divers prudent and religious Counsellors And even Nature gives us a Hieroglyphick hereof in the Bees whose sweet Commonwealth is ordered by one King See Georg. lib. 4. Quemadmodum mirantur omnes circumstant fremitu denso stipantque frequentes They all follow and obey like little nimble Courtiers their little King c. All this considered will not a good Judgment see that to go about to oppose any of these two Powers is to do that which St. Austin said To suffer ones self to run into a folly which hasten'd into the height of Insolency and Madness and in the end find nothing but an Ocean of Disturbances and unavoidable Perdition and Ruin. God bless King IAMES our most gracious Pole-Star no sooner His Royal Brother King Charles the Second of ever glorious Memory died but he publickly went to hear Mass confiding in the mercy of ever blessed Jesus who for him doubtless will all Safety and Prosperity provide O Prodigie never to be duly pondered for which he is through all the World praised and admired Magna est Veritas praevalet We must not meddle with things Sacred but with due reverence we must not confound the true Churches Spiritual Authority with the Regal Civil and Temporal both being distinct in Office and severally given and appointed by the Almighty they are like the two Arms of his Divine Power employed by him and distributed to their several Uses the one exercising the meer Spiritual and Persuasive Power the other the Corporal and Coercive Power the one holding the Pastoral-directing and Soul-corrective Staff the other swaying the Royal and All-subjecting Scepter the one unsheathing the Spiritual Sword cutting off by Authority Disobedient Schismatical or Heretical Sinners from the communion of the faithful Flock and from eternal Life the other brandishing the Kingly Sword cutting off the Lives of the Offenders of established just Laws and even as God holds this World in his hands that the vast Sea and firm Land may not mix together but observe their just bounds lest they should come to another Chaos So he will not have those two sovereign distinct Dignities be blinded into one least Confusion and inevitable Ruine should follow Sure since King Henry the Eighth revolted from the Monarchical Spiritual Power of Christ's Church nothing to this day followed but confusion misery disasters in this brave Kingdom of England by degrees ascending to height of unheard-of Iniquity and Tyranny as to cut off the best of Kings Charles the First assuredly those miscreant Hell-hounds that murdered him would not stick to murder even Divinity This is the woful Catastrophe of disjoyning the Spiritual from Kingly and Monarchical Government Now I must say this much of the Roman Catholick Church that according to St. Paul Rom. 1. was and is yet and will continue in perpetuum famous for Faith Religion Sacrifice and Sacraments throughout the Universe for the sound of her Doctrine hath been heard every where and her Fame to the utmost Parts of the World so as it is the same to say Roman as Catholick or Vniversal whereas there where the Roman Eagles Wings did never spread the Roman Faith did reaching down to all Ages and spreading over all Kingdoms for who can view Christianity in its extent but must consider how all Kingdoms and Nations were by Roman Emissaries converted to the true ancient Faith of Iesus we need not make any further Enquiries but embrace and walk confidently in those plain Paths in which Fools cannot err following the foot-steps of the true Flock and the heavenly good Pastor where alone Sanctity Verity and all Virtues inerrability infallibility and perpetuity are found for when where or how she ever err'd or fail'd no Authentick Author have yet related no faithful candid Writer recorded nor have any of those watchful Luminaries and Sentinels whom God hath placed in his Church ever given the least alarm of Innovations gotten into the same only Schismaticks and Hereticks combining conspiring and reviling and in vain CHAP. II. Of the CHURCH THe Church of Christ is one Society or Company of Men link'd and combin'd together in one and the same profession of Christian Faith Religion Sacrifice and use of Sacraments under lawful Pastors and under one supreme visible Head Pastor or conservator of Peace Union and Verity This is a true notion or definition of the Church established by Christ and propagated by the blessed Apostles here the true nature essence and constitution of a Church is manifested and doth truly distinguish it from all Hereticks and Schismaticks vain Pretences whatsoever for they are apparently excluded from Christ's Church and she appears glorious without spot wrinkle or any such thing she is described in holy Writ by the Emblems of a City orderly govern'd by one chief supreme Governour or of an Army govern'd by that Military Discipline that requires subjection to one Generalissimo the King had placed over it of the Body each Member in due subjection to its visible Head on Earth and the Pope in point of Government rul'd by his invisible Head in the highest Heaven Hence it followeth by order of good consequence that Divine Faith and Belief wherein consisteth as well the ground and foundation of our eternal welfare as also the Fruit and entire Utility of Christ's coming into this World is to be had in the Church made plain by the Prophet Esay 45. he foreshewed the wonderful Providence of God in providing for Christians so manifest a way of Direction for their Faith and Religion as that the most simple and unlearned Man in the World should not be able but out of wilfulness to go astray therein his words directed to the Gentiles are these Take comfort and fear not behold your God shall come and save you then shall the Eyes of the Blind be opened and the Ears of the Deaf shall be restored and there shall be a Path and way and it shall be called The holy way and it shall be to you a direct way as Fools shall not be able to err therein Sure the plain and direct way mentioned by Esay wherein no simple or ignorant Men can err is the general Body of Christ's visible Church upon Earth planted by his Apostles throughout all Nations and Countries and continuing by Succession unto the World's end in which Church who remaineth and believeth all things taught therein cannot at all fall into any Error of Faith for that this Church is guided by Christ's Spirit and therefore in no ways subject or within the compass of Error For which cause St. Paul ultimo calls it The Pillar and Firmament of Truth And the same Church is so conspicuous and evidently manifest that it is more easie to find it out than it is to see the Sun or Moon when it shineth brightest at Noon or to behold the greatest Hill or Mountain in the World and for more declaration of this it 's to be noted That in the time from Christ's ascension until the 13
of Belief thus What I believe I received from the present Church the present from the Primitive the Primitive from the blessed Apostles these from Christ Christ from God and God the prime supreme Fountain of Verity from no other Fountain different from his infallible Knowledge So as we must cleave to the present Church firmly believing the constant Tradition thereof successively So as if any have taught contrary points of Faith than what is revealed the Catholick Church hath condemned them for Hereticks which is a sufficient proof that until such heretical Spirits some one or more Traditions of the Church were universally believed As for Example The Doctrine of Christ's consubstantiality or being of the same substance with the Father no Man of reason will deny but that it was generally believed in the Church before the days of the Arch-heretick Arrius and that the Council of Nice condemning him was a sufficient proof that the Doctrine he opposed was the Universal Tradition of the Church by force and vertue whereof he was overthrown and not by Scripture only The various ridiculous attempts of Protestants had hitherto no better success than Achelous had in fighting with Hercules who took upon him several shapes hoping in one or other to overcome him but was by Hercules beaten through all his shapes and forced at last to take his own proper shape and yield Even so Protestants fighting against Roman Catholicks are daily by them beaten thro' all their changes forms shifts and inventions through which they wander yet are forced at last to take their true form of Protestancy which is obstinately to deny and even protest against manifest Truth against general Councils holy Fathers and consent of all Nations But I do heartily pray that it would please God to bring them to the true ancient heavenly form which they ought to have which is of Roman Catholick and not perpetually roul like the blinded Sodomites wander and grope in the darkness of uncertainty and instabibity until eternal Torments seize upon them One great egregious fraud you may observe amongst the Canonical Protestants viz. That when they dispute against Roman Catholicks they have recourse to the Scripture and will be tryed by that only but when they dispute against Puritans and other Sectaries who can deal with them at their own Weapon the Scripture only then they have their recourse to the Fathers and the old Tradition of the Church just using the very same Arguments against Sectaries that Catholicks do against them particularly in the baptising of Infants against the Anabaptists and the keeping of the first day of the week holy against the Sabbatarians who would have Saturday for either of which there is not any command in Scripture And shall Tradition serve them in those cases and not in others And this shift is such a one as St. Augustin Psal. 80. witnesses to be common to Foxes and now to Hereticks for even as the Foxes have two holes to save themselves by one when they are driven from the other so Hereticks whom the Scripture figured out by Foxes Cant. 2.15 have a double passage to save themselves by the one when they are assaulted by the other so that he that will catch them must set his Nets before both issues and besiege both passages As ever yet to this day the excellent Writers among Catholicks have done and have left them neither Tradition nor Scripture whereby to escape Confusion and the shame of Schism and Heresie for it is but folly to pretend to secure by human crafty Arts that which God is resolved to destroy AN APPENDIX PRotestants corrupts Scripture in their Translations most shamefully wickedly and impiously for to make good and justifie their Schism To make Catholicks Idolaters they in the year 1562. corrupted the Scripture 2. Cor. 6. How agreeth the Temple of God with Idols They translated and printed in the English Bible How agreeth the Temple of God with Images The same wickedness they practise in 1. Cor. 5. If any that is called a Brother be a Fornicator Covetous or server of Idols they printed in the year 1562. Or a worshipper of Images It were too tedious a business to specifie all their false and absurd Translations by which they brought the word of God to be ridiculous to the world Priest in their Language is Elder Church Synagogue holy Ghost holy Wind Soul Carcass Christ Anointed Lord Baal Eucharist Thanksgiving Baptism Washing Hell Grave Devil Slanderer Beelzebub Lord of a Fly Angels Messengers So that an exhortation to Devotion in the Protestant Scripture-Language will move Men more to Laughter than to Piety whereas in the Catholick Translation and Phrase it moves to compunction Suppose a Catholick Priest should exhort the People thus I who am a Priest placed in the Church by the holy Ghost for the feeding of your Souls do denounce to you in the name of Christ our Lord That unless you come to the Eucharist with more Devotion and perform better your Promises made to God in Baptism ye shall be condemned Body and Soul to Hell and your Portion shall be with the Devil I say with Beelzebub and his Angels Sure this Exhortation in the Protestant Language of Scripture goes very absurdly Let us suppose that a young spruse Protestant Minister should step up to the Pulpit and repeat the Priests Exhortation in his own corrupt Phrase thus I that am your Elder placed in the Synagogue by the holy Wind for the feeding of your Carcasses do denounce unto you in the name of the Anointed our Baal that unless you come to the holy Thanksgiving with more Devotion and perform better your Promises made to God in washing ye shall be condemned Body and Carcass to the Grave and your Portion shall be with the Slanderers I say with the Lord of a Fly and his Messengers How therefore can any Man of reason and judgment joyn in Communion with such impious Sectaries that thus corrupts the holy Word of God for to keep Souls in Schism Heresie and Damnation Away away Fie fie on such hellish Practises The main thing Protestants deny is the Antiquity of the Doctrine of the Roman Church saying most impudently That the Primitive Fathers taught the Protestant Doctrine and not that which the Roman Church now-adays teacheth which is found to be most false by the examination of Particulars Let us take a view of the Roman Doctrines as they were held in S. Augustine's days and the four first General Councils which were held between the year 315 and 457 to which four Councils Protestants give much honour and subscribe to their Decrees Sure in those times the Church believed in the true and real Presence of the eating with the Mouth the Body of Christ in the Eucharist as Zuinglius the Prince of the Sacramentarians acknowledge in these words From the time of St. Augustin the opinion of Corporal Flesh had really got the mastery St. Aug. lib. de vera falsa Religione cap.
is Divine unerring revealed Faith. Now the Master and Author of that Doctrine we must believe the Instructor of the Actions we must perform and the promiser and performer of the final Happiness we may hope for is God himself who cannot deceive or be deceiv'd he being the prime Verity Via veritas vita So as Faith is not grounded upon our weak natural Judgment or Ratiocination but upon obedience to the Church Faith is a gift of God a supernatural Quality infused by God into our Souls by which we firmly believe all things revealed to us Without Faith its impossible to please God Heb. 11.6 And He that believed not shall be damned Mark ult v. 16. So as every one ought to know that there is a sovereign and blessed end viz. Eternal Glory then every one ought to love and heartily wish to attain to the same and earnestly seek out for those means and helps prescrib'd and ordain'd by God for the compassing it Then in the first place we must find out Divine Faith which partly proceeds from God as the source and Author thereof as Prima veritas And altho' those things we believe by Faith cannot be known by evident Demonstration yet because they are taught us by supernatural means we are more certain of their truth than of all other things because those things are deliver'd over to us by a more certainly infallible Teacher the Spirit of Truth the Holy Ghost Therefore enter I pray into a serious consideration of the End for which you and all were created viz. The Glory of God and your eternal Happiness and for the knowledge of the means to attain thereunto you may find by the consent of all Christians this cannot be gotten by clear and evident sight nor by human Discourse founded on the Principles of Reason nor by reliance upon Authority meerly human but only by Faith grounded on the Word of God revealing to Men things that are otherwise only known to his infinite Wisdom Now God sure revealed all these things to Jesus Christ and he to his blessed Apostles as he saith Iohn 15.15 All things which I have heard from my Father I have made known to you This partly by word of mouth but principally by the immediate teaching of the Holy Ghost to the end that they should deliver them after to Mankind to be received believed and obeyed over the whole World in perpetuum as it is said Matth. 28.19 Go teach all Nations Sure they did accordingly preach to all Nations as it 's said by St. Mark 16.20 They going forth did preach every where and so planted an universal Christian Company charging them to keep inviolable and to deliver to their Posterity what they have received from them as the first Messengers of the Gospel as St. Paul said to Timothy 2 Tim. 2.2 The things that thou hast heard of many Witnesses the same commit thou to faithful Men who may instruct others Now tho' the blessed Apostles and their Hearers be departed out of this Life yet still there remains a means now in the World by which all men may assuredly know what the Apostles preached and the Primitive Church received of them seeing the Church to the end must be built on the Apostles and believe nothing as matter of Faith beside that which was delivered of them as St. Paul said Ephes. 2.20 Are built on the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets Iesus Christ being the chief Corner Stone Scripture is a Light only to the Faithful because known from the Church's Tradition to be from the Apostles by the Apostles Authority confirmed by Miracles to be of God by God's supreme Verity who cannot deceive nor be deceived to be the truth So Scripture is a Light which must be shewed by a Superiour Light before it become light The Church therefore must guide us to know the truth of Scripture as St. Austin said Contra Epist. fundamenti c. 5. I would not believe the Gospel it self unless the Authority of the Church Catholick did move me The Word that is written tells us that all is not written as St. Paul 2. Thes. 2.15 exhorts us to keep both the written and unwritten saying Stand fast and keep Traditions which you have learned by word or by our Epistle It is manifest that the first Church of God from the Creation until Moses which was about 2000 years had no Word of God but what was unwritten which we call Tradition from hand to hand And we do not read that the Apostles were sent to write but to preach And S. Iohn denies that he had expressed in Writing all that he had to say saying Having more things to write to you I would not by Paper or Ink for I hope that I shall be with you and speak mouth to mouth that your Ioy may be full By which it is evident that the blessed Apostles beside their Writings did preach other things which were wanting to their faith And it 's manifest that what the Apostles did write was but accidental and upon particular occasions See Hooker Eccles. Pol. Lib. 1. Sect. 15. P. 87. For instance the Epistles of St. Peter Iames Iohn and Iude were written against certain Hereticks who misunderstanding St. Paul did teach that Faith only without Works sufficed to Salvation See St. Aug. de fide operib c. 14. And St. Iohn did not preach his Gospel till his last Age which was very long without writing and took occasion to write as St. Ierom de Scriptor Eccles. affirms by reason of the Heresie of Ebionites then broke out The like may be shewed of the rest And take what is worth observation That all Epistles were written to such persons only as were already converted to the Christian Faith therefore were written not so much to instruct as to confirm this Zuinglius also confesseth Tom. 2. lib. de Eccl. fol. 43. By all which its evident that the Apostles and Evangelists did write their Books not by Command of Christ but upon some accidental occasion moving them thereunto and very many were saved before any Scripture and that only by Tradition which was before Scripture for the invention of Printing was not in the World till about 230 years ago and the Bibles that were written being but few by reason of the great labour of writing them and those that were written not purchaseable but by few because of their great price nor legible but by very few because they were not printed but written by hand and sure God by his Providence did and will always preserve his Church from extinction and corruption having warrant for it out of Scripture and no warrant for the preservation of the Text the Church being a thing more easily known than Scripture and consisting of a living Multitude can express it self more plainly by the Mouth and Tradition of the Church Tradition being plain and easie Doctrine concerning the common capital and practical Articles of Christianity but Scripture full of high mysterious and
that such Persons should resolve by a voluntary Banishment to dye to their Country and Friends and to the whole World by a Religious Profession and to bury themselves alive in a Cloyster than if they had restored Life to others and banish'd death from Graves and Monuments 7. Now after that our Protestant Gentleman hath considered our Catholick Monasteries let him examine whether in his own Church there hath been or now is any thing resembling so much Religion and super-natural Virtue as that which amongst us is not admired though admirable because so ordinary This kind of Life is as far from Protestants Practice and Doctrine as it is from natural Inclination Yet I have heard that Master Laud of Canterbury was once inclined to erect some Protestant Nunneries in England I believe it would occasion as great stirs as his Reformation did in England because nothing is more opposite to the Tenets of the reformed Gospel and first Reformers than to make Vows of Poverty Chastity and Obedience Protestancy begun and is founded upon the dissolving of Monasteries and Religious Vows and is not compatible with their observance if things must be carried on by the same means that acquired them a being 8. The Conversion of Nations to Christianity is not only a sign of the true Church but also the end of its Institution This is so proper to the Roman Catholick even at this present that none who heard the names of America Angola China Monomotappa India or Iaponia can be ignorant of our pious endeavours and miraculous success in preaching the Gospel to so remote Nations where nothing that is coveted in this World could be aimed at or expected by our Apostolical Preachers I will not say any more concerning the Signs of the true Church these being sufficient to convince any Person that desires to be saved that out of the Roman Church there is no Salvation seeing it alone hath supernatural and visible Signs whereby God doth declare sufficiently that it is an infallible guide to inform men of his Mysteries and direct them in the way he hath prescribed for his Divine Service commanding all men to hear and obey it as they would hear and obey God himself Now let us see what Luther the Apostate Apostle of Protestants says Velit nolit in praise of the Infallibility of the Roman Catholick in his Book against the Anabaptists who in hatred of the Pope of Rome did reject Infant Baptism Nos We confess sub papatu plurimum esse boni Christiani imo omne bonum Christianismum atque illinc ad nos devenisse quippe fatemur in papatu veram Scripturam Sacram esse verum Baptismum verum Sacramentum Altaris veras claves ad remissionem peccatorum verum praedicandi officium verum Catechismum ut sunt articuli fidei decem praecepta c. Dico insuper sub papatu esse veram Christianitatem imo verum nucleum Christianitatis esse O magna est veritas praevalet Mark what Calvin says Instit. c. 10. § 17. That St. Bernard was a godly and pious Writer Adding Et certe Papista fuit Bernardus nemo est Pius sine vera fide salutem veritatem ab inimicis habemus Mark lastly what Melancthon one of the first Followers of Luther said to his dying Mother whom he perverted from the old Religion to his new one Mother send for a Priest confess your sins before you die Illa securior haec plausibilior via ad salutem She did so and died in the Communion of the old Roman Catholick Faith in which she was born and bred This you will find in Florimundus de Ortu Haeresis lib. 1. cap. 9. What can be said more of the advantage of the Roman Catholick Church than what her mortal Enemies proclaim to the World for to undeceive men and guide them to the secure Ark of Sanctification and Salvation Now to deny this Infallibility so evidently demonstrated is the great crime Protestant pretended Reformers are charged with in this Infallibility is founded all the Power of Christ's Church obliging to believe the inviolableness of her Government the unjustifiableness of any Schism the firm security that Faith is certain and whatever in the Church is Sacred But Protestants never clear themselves from Schism upon any other grounds that those which if admitted would prove all Malefactors in the World innocent and make it lawful nay an obligation in conscience to dissolve the whole Fabrick of the Worlds Government whereas the very posture of a Fallibility of Faith first lays and in time hatches the Cockatrice Eggs of Anarchy and Atheism What Man ever arrived to that height of mistake as to endeavour to manifest his Innocency by the voluntary confession of a crime which implies the objected sin of Schism Now Protestants are accused of Schism they lay for the ground of their excuse that they acknowledge not Christs Churches Infallibility which is charged on them to be both Schism and Heresie and as the very sink of Infidelity Sure they clearing themselves by denying the Infallibility of the Church does the self-same as if some Male-contented Subject having first out-lawed himself by denying the Laws and rejecting the Government of the Land and afterwards this man becoming obnoxious to those Laws by Robbing or Murthering should endeavour to plead not Guilty by alledging that though indeed the Subjects who accept the Laws and allow the Government of England are liable to punishment if they offend against them Yet I quoth he who suppose this Government Tyrannical and the Laws unjust especially having a perswasion and thinking in my Conscience they are so cannot be obliged to obey them and therefore I must not be accounted a Factious Man nor liable to punishment if I break them Pray what will become of this Malefactor Sure Protestants will clear him in favorem Schismatis But I am perswaded wiser Judgments will think him more highly deserving the Gallows for refusing subjection to the install'd Government then it is manifest that Protestants do more deeply merit Excommunication for denying and rejecting Church-Government and her Infallibility CHAP. V. A Paraenetical Admonition to the People of England PRotestants regard the antient Faith of Christ whose Purity Ministers seek to blacken by insufferable Injuries Lyes Invectives and Calumnies of the deepest Dye They full well knowing that its Purity cannot be attacqu'd with solid evident Reasons nor Arguments they found out by experience that their Arguments to prove their new fangled false Doctrine makes but slight Impression in the Peoples minds And they daily see that when they but faithfully represent the Sentiments and real Doctrine of the Catholick Church they can neither justifie their Fatal Separation nor excuse the Extravagancies and Impudencies of their first Reformers they finding it impossible by these means to maintain the ground of their cursed Schism they have a recourse to a most unjust pernicious and hellish Artifice viz. to impute to the Roman Catholick Church an
th year of Nero's Region who first of the Roman Emperours began open Persecution against Christians and put to death St. Peter and St. Paul In this time I say of Toleration under the Roman Empire which continued the space of 36 years the blessed Apostles and Disciples had preached one uniform Gospel and Faith throughout all the World as may appear by their Acts recorded and by the peculiar Testimony of St. Paul to the Romans Rom. 1. which thing being most miraculously done by the Divine Power and Virtue of Christ Bishops Pastors and Governours being ordained in every Country and Church for guiding and directing the same by themselves and their Successors in perpetuum this I say being once brought to pass then the blessed Apostles for preventing of new false Doctrines that might afterward arise most earnestly exhorted and with all vehemency called upon the people to stand fast in the Doctrine Documents and Traditions then received to hold firmly the Faith and Doctrine already delivered as a Depositum or Treasure committed to them to be safely kept till the last day And above all other things they forewarned them to beware of new fangled Teachers whom they called Hereticks who should break from the Unity of the Universal Body already made and knit together and should devise new Glosses Expositions and Interpretations of Scripture bringing in new Sences Doctrines Opinions and damnable Divisions to the utter renting of Christ's Church Kingdom City already builded and all this to the perdition of infinite Souls Hence it is that St. Paul Tim. 1. pronounceth peremptorily of a contentious and heretical Man that he is damned by the testimony of his own Judgment or Conscience for that he abandoned the common direct publick way which all Men might see devising particular Paths and pernicious Turnings to himself and the ancient Fathers of the Primitive Church disputing against the same kind of People defended always that their Error was of Malice and wilful Blindness and not at all of Ignorance for they will not behold the plain direct sure safe unerring and infallible way among Christians wherein no man can err tho' never so simple but only of blind wilful and obstinate malice Yet by promises of Christ himself in the Gospel we are absolutely ascertained that the same visible Congegation Body Common-wealth Church Kingdom and Government which was established by Christ and propagated by the blessed Apostles shall endure and continue by Succession of Followers in perpetuum and that no new Teacher of later Doctrines dissenting from the first shall ever prevail against it albeit divers Errors and Heresies have sprung up and made great blustering and disturbance for a time yet have they been repress'd and condemn'd by the same Church and her visible Pastors and Doctors in the end For Example-sake in the first Age there arose up certain seditious fellows among the Iews as Simon Magus Nicolaus Cerinthus Ebion Meander c. that were Hereticks against these stood in defence St. Peter who broke the Neck and Black Art of Simon Magus even by his Prayer And after him St. Martialis St. Dionysius Areopagita St. Ignatius Policarpus and others In the second Age rose up Basilides Cerdon Marchion Valentinus Tacianus Apelles Montanus and divers others against these stood in battel Iustin Martyr Dionysius Bishop of Corinth St. Ireneus Clemens Alexandrinus Tertullian with many others their equals And so all along downward from Age to Age unto cursed Luther's days whatsoever Heresie or new false Opinions hath been raised contrary to the general consent of Christ's universal Church it hath been check'd controul'd silenc'd and condemn'd by vigilant Pastors and Doctors chief Governours of the same Body by general Assemblies and Councils gathered from time to time as occasion serv'd in all Parts of the World Whereby it 's evidently most manifest that he who relieth upon this general consent of Christ's Church and the judgment thereof cannot err in matters of Belief but walketh in that sure secure and infallible Path wherein 't is said in Isaiah 35.8 That a very Fool cannot go amiss Hence one may be persuaded of the Churches perspicuity and infallibility in her Traditions and Doctrines through God's Divine Providence which did and will always preserve it from corruption having a warrant for it out of Scripture Isa. 59.21 My Spirit which is upon thee and the words which I have put into thy mouth shall not depart out of thy mouth nor out of the mouth of thy Seed nor out of the mouth of thy Seed's Seed from henceforth for ever And St. Austin said Ep. 118. That to dispute against a living multitude of the whole Church is insolent madness And to say she may err through ignorance wilfulness or negligence is most absurd and blasphemous she having Christ for her Head and the holy Ghost for her Guide and Spirit who was sent by our Saviour to teach it all Truth wherefore to tax that heavenly Government with errors in Faith is either to tax the holy Ghost with them or to blaspheme against Christ our blessed Redeemer by saying He has not kept his word and promise in sending the holy Ghost to teach his Church all truth for ever King IAMES in a publick Speech made in his Parliament acknowledged the Church of Rome to be our Mother-Church saying I acknowledge the Church of Rome to be our Mother-Church This you may find in Stow pag. 840. Sure the Sacred Blood of his glorious Mother Queen Mary the ever blessed Martyr ran in the Veins of this her Royal Son King Iames who would do wonderful things in favour of the Roman Catholick Church if it were not for the black contriving of the Gun-powder Plot by the Matchevilian Policy of crooked Cicil only for to hinder King Iames from favouring the Church of Christ Sanguis mantirum semen Ecclesiae See Osburn Sure there is no other certain Testimony to any prudent considering Man no firm Ground or Motive to believe that the Primitive Church received her Doctrine from the blessed Apostles these from Christ Christ from God the Father nor any way to bring it down from those times to these our days but only the Tradition of the Church from hand to hand For we may observe three properties of the Doctrine of Divine Faith to be true to be revealed of God to be preached and delivered by the Apostles The highest ground by which a Man is perswaded that his Faith is true is the Authority of God speaking and revealing it the highest proof by which a Man is assured that his Faith is revealed is the Authority of Christ and his blessed Apostles who delivered the same as descending from God but the highest ground that moveth a Man to believe that his Faith was preached by the blessed Apostles is the perpetual constant Tradition of the Church succeeding the blessed Apostles unto this day assuring him so much according to the saying of Tertul. depraes c. 21. 37. who made his Ladder
and that God would not for so many Ages forsake his Church and leave her in Error Schism or Novelty Again Let us consider the exceeding Beauty and Splendor of her Churches her solemn Service stateliness and magnificence of her Hierarchy the Name of Catholick which she claims as her own due and to concern no other Sect of Hereticks the wondrous continual Succession of her Popes of an honourable and most certain Line of 250 Popes Successors of St. Peter both Tyrants Traytors Pagans apostate Hereticks in vain wresting raging combining conspiring and undermining it Let us reflect that beside the Roman Church and such others as are united with it you will find all other Churches to have failed and have an end or decay long since or their beginning of late The Roman Church was founded by the Prince of the Apostles with a Promise to him from Christ that Hell Gates should never prevail against it Mat. 16.18 And that himself would be assistant to it to the consummation of the World. All the lawful general Councils that ever were in the World have approved and honoured it condemning its Adversaries God so miraculously hath blessed it from above that very many famous learned wise and godly Doctors in all Ages have enriched it with their Writings Legions of Saints with their rare Holiness and Virtues Millions of Martyrs with their Blood many Millions of Virgins with purity of Soul and Body have sanctified and embellished it And even at this day of unjust Rebellions Apostacy and cursed Schism of her revolted Children she stretcheth out her Arms to the utmost corners of the world daily and newly embracing whole Nations into her Bosom Mark how that in all Sects opposite are found inward Dissensions Contrarieties change of Opinions uncertainty of Resolutions in matters of Faith rebelling against Governours and daily confusion of Order whereas contrariwise in the Roman Church there is Unity Uniformity undivided and Resolutions unaltered a most heavenly Order all with admirable Harmony and undefective Correspondence bending the same one way to the effecting of one and the same work Wherefore let no Man doubt to submit himself and judgment to this glorious Spouse of Jesus Christ reverently obeying her in all things whose Authority every Man may safely follow and rely upon she being so happy in being instrumental in converting all Nations from Infidelity by unfeigned Miracles and among many other things the Names of Hereticks and Schismaticks which she fathers upon all those that disagree and revolt from her Bosom This brings me to mind that saying of St. Hierom lib. 1. c. 14. contra Iovinian concerning St. Peter's Primacy Amongst the twelve Apostles one was chosen that a Head being constituted and appointed all occasion of Schism might be taken away Melanghton holds that the Primacy is most necessary for the retaining and preserving of Unity and adhering to the Roman Catholick See. Seeing therefore that Controversies in Religion in these our times are grown in number so many and in matters so intricate that few have time and leisure fewer strength of Understanding to examine them it remains for Men desirous of satisfaction in things of such consequence diligently to search out which Church hath divine revealed Faith in it and the same to embrace follow and practise St. Paul says That Faith is the substance of things to be hoped for and an argument or demonstration of things not appearing to us I wonder that St. Paul calls Faith a Substance when it is but an Accident we must understand St. Paul thus Even as the Substance is the foundation stress of the Accidents as of Quantity Quality Relation c. all cleaving and adhering to their substance so as if those accidents become separated from their substance then the substance will be reduc'd to a punctum indivisibile even so Divine Faith if it be not whole and entire believing all and every Article and Principle revealed preached and handed down from Christ and his Apostles then Faith will be no Divine Faith but is become a folly phantasm and illusion it must be a Faith animated with Charity Piety Obedience c. that will avail for Salvation For suppose you believe the Incarnation Resurrection Ascension of Christ with all other Mysteries belonging to his Divinity and Humanity and not to believe the Real Presence Auricular Confession Purgatory c. you have no Faith for Salvation As if but one Wheel of your Pocket Watch be broken nay if but one Tooth of it be broken your Watch serves for nothing so one Article of Faith denied destroys Faith. Sure he that admitted a leak in his Ship drowns it and he that divides Faith believing some Points and denying other Points comes to have no Faith at all for all that comes from one and the same Divine Authority ought to be believed with like equality reverence and submission Doing otherwise is to suffer ones self to run headlong into real blindness which hasten'd to the height of Insolency and Madness and to have nothing so assured as incertainty nothing so undoubted as the loss of true Faith transform'd into a real Schism the headlong descent of a horrible Precipice to never ending scorching Flames CHAP. III. Appendix to the former Chapter THe Almighty God independent and immense in his Extent eternal in his Duration infinite in his Perfections glorious in his Mercies and mysterious in the wonderous communication and dispensation of his Favours Mercies and Graces to Man above all sublunary Creatures for the Apostate Angels are lost without Redemption and the punishment their insolent Pride hath merited doth pursue them without relaxation term or pity it is Man therefore who must be plac'd and substituted in the empty Seats of Angels O Mercy never to be duly ponder'd Lo God the fountain cause and origin of the Universe drew Man out of Dirt and Morter as the Master-piece and prime Substance of all his Operations it was Man that deserved the last wonderous touches of his omnipotent Hands so as Plato cryes out calling Man the Miracle of all visible Miracles it 's certain that of all Encomiums given to Man the most noble august and transcendent is that he is created to the Image of God as a character of his Divine Nature Herehence God's Goodness requires Homages his Majesty all Worship and Acknowledgments and Affections of all Hearts Now we are to consider that God when he created Man did not assign him to remain in the state of pure Nature but did out of his goodness confer on him original Righteousness and Grace and after did endow him with supernatural Means which may bring him to the supernatural end he was created for viz. The vision fruition and possession of Heavenly Glory for all Eternity Now a supernatural End must require a supernatural Means whereas by no natural helps we can arrive to be compleatly happy in the next Life then of all supernatural Means or Gifts the ground and stress of all the rest
infinite number of gross Errors representing them under the hideous Idea of a Society professing most impious Doctrine thus no wonder that Peoples minds under their conduct should be alienated as to feel Horror and Detestation of her Doctrine so as their breach has been all along grounded upon Lyes Calumnies and False Suppositions Not being able to alledge in the behalf of their Schism any thing that can bear weight assuredly such disingenuous proceedings cannot but bring a deserv'd disrepute shame and confusion on the Protestant decaying Sect even from the sober understanding men among them And it is observable that Incredulity is an immortal Disease which hath reign'd from the beginning of the World and which shall never end but with the Worlds Dissolution Dreams Lyes Illusions and Falshood are easily believ'd because they insinuate themselves into the Hearts of men by Charms but glorious Truth which can never bely her self hath much ado to make her self entertain'd and understood yet we must know that there are many things unknown to us wherein God doth exercise our Faith but not satisfie our vain curiosity It is said that heretofore in Smyrna a City in Greece there was a false Mirror kept in the Temple which did represent the most beautiful Faces with notable Deformity and on the contrary gave to ugly and mis-shapen a Lustre of borrow'd and wholly imaginary beauty It is most notorious that the Protestant Ministers in the false Glass of their Preachings and lying printed Panphlets represents the glorious Church of Christ the Spouse of Heaven ever Holy as a Monster composed of Idolatry and Abomination as the Horrid Beast Whore of Babylon c. and on the contrary a Protestant Sect which begun by a revolt from all Obedience to lawful Superiors and by an infinite number of Exorbitances Sacriledge and unparallel'd Cruelties is forsooth represented as celestial holy and beautiful and it is to be wondered to see even Dr. Stillingfleet that Hircules and prime Advocate for Schism and who undertakes like a Goliah to defie the whole Hoast of Israel in the false Glass of his Roman Idolatry p. 8. Velit nolit represents the Roman Catholick Church as Idolatrous and Superstitious and yet makes it out clearly that she is the true Church to whose Communion the purest of all Christians are bound to joyn and that those who in any time did not joyn with it acted against their Christianity and must be counted as Schismaticks Now noble Sirs you are intreated seriously to reflect and bear in mind that heavenly Virtue of ready and true filial Obedience to lawfully authorized Superiors as Guides of your Souls in this Valley of Misery and sink of Death this Virtue is of the first magnitude and deserves all imaginable Encomiums Opposita juxta se posita magis clucescunt said the most excellent Philosopher contraries are their best Illustrations Now Schism is Disobedience and a most horrid Vice considered in her own ugly shape being carnality it self so as there is not any crime so hainous as Schism not Sacriledge Idolatry Paracide nor worshipping the Devil it 's an Abridgement of all the most damnable inexcusable unexpiable Vices imaginable it being impossible to receive such an injury or provocation from Church-Governours as may make a Separation excusable for according to St. Austin it is impossible that there should be any just cause for any to separate from the Catholick Roman Church Sirs such expressions as these cannot but strongly incite any understanding unbyass'd man whom a tender care of Eternity invites to seek satisfaction in this Point and seriously to consider that the Decision of no one Controversie is more neerly concerning Salvation than this being the hinge on which the Ocean of particular Disputes and Controversies do hang. This said let us see what Dr. Stillingfleet asserts in his Roman Idolatry p. 8. That a Christian by Virtue of his being so is bound to joyn in some Church or Congregations of Christians and that those who in any time did not joyn with it acted against their Christianity by virtue of which they were bound to do it he adds that a Christian by being so is bound to joyn in Communion of some Church and to chuse the Communion of the purest from this his Doctrine any understanding man must gather that he and his Protestant-pretended Church are guilty of Schism for separating themselves and remaining from joyning with the Communion of the Roman Catholick Church notwithstanding the said Stillingfleet strains all his Wits to palliate Schism painting their idle Reformation to advantage and not at all in its true colours proclaiming often Roman Catholicks Idolators superstitious c. which is the chief Rope whereupon he dances the Antick and triumphs O tempora o mores himself and his Proselites being in Schism over head and ears What then I pray are Protestants the better for all the Sermons they hear and Sacraments they receive Living in the cursed state of Schism for sure before Luther there was a glorious Church by the confession even of Adversaries this must be the Roman whose Communion was necessary to Salvation Therefore the Church of England separating and remaining obstinately from joining in Communion with It must be Schismaticks and something more to boot and it 's notoriously evident that the Roman Church hath the strongest warrantable promises prerogatives and motives even given to it by the sacred mouth of glorious Jesus then sure she could not err then sure she could not need any idle pretended Reformation So as that all Stilling fleet 's blind preaching of Reformation is vain his Faith is vain his Sacraments vain all his super-structures of daily printing lying new Books and scurrilous Pamphlets but all vain and by consequence himself no better than a sorry Schismatick So as any unbyass'd understanding man may plainly see all those Arrows which Dr. Still shoots against Roman Catholicks fall directly on his own head Muta fiant labia dolosa quia narraverunt iniqui fabulationes sed non ut lex tua His Objection is That Rome was an Harlot Superstitious the horned Beast c. It 's true that St. Ierome and other holy Fathers avers the same with reason but it was so called then when Rome was Gentile infected with Errours vain Superstitions of all Nations blaspheming God adoring Stocks and Stones and shedding in hatred of Christian Religion the Blood of Saints But after that Rome gave her name to Christ she can no more be stiled the Whore of Babylon but a glorious City faithful City replenished with all Grace and Righteousness which by receiving and confessing the Faith and Religion of Christ purely wip'd and wash'd off all Impurity all Blasphemies and superstitious Observances from that time it 's become the Tabernacle of God in the Sun true Pillar and Ground of Faith no blemish spot or wrinkle doth she carry When I pray is any able to say he saw her brave Sun go down or her fair Moon withdraw she always
damn'd Sect I must save my soul Thus retreat now convert thy self and next Give joy to Angels Church and Friends perplex't Turn Sir live by true Faith e're you die Making provision for eternity Is your precious soul's glorious future state Not worth caring for Wilt thou inhumane be Unto thy self O wretched cruelty If you will curs'd Heresie close pursue Turning your self from Christ I bid you adieu By cautions warnings and sad remors You 'll feel the hazard of that thy woful course How in the paths of sad Schism you do stray And to Satanick wiles become a prey In Christ's most divine face with scorn you spit Finding but pains of that your darkn'd wit. What 's that most perverse Sect to which you 'r gon But from Christs Church a revolted Squadron Turn then to your Mother who as a guide Sure means to Heaven will for you provide What Angel from God came to you to tell That errours are in Christ pure Faith and Gospel Sanctity of life none could e're have seen In any who a Protestant have been You 'll say your Sect hath Scripture on her side Such vain conceit none can but fools abide Know you not That Hereticks and Devils Us'd Scripture to cloke their damn'd black evils To fly from Christ and his pure Faith what worse To strengthen Schism deserves a double curse Remember Sir that your poor soul has cost A price too great by Heresie to be lost Then Sir with-draw your self from Apostar's place And with speed listen to the call of Grace Lo true faiths day-spring shining from on high Will relieve you that in deaths shade do lie And will direct thy wandring thoughts aright Out of dark Schism to saith's pure light Look Sir to 't awake shake off those cruel bands Of dismal Heresie and proud commands Of the Devils powers return and cry Then like the Dove to Christs blessed arms fly Where Mercy 's ready still to comfort all That yields obedience to God's gracious Call Pray Sir don't resist but without delay Close in with glorious Jesus's voice this day Know Sir that it's truth which alway bare date That true repentance never comes too late Be wise beware for he that will not take Example now sure must example make Relent reclaim don't in Schism pleasure take Least you fall in flames of that fiery lake The scorching pile whereof is kindled by The breath of an incens'd great Majesty O woful state Those torments who can tell Which with consuming fire for ever dwell Still fill'd with lamentations mournings woes With floods of wrath that from dire vengeance flows Lord who 'l be so mad as for empty toys Lose for ever pure substantial joys Sure it 's but stark madness now to reject Those counsels which to faith doth thee direct How oft you have extinguish'd that clear light Offer'd by friends to guide thy soul aright Sure there 's a war that gives your mind no rest Your judgment tells thee old faith's waies are best Gold jewels honour high promotion wealth Revenues soveraignity pleasures and health What are all these vain transient things without true faith souls to damnation brings Your Conscience checks you that you don't obey Shewing you the danger of your blind delay What you should do you know not this you find That strong convictions still assaults thy mind Till conscience with Gods help will interpose And by strong grace your dark Schism overthrows O good Sir don't for dark Schism lose that place Where Saints and Angels still beholds the face Of God's eternal glory and do sing Joyful Hailelujah's to their King of Kings Come Sir and tread those paths that will thee bring Unto a glorious everlasting spring And on a most rich Throne thou shalt sit down And there for ever wear a triumphant Crown Thy Soul 's immortal Sir look what can agree To it's nature sure that must satiate thee Nothing but the blest fountain God that will Suit with thy soul and thy poor spirit fill All worldly pleasures thou injoyest to day To morrow will take wings and fly away Though true faiths happy ways may seem to be A thorny rough unpleasant path to thee Yet try it Sir for what at first seems hard Will prove to thee sure welcome afterward For when thy heart is enlarg'd with love Unto those glorious things that are above Then wilt thou run these ways with great delight And wild Schism ways with all thy soul will slight Turn then and believe thy conquest shall be sure If thou in Christ's faith till the end endure Ask those who follow th' old faith they 'll say They feed on hidden Manna in their way By acts of faith and love they now possess They feel strong sweetness which they can't express Oft men of Note thro' pride are prompt to stray Thinking themselves too great for virtues way No truth no faith in that Sect you profess Which can your drooping soul with grace refresh No fast nor maceration of the flesh Of pomp lust and vain pleasure full excess No Priest no Mass no moving sacred thing That sighs from hearts or tears from eies may wring Oh Sir return to Christ in whom from pain Unalter d joys unmix'd delights you 'l gain To him the only object of thy love Let thy poor panting heart and will now move For to true faith 's old ways thou ought`st to groan And so work for eternal bliss alone May Christ dissolve your Schism and pull down All those that do oppose Christs tripple Crown In holy wars the Pope still triumphs alone And when Schism's disarm'd he then extends his Throne Christ's Gospel steers to union and true love And by conviction on hearts doth move I. E. FINIS