We reject indeed the infallible Authority of the present Church of Rome but what then Will not a true orthodox Faith save us unless we believe in Christ upon the Authority of a particular Church which had no being when Christianity was first planted in the world But I think I need not insist on this for I cannot believe that any Member of the Church of England goes over to the Church of Rome because he cannot believe his Creed in the Church of England But then I would desire them to consider what that Uncertainty is which they complain of in the Church of England for if the positive Faith of the Church of England is certain as it must be if the Faith of the Church of Rome as to these Matters be certain why do they leave us for want of Certainty which is now the Popular Argument to seduce men from our Communion If they think we do not believe enough let them say so and make that the cause of their departure from us but if as far as our Faith goes we have certain and evident Reasons of our Faith how does our Faith come to be uncertain As for those particular Doctrines which are in dispute between us and the Church of Rome we grant we have no certainty of them nay more than that we say no man can be certain of them how confident soever he is for they are founded neither on Reason nor Scripture nor any good Authority for we do not take the Authority of the present Church of Rome to be good Authority and if this be all they mean by our uncertainty that we have no certainty for the worship of Saints and Images and Relicks for Transubstantiation and the Adoration of the Host for Prayers in an unknown Tongue for Masses for the Living and the Dead for a Judicial Absolution and those new Sacraments they have introduced into the Church we readily grant it but think this a very strange Reason for Protestants to desert our Communion because we have no certainty of things which we believe to be false We do not only confess that we can find no certainty for these things but we assert that we have positive and certain Evidence against them and those who have
obstinately refuse to consult that living Oracle and infallible Judge whom God hath placed in his Church to decide all Controversies in Faith and Worship Protest Sir I thank you for your Charity and though I do not find my self so uncertain as I perceive you think I am yet I should be glad of such an infallible Guide as you talk of if I knew where to find him Pap. He is to be found in the Church of Rome for that is the Church which is the Pillar and Ground of Truth there is St. Peter's Chair whom Christ made the Supream Governour of his Church whom he commanded to feed his Lambs and his Sheep that Rock on whom Christ promised to build his Church and that the Gates of Hell should not prevail against it and therefore in Communion with this Church and in obedience to the Supream Pastor of it you cannot err Prot. But pray how shall I be sure of this Pap. Do you ask that now when I have referred you to such plain Texts of Scripture for the proof of it Prot. Will you allow me then to interpret these Texts according to my own private Judgment and why then may I not use my judgment in other matters for I think all the Articles of my Creed are as plain in Scripture as that the Pope or Church of Rome is the Supream infallible Judge and indeed if I must stand to my own judgment in this matter I can find no such thing in these Texts you have alledged Pap. Your own judgment no by no means this causes all the Heresies in the World that men will presume to judge for themselves Prot. What course must I take then Pap. You must stand to the judgment of the Church which cannot err and whatever Hereticks say she will tell you that these Texts prove the Churches Infallibility Prot. Hold Sir what is it we are to prove Pap. That the Church is Infallible Prot. And this I must prove from Scripture Pap. Yes Prot. And must not rely on my own judgment neither for the sense of Scripture but on the interpretation of the Church Pap. Right This is the true Catholick Way Prot. That is I must take the Churches word that she is Infallible Pap. No you must believe the Scripture which says so Prot. But I must believe the Scripture not because I understand this to be the sense of it but because the Church so expounds it Pap. Right for Hereticks expound it otherwise Prot. And what is this then but to take the Churches word for her own Infallibility What difference is there between taking the Churches word at the first or second rebound To believe it because she says it her self or to believe it because she makes the Scripture say it And therefore if this be all you have to say I must e'en keep where I am and rather content my self without an infallible Judge than please my self with a meer imagination of Infallibility without any Foundation to rely on Thirdly And therefore the most learned Advocates of the Church of Rome are forced to grant that we have no infallible Assurance of Infallibility for we cannot be infallibly certain which the true Church is The only way they pretend to find out the true Church is by Marks and Notes of a Church which they say indeed have a Moral certainty though they are not infallible For according to their Principles they must not allow of any Infallibility without the sentence and definition of an infallible Judge for then Protestants may set up for Infallibility without a Judge of Controversies and therefore since there can be no infallible Judge to determine who is the Judge of Controversies they must content themselves in this matter with Moral certainty and this brings them to an even level with poor fallible Protestants They deal very hardly with us if they will not allow that we may have at least as much certainty of the Authority of Scripture and the true Sense and Interpretation of it as they can have of the Notes of the true Church which must be owned for the infallible Judge and if they be modest and understand the weakness of their own Cause they ought to be very thankful to us if we will allow them as much and may not we then be as infallible as they For indeed it is impossible that any Moral certainty should grow up into Infallibility As for instance No man can be more certain of the Decisions of an infallible Judge than he is of his Infallibility and therefore if he have not an infallible certainty of the Infallibility of the Judge he can't have an infallible certainty that he defines infallibly And thus the whole Faith of a Papist after all their brags of Infallibility is resolved into Moral certainty just as the Faith of a Protestant is only not with so much reason Let us take any one Article of our Faith wherein Papists and Protestants agree and see how much greater assurance Papists have of it than Protestants As suppose that Jesus Christ is the Eternal Son of God A Protestant believes this because he has all the Evidence that we can have for any thing of that nature that the Scriptures of the New Testament were writ by inspired men and that the words of Scripture in their most plain and obvious acceptation signifie this and therefore that this is the Doctrine of Christ and his Apostles who were infallible Teachers So that the last Resolution of our Faith is into the Infallibility of Christ and his Apostles which we have all the Evidence of which Sense and Reason can give us On the other hand a Papist believes that Christ is the Eternal Son of God because the Church which is infallible teaches so and he finds out the true Church by some Notes and Marks of a Church which he thinks morally certain and when he has found the true Church concludes her to be infallible without more ado Now if the Infallibility of Christ and his Apostles be as good a Reason of Faith as the Infallibility of the Church or Pope of Rome and if we have as good Evidence that the Gospel was writ by inspired men and that such words are contained in the Gospel as prove Christ to be the Son of God as they have of their Marks and Notes whereby they find out the true Church then we have to the full as much certainty and Infallibility as they have They have but a Moral Evidence at best of the Infallibility of their Church and therefore are but morally certain what their Church teaches right and therefore if we have as much certainty as they have and God forbid we should have no more our Faith is built upon as sure a Foundation as theirs without making a noise with Infallibility which at last dwindles into some Arbitrary Notes and Marks of a Church And yet Fourthly not to trouble our selves at present with all the Notes and Marks which Cardinal Bellarmine and
and the like have been thought a just Reason in the Apostles days to deny Communion to all those Churches which reject them The Church of England is in Communion with all those Churches from the Apostles days till now who never owned nor imposed those Doctrines and Practices for which we now Separate from the Church of Rome as necessary Terms of Communion which upon inquiry will be found a much more Catholick Communion than that of the Church of Rome for we communicate with more Ages and with more Churches than they do The Church of Rome as now constituted in all its parts and proportions is no older than the Council of Trent which is some time since Luther that we may with more reason ask them Where their Church was before the Council of Trent then they ask us Where our Church was before Luther We find our Church in its Doctrine Worship and Government in the Apostles days but their Church was not made all at a time but one Age brought in one Corruption another another Some aspiring Popes began the Encroachments upon the Liberties of other Churches and others kept the ground their Predecessors had got and as they had opportunity made new Conquests and thus by degrees it grew up into a Papal Omnipotency Some thinking Monks started some uncouth Opinions which were tossed about for a while in Disputes and if they were such as might be of use to advance the Power of the Pope or of the Priest they began to be countenanced at Rome and that made honest men cautious of Opposing and then they grew up into received Doctrines and when it was ripe for that purpose they were dubbed Articles of Faith and at length were digested into method and order refined and polished and received their last Authority from the pack'd Conventicle of Trent And will any man call this Catholick Communion the dividing Terms of which were wholly unknown to the best and purest Ages of the Church crept in by degrees in several later Ages and never received its accomplishment and perfection till since the Reformation it self and is now already in the wane and almost expounded into Protestant Heresie at least so they would perswade us by the Bp. of Meaux and our Modern Representers However this shews how among all the Divisions of Christendom we can prove our selves to be a Catholick Church and in Catholick Communion which is all that we at present are concerned for and let the Church of Rome do as much for herself if she can Upon these Principles she now rejects us it is plain she must have denied Communion to the Apostolick Churches and I am sure they would have denied Communion to her and what is become then of her Catholick Communion which shuts out the Apostles and Apostolick Churches The Paper And how in the Communion of Saints For that which I think makes a Corporation become a Body of Men is the Obligation imposed on those who live in that Corporation to be subject to the peculiar Laws and Government there established for even of those that make Scripture their Rule of all those Churches Answer I suppose the latter part of this is either false or hastily writ If the meaning be that the whole Christian Church in such a Corporation as is under the same individual Government or one governing Head who must give Laws to the whole Church this we utterly deny and it ought to have been proved Christ at first committed the planting and governing his Church to Twelve Apostles who as St. Cyprian affirms had all equal Power and Authority though Christ named Peter only in bestowing the Apostolical Power not to give Peter any Superiority over the rest but only to signifie that unity and harmony of consent which ought to be among them in exercising the Apostolical Power that they were all to act as one Man The Apostles left their Power to the Bishops of the several Churches who had the immediate Inspection and Soveraign Power over their own Churches as the same Father frequently asserts but yet were to govern their several Churches with mutual advice and consent So that the Unity of particular Churches consists in their Obedience and Subjection to their Bishop and in the Communion of all the Members of it in all acts of Worship and Discipline and those who separate from the external and visible Communion of the Church wherein they live without necessary and unavoidable Reasons are Schismaticks who cut themselves off from the Body of Christ. The Communion of the Catholick Church consists not in the Subjection of one Church to another but in the Profession of the same Faith and in the Agreement and Concord of their Bishops in owning each others Churches and maintaining Communion with them upon Catholick Principles and governing their Churches as far as is expedient by common Rules of Worship and Discipline This then being the Constitution of the Catholick Church let us briefly consider what it is that unites particular Churches in Catholick Communion 1. Every particular Church which professes the true Faith of Christ is part of the Catholick Church and by virtue of this Catholick Faith is so far in Communion with the whole Catholick Church and thus we own the Church of Rome her self to be part of the Catholick Church for she professes the true Faith of Christ though with a great mixture of dangerous Errors 2. The Communion of particular Churches does not consist in using the same Liturgies or external Rites of Worship if their Worship be a true Christian Worship and agreeable to the general Laws of the Gospel for every Church has Authority within her self to direct and model her own Worship and therefore if there were no fault in it yet the Church of England is not bound to receive her Liturgies and Worship from the Church of Rome but may use her own without being charged with Schism for doing so 3. Every Catholick Church is bound to receive each others Members to Communion when they come among them which makes them all but one Church one Society Body the Members of which have a mutual right and interest in each other and therefore it is a Principle of Catholick Communion not to adhere so stiffly to the Rites and Usages of our own particular Churches as not to communicate with other Churches who use different Rites from our own if they be innocent Thus far all things are plain and easie but the difficulty is how we shall maintain Communion with those Churches which teach very erroneous Doctrines or use very corrupt and suspected kinds of Worship And therefore Fourthly How corrupt soever any Church be if she still retains the true Faith of Christ we must own her for a Christian Church though a corrupt one which is one degree of Communion with her to own her of the same Body with our selves though as a sick or rotten Member This was the charge against the Novatians and Donatists not only that they