he presumeth the Church also to be a thing altogether Holy and such as neither hath Erred nor can Err for should he question this he must question the whole of his Religion it self opposite to which Character we shall now consider The Character of a Protestant But the Protestant Church on the other hand having separated from the Church of Rome not only upon the Supposition that she hath actually Erred but that she hath been grosly corrupted as well in Manners as in Faith And the Protestant Church having for the better Justification of her own Practice both in the matter of Worship and in all things relating to Doctrine and Faith SET UP The Scriptures as the Sole and Soveraign Rule of Gods Mind and Will to his Church As she cannot challenge the Exercise of any Authority therefore that is beyond that of the Scripture or any that is not subordinate to the said Scripture it self So it is expected that all the Duties which she requires and all those Articles or Points of Faith which she at any time recommends to such as are the Members of her should always be enforced from those Arguments properly and only which are drawn from the Scripture Because it is this which she her self hath appealed unto and this only which she challengeth to justifie her A Protestant then that understands the Grounds of his Religion or that hath been at all instructed in the Rise or Principles of the Reformation taking this for the very first Article of his Faith That a Church may Err and may have Corruption in it and may in its Worship possibly swerve and depart from the pure Mind Word and Wisdom of God And laying that no less firmly as the Foundation of his Belief on the other hand viz. That the Scripture cannot Err nor can be other than the unalterable and incorruptible Rule of Gods Law and of his Will and Mind to his People he cannot possibly hold the Authority of the Church to be Divine any further or otherwise than as it appears to be clearly grounded upon the Scriptures as the Word of God And therefore the Tye or Obligation which he hath to obey the Church so far as it relates to the Conscience and binds the Conscience ariseth out of no other Ground than from the Conformity which he seeth or is perswaded that the said Church hath in her Laws Orders and Doctrines to the said Word and if this Conformity doth or shall once cease in the said Church a Protestant as a Protestant cannot but judge his Tye or Obligation to her as a Church ought to cease also with it And this being the true State of that Radical or Essential Difference that is between the Principles of a Protestant and the Principles of a Papist as a Papist It will hence follow That if a Church that professeth her self to be Protestant or the Ruling Clergy of a Protestant Church shall not much consider or regard the justifying of what Laws and Orders she makes by the Consonancy they expresly have to the Law or Mind of God in his Word which is his Rule to the Church nor shall much concern it self to clear and inforce the Faith and Doctrine which she holds by the Evidence of its Truth or by the Authority of it as sufficiently grounded upon that Word that is absolutely Divine But shall on the contrary in whatever she Commands or in the things she Teacheth constrain or exact an Obedience from her Members to her self and to her own Authority as absolute and as unsubordinate to the Word of God and therefore to her Authority as it is a distinct thing from the said Word That Church or the Clergy rather that are the Rulers of it so far as she doth this in any Doctrine or in any Law that she makes indispensable doth so far cease in her Principles and Practice to be Protestant and doth so far disclaim not only a main and chief Ground of her Separation from the Church of Rome but the very Principle it self upon which she pretends to guide her self in her Reformation For it cannot be denyed that these were the great and the main Causes of our Separation from the Church of Rome viz. First Because she had made her self Absolute and had set up an Authority in the matters of Worship and Faith above that of the Scriptures as the only Word of God And Secondly Because she did not barely excommunicate men but did also persecute them and did deprive them both of their Estates Liberties and Lives upon a Principle as contrary to humane Reason as it was contrary to humane Society and Quiet viz. not for any evil in their Conversations in their Morals or in their Lives But meerly for obeying what they sincerely judged to be the Law Mind and Will of God And meerly for believing that his whole Law Will and Mind to his Church as a Church especially relating to the Worship of himself was contained in his Word Thirdly Because by this persecution as it was extended to the extreme Punishment of Persons both in their Liberties and Goods and sometimes in their Lives by stinking Prisons and want of Necessaries she did unavoidably draw upon her self the Guilt of mens Apostacy Hypocrsie and Dissimulation who durst not but obey and comply with her Commands meerly out of fear And did as unavoidably draw upon her the Guilt of all that Suffering Cruelty and Blood whatever it were she spilt and did inflict upon those persons who withstood her Commands and who were otherwise in all things blameless both as to their Morals Lives and Conversations I say if it be matter of Fact and that which cannot be denyed that these three things were some of the Main and Principal Causes for which we separated from the Church of Rome and for which our first Reformers themselves called her Antichristian and sometimes Bloody and sometimes the Scarlet Whore And if these three things when at any time mentioned with reference to the Church of Rome are still acknowledged to be evil and so stiled to this day so far as it concerns her Yea if these three things are at this very present in our Controversies with that Church not only charged upon her but cast in her teeth among many other things by way of reproach and to set forth the just ground that we even as the Church of England as well as other Churches have both of exception against and hatred of her MUST NOT these three things be MUCH MORE EVIL in a Protestant Church who after she hath condemned all these things not only as evil but as Antichristian in the Church of Rome and after she hath pretended to separate from the said Church for them doth nevertheless give her self leave to practise them without condemning her self at all in them And MUST NOT This Practice cast a manifest Blemish and Reproach upon on her own Reformation and evidence to the world that she doth not either believe the Principles
Popish Clergy do punish men viz. for their worshipping God and for their worshipping of him not contrary to the Scripture or contrary to any thing that seems clearly and plainly their Duty in the Word of God but contrary only to some Order or other in the Church And if the quality of the Persons that do suffer and that are punished by the Protestant Clergy are the same also with those that are punished by the Popish Clergy that is such men as are neither blameable in Nor so much as accused or charged by them with or for any Crime Or any Immorality in their Lives and Conversations But such as otherwise demean themselves in all Duty and with all Subjection to their Superiors I say if both these are the very SAME one with another wherein doth the Essential Difference lye between the Persecution of the Popish Clergy and the Persecution of the Protestant Clergy unless it be strictly in this That the Protestant Clergy do pretend to believe the Scriptures to be the Supreme Rule and mind of God to his Church and if asked do freely grant That men are NOT bound in Conscience to any Rule Superior to this Nor can be bound in the things of Faith or in things relating to the Worship of God to any Rule above this And yet at the same time that they own this they persecute their Brethren not only in their Liberties but in their Goods Fortunes and Estates and sometimes in their Lives also through nasty Prisons and want of Conveniences for acknowledging the said Scriptures to be such as they themselves do own them to be and for that they accordingly conform to their own Principles Whereas The Popish Clergy though they persecute men for the same Crimes yet they do not give so much Honour to the Scriptures nor do so much as pretend to it But which of these two Are for this very Cause the greater Crimes before God may be left to all rational men to consider In the mean time I am most sure of this That whereas our first Reformers did call the Church of Rome Antichristian and did charge her with Innocent Blood and did put the name of Scarlet-Whore for this Reason upon her Yet now it is most certain the Stain and Discredit of it is in her eyes manifestly lessened if it be not wholly bletted out For it is impossible that the Church of Rome should ever hereafter grant these things to be Stains or Crimes proper only to her which she doth not only see but can daily observe some Protestant Church or other to follow her in upon such Grounds as are far less justifiable in the said Protestant Church according to the Principles they profess than they are in her self And that this is not a thing ever to be hoped or expected from her hereafter is the more clear in regard the said Church of Rome hath already in so many words sharply and closely Retorted it upon the Protestant Church So that the VERY things which we blame the said Church of Rome for and for which we accuse her Criminally And which we pretend to be the main Grounds why we could no longer have any Communion with her which was her laying aside the sole Authority of the Scriptures And her persecuting such as desired to walk according to the Rule of it some Protestant Churches have not only imitated her in but have outgone her and have done so much worse than she ever did by how much we have contradicted the Principles we profess which she hath not And that she hath cast this as a Reproach upon us in words and hath alledged several Arguments to confirm it and such as have not to this very day been answered by us is matter of Fact And if in all Courts of Judicature matter of Fact be good Evidence and if the highest Evidence that can be given in matter of Fact is when the Fact is able to speak and attest it self or when it is capable to be attested to by thousands then is the Evidence which I here bring every way as good and every way as vallid to prove what I affirm Which is That the Church of Rome hath endeavoured to justifie and acquit her self from the Crime of unjust Persecution and Blood by instancing the same thing in the Practice of Protestants one toward another and therein hath exonerated her self from the sole Guilt of this evil and from the sole Guilt of her being alone that Babylon mentioned Rev. 17. which hath been frequently fixed singly upon her and attributed to none besides her And she hath produced several Arguments also and those of Weight to make it appear That Protestants In their Persecution one of another are far more unjust upon the Principles we profess as Protestants than she is upon her own Principles how much so ever we have pleased to inveigh against her and revile her And these Arguments she hath no way scrupled publickly and openly to divulge in English to the end that every man that is rational may the better examine them and judge of them And that we have not as yet pleaded to the said Arguments Or to the Retortion she hath made upon us either by denying the Fact it self absolutely or by distinguishing the respective differing Circumstances and Grounds of it is also well known Whereby she hath the more just occasion to think that those Protestants that have thus persecuted others are conscious to themselves of their own Guilt And seeing all this is pure matter of Fact one of these two Conclusions therefore do seem to be impossible to be avoided viz. That either we have done very evil in charging the Church of Rome as Antichristian and in charging her as guilty of the Blood of the Saints which is mentioned Rev. 17.6 which must nevertheless be inevitably charged some where and very evil to impose the name of Scarlet-Whore and of Babylon upon her Or If the Protestant Churches have said all this really in Judgment and really in Truth against her Then have some Protestant Churches done much worse themselves in being actually guilty of the same things which have been so criminally charged upon her And if the Church of Rome be guilty of Innocent Blood then none that is sober can doubt but she must at length be lyable to the extreme Judgments of God for it And therefore if any Protestant Churches have followed her in that very Guilt the same judgments must as unquestionably come upon them and perhaps more severe And to the end that all Protestant Churches may be awakened to consider their great Danger in this Case if they have been Persecutors of their Brethren I need do no more than to lay before them the express Prophesie of our Lord Jesus Christ in this Case viz. That there should be some who delaying in their hearts the Consideration of his coming should instead of giving a portion of Meat to their fellow-Servants be found smiting of them The
Pertinancy Weight and Importance of which Prophesie of Christ with reference even to the Theme we have at present in hand will appear very clear upon the Grounds or Arguments following which are these 1. That for the certainty of the said Prophesie viz. That there should be some Persons that would be forward to smite others we have a double Testimony even by two of the Evangelists as Math. 24.48 49 50 51. And Luke 12.45 46 47. 2. That the Persons who would be so forward to smite others and of whom therefore the Lord Christ speaks this were to be of the Church and were to be those very Officers properly that were to be advanced in his Church above others is not only plain by the Circumstances of the words themselves but is yielded to by all Expositors both Modern and Antient. 3. That the Lord Christ would not have mentioned such a thing expresly concerning his own Stewards even concerning those Officers which were to have the highest Rule and Trust in his own Church Nor would have left it upon so good a Record to us if he had not in his Wisdom surely foreseen that this Case how notorious and strange so ever it may appear would certainly happen in his Church there is not the least Reason to doubt And the less seeing we have another Testimony left us to this purpose by St. Paul also Acts 20.28 29 30. with reference expresly to the Officers of the Christian Church Nor is it any way disagreeable to the Analogy of Faith That if our Lord himself suffered properly from his Church and his own Prophets also before him and suffered from the very Rulers Elders and Overseers of the said Church Then his Servants should not think it a very strange thing and much less an impossible if they suffered also from his Church and from Persons of the very same Note Name Rank Quality or Dignity in it and especially seeing Christ hath left a standing Rule John 15.20 John 13.16 Luke 16.40 That the Servant is not greater than his Lord and therefore is not to expect a Privilege above his Lord. 4. That the Persons who are to be smitten by the Stewards Prefects or Chief Officers of Christ's own Church are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 even their very fellow-Servants and no other viz. such Persons as own and serve the same Master or Lord which the said Stewards profess to serve and such as have received the same Testimony of his Word or the same Rule of his Mind and Will to them which the said Stewards and Chief Officers have is plain and unquestionable also even from the words themselves 5. That the smiting which is here spoken of by the Lord Christ is literally intended by him for actual Stripes or for such external Punishments and Miseries which were to be inflicted by the Chief Officers and Stewards of his Church upon the Persons of Men is not questioned by any I know of at least the contrary hath never been maintained in any Age of the Church 6. And it appears the rather because the smiting here mentioned was to be of a Nature so very injurious so oppressing and wrongful to them that were smitten Yea so provoking to the just Mind and Temper of the Lord Christ That as an Argument how much he abhorred such a smiting and how much he was displeased at it he threatens the said Stewards and Chief Officers of his Church That he would cut them in sunder for it and would give them their Portion with the very Unbelievers and Hypocrites 7. Which Severity it were unreasonable to believe that he who was so meek a Master would ever have threatned and threatned especially against the very Stewards Rulers and Officers of his own House or of his own Church if he had not foreseen that the Cruelty which these very Stewards and Officers would use towards others in smiting of them would be such and so very merciless that the said Stewards would be such as would deserve no Mercy or Pity at all from him For if it be a Rule That they and they only are to receive Judgment without Mercy who themselves have shewen or exercised no Mercy James 2.13 Then it is impossible that these Chief Officers and Stewards of Christ's Church should be punished by him without Mercy if they in smiting their fellow-Servants had not utterly shut out all Bowels and all mercy toward them 8. And therefore the summ of the Lord Christ's Speech and the end indeed of it appears both plainly and briefly to be this That as there would be among the very Stewards and Chief Officers of his Church some that would be forward to smite their own fellow Servants and to smite them so cruelly and in such a manner as they would shew no kind of Compassion Bowels or Remorse at the sufferings of them though this were but humane So the said Stewards should at length most certainly meet with the like measure of Treatment at the hand of the Lord himself and should not fail to receive the execution of his wrath and judgments upon them for it And these things being thus established I shall from the whole lay down only two Positions which I humbly conceive none can dispute with me and much less go about to baffle that will not make an open mock of the Lord Christ's own Sayings The First Proposition is That it can no way be denyed But among those very Stewards Rulers or Chief Officers which were to be set over the Lord Christ's own Church some would be found smiting of their fellow-Servants The Second Proposition is That it cannot be denyed but among the said Stewards Rulers or Chief Officers of his Church some should and would be guilty of such a manner of smiting wronging and ill treating of their fellow-Servants as should and would render them in the Lord Christ's Esteem no better than Hypocrites or Infidels And if neither of these can be any way questioned by such at least as question not the Validity and Divinity of the Lord Christ his own Sayings Then for as much as the Ruling Clergy of our own Church have sometimes not only cruelly mulct some of their fellow-Servants in their Goods but have caused them to be imprisoned whereby some times through the hard usage they have met with in Prisons and for want of those Necessaries that might be convenient they have lost their Lives And consequently the Ruling Clergy of our Church have been guilty at least of being Smiters of their fellow-Servants and even of such of their fellow-Servants as profess not only the same Faith but the very same Principles of Reformation that the said Ruling Clergy do And seeing it is yet further matter of Fact that notwithstanding the said Ruling Clergy have thus severely punished their fellow-Servants yet they have not so much as charged or accused them of any Vice Crime or Immorality in their Lives or Conversations and much less have proved any such thing against them But
have caused them to be beaten and treated after this manner singly for this Reason and no other viz. Because in worshipping the Lord Christ They chose rather strictly to observe his Mind and Will according to the best understanding they have of HIS Word I say rather than to observe any such Orders or Rites as were not SO warranted But were set down only by their fellow-Servants that were Officers of the Church above them Consequently then the Issue must needs be very short between the said Ruling Clergy and their fellow-Servants that have been thus smitten by them For either this smiting of them for this very cause here rehearsed and for no other IS very wrongful in its self as being against the very light of a mans Nature and against that Supreme and Primitive Obligation which the Conscience hath indispensably unto God above any that it can have unto man OR it is not at all wrongful And either this kind of smiting which hath been used and urged and pressed for by the Ruling Clergy of our own Church IS such a smiting as appears to have been without all Pity or Remorse to such as have been so smitten and beaten by the said Clergy OR it hath not But if the smiting we have here Instanced and Instanced as matter of Fact be such as hath been used by the Stewards and Rulers of Christs own Church and used towards their fellow-Servants but hath been used wrongfully And used without any manner of Remorse to the sufferings of the said Persons whatever their sufferings be Then it must either be the very same kind of smiting with that for which the Lord Christ in this speech of his that is thus Recorded by two several Evangelists doth threaten the Rulers and Stewards of his Church that he will cut them asunder and account them as Hypocrites OR it is not the same NOR of the same kind But if it be not of the same kind Then it concerns the Ruling Clergy themselves to clear themselves and to give an instance what kind of smiting there is or hath been used by the Ruling Officers of any Christian Church that is or hath been more wrongful and more injurious than this and that is more remorsless and cruel than this which the Lord Christ doth here condemn and will certainly take vengeance for For some Case we must necessarily and unavoidably put unless we will deny or make a Mock of the Lords Christs own Words and such a one as we may give a sufficient Instance of even an Instance in a Christian Church between the Rulers and Officers of the said Church and others belonging to the same Church wherein the wrong that is to be done by the said Ruling Officers in smiting others of the said Church is to be so extremely evil and so perfectly injurious and cruel as that the Authors of it will neither merit any Mercy from the Lord nor are according to his Word to expect any Mercy from him From the Consideration of the Premises these following things are humbly presented to the Consideration of the present Ruling Clergy of our own Church some of which if not all it is to be hoped are men of tender Hearts like the good King Jesiah that trembled at the Reading of the Word of the Lord in the Book of the Law viz. That for as much as we have stated or instanced such a Case as is matter of Fact and such as cannot be denyed to be used or practised by the Ruling Clergy of our own Church towards others of the same Church and Profession of Faith with themselves And in as much as we have stated it expresly in order to the clearer evidencing of the Guilt of the said Clergy by reason of their said smiting and for Conviction consequently of the Judgments that they are without Repentance inevitably lyable unto for it We do therefore further say that If the said Ruling Clergy shall in any respect disallow the said Instance or shall think it meet to exonerate themselves from the Guilt that is by the said Instance intended to be charged upon them Then we say that They cannot avoid the instancing or stating of some other Case relating to the Rulers or Stewards of the Christian Church and to their smiting of others in the said Church and to the evil of it that must be more agreeable to what the Lord Christ here Condemns than this Instance or Case is which we have here mentioned as matter of Fact Nor can they avoid the Instancing or stating of some other Case that must merit consequently more Punishment from God and that must be in its own Nature far worse and much more injurious cruel and remorsless than the Case which we have here instanced and stated is Nor can they avoid the instancing or stating some other Case that must much more properly Relate to Babylon and to that particular and express Character or broad Mark that is set upon her by the Angel or Apostle Revelat. 17.6 than this particular Instance or Case doth which hath been instanced relating to the Ruling Clergy of our own Church which is here mentioned Or else they must say that that Vision of the Apostle is not to be regarded by us Nor can they avoid the instancing or stating of some other Case differing from what we have here mentioned that must for the nature and kind of its smiting be wholly agreeable to the Practise of the Church of Rome and to the Ruling Clergy of it and not at all agreeable to the Practice or Custom of themselves But if the Ruling Clergy of our Church cannot state any such Case relating to the smiting of others of the same Church and Faith with them which shall manifestly differ in all these four Circumstances from the particular Instance or Case we have here mentioned and which every man knoweth is Matter of Fact then these two things will be impossible to be avoided by the Ruling Clergy of our Church as First that they will never be able to shew us wherein the Grounds or Principles upon which they proceed to the Smiting Punishing or Persecuting of their fellow-Servants are not only different but far more justifiable than those upon which the Popish Clergy proceed in their Cruelty and Persecution of the Protestants And Secondly they will never be able to give us any clear Reason and much less any Cogent and Invincible Arguments why we should believe That the Judgments of God will unquestionably reach the Church of Rome for her Cruelty and Persecution of the Protestants but will not reach at all the Ruling Clergy of the Protestant Church for their Smiting and Persecution that they are guilty of against their Brethren of the same Faith and Reformation Which two things we may be assured that all the tender-hearted of the Ruling Clergy of our Church will lay to heart There being some things which that Holy Man of God even the Prophet David sometime had done for which his
Heart smote him And some things he was about to do for the prevention of which he gave solemn thanks to God For we find that Davids Heart smote him after he had numbered the people and after he had but cut off the Skirt of Sauls Garment 2 Sam. 24.10 and 1 Sam. 24.5 And he gives solemn Thanks for Abigails being an Instrument to prevent him from shedding Blood 1 Sam. 25.32 For if the Church of Rome do punish others really and indeed upon the Principle of Disobeying her Authority though she dare not pretend this openly lest her Cruelty and Blood-Guiltiness being for no other Cause should be so manifest that it would never be able to admit of a competent Apology Colour or Excuse And therefore leaving this she insists upon the Ground of Her Persecution as it is for Herefie only But if we on the other hand punish others not only with loss of Goods but with loss of Liberty Banishment and perpetual Imprisonment which is far more Cruelty than Immediate Death it self and would be more willingly chosen by most men and do all this for a Non-conformity and Disobedience to the Orders and Rites of the Church without so much as a pretence to any Guilt of Heresie Then Where is the difference between these two sorts of Persecutors unless the Ruling Clergy of our Church have done it more daringly and more Broad-facedly than the Church of Rome doth But which is more to be considered and laid to heart If the Church of Rome do not punish those that acknowledge her to be a True Church but those only that condemn her as a false Church and who do under this Notion professedly separate from her as from that Babylon mentioned in the Revelations And if we on the other hand punish those that own not only the same Faith and Doctrine But the very same Principles of Reformation with our selves and who therefore give no just Provocation nor use any such reproachful Language to our Church as the Protestant Churches generally do to the Church of Rome Where then is the difference unless it be that she renders evil to her professed Enemies who cannot but openly own a Hatred and Contempt for her We inflict all manner of Evil upon our Brethren that supplicate for Peace with us and would be glad not to separate from us and which of these two then is the more ingenious But which is yet more If we as we are Protestants cannot but grant that there is to be a Subordination of the Church not only immediately to the Lord Jesus Christ himself but to HIS Word and that we utterly deny that he hath any such One as a Vicar upon the Earth and utterly deny that any man whatever hath any power to dispence with the Commands of our Lord Jesus Christ so far as they appear to be clear to us from his Word wherefore if we notwithstanding we make these things to be the very Profession of our Faith yet shall never punish any But such as keep exactly to all and every of these Principles and shall observe them conscientiously and strictly Whereas the Popish Clergy on the contrary punish none but such only who deny or oppose wholly the things which their Church affirms Where then is the Reasonableness of our Punishment and the Unreasonableness of theirs and which of these two hath the greater Resemblance of Hypocrisie even in our own Judgment whether our Punishment or theirs seeing we punish men for following the Principles we allow They never punish any but for following those Principles that they totally disallow But the evil of this Persecution further appears thus for if we as Protestants say we have separated from the Church of Rome out of Conscience First because she imposed those things that were Inscriptural upon us And secondly because she was guilty of Blood and that the Characters of a false Church did for both these Reasons lye upon her and therefore that we cannot but give thanks solemnly unto God for our Deliverance out of her power And if the Ruling Clergy of a Protestant Church have nevertheless not spared to persecute unto Blood even those that have not only out of the same two Motives separated with us But by persisting constantly in the said Motives do daily justifie us How comes our Blood and Persecution to be less sinful than hers and why should it be less crying unto God for had we never so intently studied how we might have put the greatest stumbling-Block we could before our Adversaries or how we might have brought the greatest Blemish Scandal and Reproach that was possible upon our Reformation or how we might have opened the Complaints and Exclamations of men most against us What Course could possibly have been taken to all these ends that could have been more effectual than this For how can he that is thus persecuted by the Ruling Clergy of a Protestant Church give Thanks unto God solemnly for his Deliverance out of the Church of Rome's Thraldom when the very same Persons that pretend to be delivered with him Imposeth nevertheless the like Thraldom upon him Or how shall he that is thus persecuted be any way able to imagine and much less to believe that the Church which persecutes him is serious in her Profession of Thanks unto God for her own freedom when she is no sooner freed her self but she brings others into the same Hardship and Servitude that she her self did but a little while since greatly complain of and groan under But leaving these things to be most seriously considered by all Protestant Churches in these three Kingdoms and elsewhere even by all whomsoever they Concern I shall now proceed to give in this place A Description of the Absurd Ridiculous and Contemptible Grounds and Foundations on which the Papists Build Though nothing is more Evident than this that the Thraldom or Bondage of the Church of Rome doth principally consist in the disagreeableness of her Doctrines to the Rule of the Scripture yet nevertheless it is Matter of Fact That the Church of Rome doth not in plain and express Terms deny the Truth or deny the Authority of the Scripture or deny the end of them as they are appointed for the Church And if we cannot for this Cause justly charge her with any of these things Then we must necessarily grant that the said Doctrines so far as they are corrupt and have a real Inconsistency with the Scripture it self could have their Rise at first no otherwise Than by vertue of her Authority as a Church And consequently that as they had thus their Rise at first so they have had their whole Maintenance and Support ever since no otherwise than as this Authority being Absolute and Arbitrary hath defended them against whatever might be said from the Authority of the Scripture in opposition to them And therefore here we shall lay open her Shame and Nakedness and her great Absurdity that lyeth in the Manner and Method and
Nature of her Policy For the Acquiring of that Arbitrary Absolute and unlimited Power which she exerciseth And first we find that she doth upon her own Authority affirm That it is neither the Letter of the Scripture nor the Grammar of it how Plain Clear or Express soever it be that doth or ought to bind the Consciences of men but the sence of the said Scripture only And Secondly she doth affirm That it is not the sence of the Scripture also which doth or can any way directly bind the Consciences of men if this sence be considered nakedly in it self either as literal or mystical but that the said sence is capable of binding only considered as it is Catholick And Thirdly That it is not either in the Letter or in the Grammar of the said Scripture how clear or plain soever it be that the Divine Authority of it is placed but simply and only in the sence of it as this sence is the sence of the Universal Church and therefore that sence which is properly called Catholick Which Propositions she having in her Prudence thus peculiarly laid down as the Grounds or Foundations not only of all Christian Faith but of all Christian Verity and Truth it self In the next place she builds upon these unsound Grounds an Assumption that is parallel to them and that is every way as entirely her own as the former viz. That she alone hath not only the Right as exclusive to all others of Dispencing this Catholick Sence to all the Members of the Christian Church but of dispencing it in order to their Salvation and hath inherent in her the full and absolute Power finally and Inappealeably to determine at all times and upon all Occasions what the said Catholick Sence is concerning all Points whatever that may be controverted and concerning all places of Scripture whatever that may be doubted of or disputed And that as this Power is absolutely necessary for the Preservation of the Unity so for the Preservation of the Purity of the said Christian Faith in regard it is impossible that such a Sence of the Scripture as is wholly Universal and Catholick should at any time Err. The Conclusion then if all these Premises be true is That the Church of Rome is to be believed and that all her Determinations whatever they be are for Conscience sake to be Obeyed and Submitted unto even by the whole Christian Church without any Dispute or without so much as any scruple of Mind This Conclusion being that which all the Partizans and Champions of the Church of Rome do labour with Might and Main to bring every man to and therefore it is the same with that Security and Rest which they pretend all men may have not only with absolute Safety but with absolute satisfaction in the Bosom of their Church But indeed this Conclusion hath not any tendency to Salvation at all but is quite contrary to all that is alledged and leads expresly to nothing else but to the utter Overthrow and Subversion of the whole Scripture it self with the Mind Law Will and Counsel of God so far at least as depends upon Revelation in regard it puts the Scripture together with the whole Authority of it though Divine in it self absolutely perfectly and entirely into the Arbitrary Will and Power of the said Church And therefore the Protestants upon Consideration of the extreme Mischiefs that must of necessity follow from such a Conclusion as this they do with Indignation reject it And First The Protestants do wholly deny that the said Church of Rome hath any rightful Authority to make null the Grammar of the Scripture Secondly The Protestants do much more deny that she hath any Right to institute or set up such a Sence of the Scripture under any name or pretence whatever that is either opposite to the Grammar of the Scripture or that at least pretends that there is not a necessity to follow and observe the Rules of it Thirdly Consequently they utterly deny that she hath any Right to transfer the Authority of the Scripture from the Sence proper to the Letter of it self to such a Sence as is only and properly hers And Fourthly They deny that she hath any Right or any Power to set up any Sence of her own at all which is not absolutely subjected to the Rule and Authority that is inherent to the Scriptures Letter and Word with the proper Sence of it as this is and ought to be Supreme to all others Fifthly And they do much less acknowledge that she hath any such Right in her or derived to her therefore as to make her Sence of the Scripture or what she declares to be so the Sence of the Universal Church Sixthly Or that she hath any Right to make her sence of the Scripture to be the Absolute or Supreme Rule of all Infallible and Christian Truth or to disallow any Appeal from her proper Determinations to the living Rule of the Scriptures Grammar and to the Letter or Word of it Seventhly And the Protestants denying all these things they do deny therefore that she hath any Authority Power or Right to dispence with That Duty and Obligation which is divinely and absolutely laid upon the Consciences of men which is To obey the Word of God in the litteral plain and express Sence of it Eighthly And the Protestants do deny consequently that the Consciences of men are or can any way possibly be obliged to her bare Determination of the Sence of the Scripture Especially so far as this is set up absolutely by her and is not dependant upon any Sence proper to the Words and Grammar of the Scripture it self All and every of which Powers as the Protestant Church doth wholly deny to the Church of Rome So for as much as the Church of Rome can pretend to no one of the said Rights or Authorities now mentioned otherwise than as it must by some means or other be lawfully conveyed or derived to her The Protestant Church therefore challengeth her and provoketh her to shew that special and peculiar Commission by which SHE and SHE alone is impowered to do all or any of those things before named Because without this Commission can be produced and produced upon some Clear Evident and Sufficient Warrant or Ground for it All Her pretences to the said Authority seeing it is so manifestly destructive to the Scripture it self must needs appear to be not only Precarious but very frivolous and very absurd The Church of Rome being thus challenged and provoked in the point of her Commission and yet well knowing that there is nothing which she can possibly appeal unto for the proof of her Authority beside the Scripture it self She becomes hereupon to be several ways distressed and perplexed First because she finds that she cannot allow of the Grammatical Sence of the Scripture in any one Case whatever But she must necessarily and unavoidably allow it in all other Cases also where it may