hidden sences furnished with variety of Parables Examples Histories Revelations Figures Allegories so as it cannot be proved directly to be the word of God but by Tradition The Christians of the Primitive Age on pain of Damnation held nothing of Faith but what they received from Christ and his blessed Apostles for Moral and Apostolical Tradition without written Scripture or written Books was the means of planting and conserving Christian Religion see St. Paul Galat. 21.8 Altho' we or an Angel from Heaven preach to you besides that which we have preached to you he be Anathema And again 2 Thes. 15. Therefore Brethren stand ye fast and hold ye the Traditions which ye have learned whether by Word or by our Epistle Sure Apostolical Tradition is the sure Guide by which we may infallibly be assur'd what Doctrin for Salvation Christ and his blessed Apostles left many years before any thing was written or printed CHAP. IV. The Scripture of Protestants decry'd FIrst I say that all Sectaries tho' never so many and opposite one to another have ever risen and have still pretended to Scripture nay the Devil urged his Temptation with a scriptum est Matth. 4. And so many frequently deprave the Scriptures to their own perdition 2 Pet. 3. I decline not Scripture but allow admit and embrace it as containing that irrefragable Doctrine which eminent Persons in the Church of God penn'd even a thousand years before Printing was invented Scripture is a good Instrument to draw Men from Paganism to Chistianity but not Protestants to the Catholick Faith. When the Christian explicit Articles of Faith prepared and delivered to us by our Primitive Pastors according as they had received them from Christ the prime Inventor were rashly annull'd taken away and rejected by Sectaries and the Bible put into all hands for to search and find out by our own skill the Results and Principles of Religion implicitly couch'd in the Bible is not this extream Madness and Tyranny to Souls Is it not a tyrannous Cheat and an Abuse hardly to be parallell'd to put Men to seek for a thing with a fore-imprinted prejudice of that they go about to find and seek for Faith with a prejudice against Faith With such-like prejudice do the English People read the Bible being afore-hand advised by their Reformers fully to believe that the Catholick Mass is abomination the Real Presence a late invention the Merit of Good Works a Dream fasting and mortification of sensual Appetites folly and madness the indifferency of Man's Free Will to Good or Evil an Error the making a Vow a Chimera restitution or satisfaction of Injuries done a prejudicial Mistake all Expiation of our Sins an inexpiable Crime honour to blessed Saints Idolatry Sacrifice Altars and the whole Priesthood of Christ Prophaneness the conscionable practice of Sobriety Justice and Piety necessary to Eternal Life detestable Popery for God's sake what good can accrew to the drooping Soul of an Heretick by reading of Scripture with these Prejudices these Diabolical Anticipations these Antichristian Preconceptions these meer Obstructions to all Faith Grace and Salvation Yet thus forewarn'd and prepossess'd all Sectaries read the Scripture no sound or solid Fruit arising thence to their Souls but hardness of Heart Pride Schism sencelesness of God's Judgments desperateness in all Sin and Injustice Sure the Scripture do little or no good but as it is presented by the Church and received with her Interpretation and practised in her Bosom The Ark of God so long as it was upheld by the Priests comforted and sanctified them but look'd into or touch'd by others destroy'd them nor was it to them an Ark of Salvation but an Offence and occasion of Fall Therefore it was a heavenly Caution that which we received by a Voice from Heaven Act. 10. Things that God hath sanctified do not make common We see Scripture takes up Figures Allegories Parables c. wherein are inclosed Truths of a differing strain to what the Letter relates which will cause an obscurity almost invincible even to Church-men singularly assisted and inspired It is therefore but madness to undertake Labour and Hazard for naught The Law and Government of the Messias differs from the Law of Moses in this That one was committed to Paper but the Doctrine of Jesus should be written in the Heart and Entrails of his Church He is a God that writes on the Paper of the Heart unto Eternity indelible Tenets The Law of Christ is written not with Ink but with the Spirit of the Living God not in Tables of Stone but in fleshly Tables of the Heart promising to animate the Body of his Church with his own Spirit which should lead them into all Truth so as in very truth Scripture of the New Testament was drawn by the Rule of our traditional Doctrine and explicit Faith and not our explicit Faith gathered out of them neither was ever any General Council called together to teach the Church her Doctrine but upon the rising of Heresies judging by the Rule of Tradition declared against Heretical Innovations Here I infer how they are bereaved of Human Understanding that do not see palpably that a pretended Church which begun by breach of Promises to God by Sacrileges and Impurities of Apostates by general Revolt against Kings against Divine and Human Laws by the filth and ordure of the Carrion and caitive Flesh by the dissolution of good Manners by Blood Furies and Confusion could not come and take its source from the Divine Spirit yet they boldly say they find Scripture of their side Ah lamentable Illusion To whom did the Scripture send them but to the Priests and lawful Pastors What said the Scripture unto them but that they ought to keep the Traditions and obey Prelates That they must not trust to their own judgment but captivate it in matters of Faith and that it was better to believe with holy Simplicity than question with a proud Curiosity And it 's observable how the poor deluded People in England after using their Bible now above a hundred years how they have a Church without Apostolical Preachers these without Character Mission Priesthood or Divine Jurisdiction Sheep without true Pastors faithful without Churches Christians without Sacraments Temples without Altars Altars without Sacrifices Religion without form or fashion a Law without Obedience a Faith without Works and Grace yet they all peruse Scripture and all is but that they overthrow themselves by these Scripture ways by which they seek to establish themselves for if we ought not to believe any thing but that which is written in what place of their Bible will they find that the revealed positive and affirmative Principles of our Church must be denied and abrogated In what place will they shew that these words Hoc est Corpus meum must be understood figuratively not really In what place will they find that Sunday must be kept holy and not Saturday Where will they find that there are but two
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
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
relieving even in the dead of Winter and to the hazarding your life with extraordinary speed the City of Waterford when besieged eighteen days by the Vsurper Cromwell he having assured all his Adherents that that City was most extremely his These my Lord your Heroick Vndertakings to promote Loyalty the same Loyalty which now stands the top and most visible of your Grace's most Illustrious Titles and Characters which rendred you all along a great Favourite of our late deceased Sovereign and makes you now most dear unto his present Majesty King JAMES the Second These I say are so notoriously known both at home and abroad that even base Envy and Detraction have but rendred them to be the more acknowledged and most illustriously conspicuous These my Lord not common actings are patterns of your unbounded Merits these Heroick Efforts Vndertakings and brave never-to-be-forgotten Performances proceeded sure from that your Noble Genius or natural propension to Monarchy in detestation of Democracy and Anarchy Now my Lord you are to apply that your clear Eagle-ey'd Iudgment and great Wisdom in owning and honouring that great Monarchy which Christ established here on Earth governed by one Visible Head the Vniversal Pastor Vicegerent of Christ and Successor to St. Peter to whom he gave special warrant to govern his Flock And it 's an undoubted truth my Lord that the Interest and Conservation of Kingly Government is twisted with true ancient Christian Religion that it seems animated with one and the same Soul for like to Hippocrates's Twins they smile and weep together and live and die together For even as Rebellion is the bane of Civil Kingdoms and Peace and Concord the preservation of them even so Schism is the utter ruine of the Church of Christ Peace Vnity Vniformity the special gift of God therein and in the true Church above all Kingdoms or Common-wealths because it 's in all points a glorious conspicuous Monarchy tending every way to Vnity there being but one God one Christ one Flock one Pastor one Hope one Faith one Body one Head as the Apostle assures us To this heavenly Monarchy my Lord you are invited all Sects or false new-fangled Churches cannot pretend to be a Monarchy having no Head nor united Body but a confused Chaos I am confident that your Grace is a Master of more solid reason than to ground your Faith upon an uncertain Foundation or to pin the Salvation of your Soul on the bare sleeves of any Sect whose Guides are failable and fallible in all mens Opinions when you may enquire and find out a secure Infallible Guide leading to that Eternity of Glory you were created for The great reason my Lord the great motive that excited Dr. Vane Dr. Cressey Dr. King Bishop of London the Bishop of Glocester with very many more to separate from the Protestant blind Sect was because they found no safe secure certain human infallible unerring warrantable Iudge to interpret Scriptures and define questions of Faith without errour with any promise and privilege from Christ among the Protestants And consider my Lord that it 's very probable that the last Verdict and Sentence of the forlorn Protestant Sect is already written in Heaven that it must soon yield and fall to nothing as all other damn'd Heresies have done for it 's but folly to pretend to secure by human arts that which God is resolved to destroy Are you peradventure afraid or asham'd that Sectaries will blame you of inconstancy in changing or removing to the Roman Communion Sure we Mortals have above bruit Beasts the Resurrection of our Bodies we have above Devils to repent reclaim and flie from sin especially that most heinous sin of Schism and Heresie for Sectae non possi debunt Regnum Dei Galat. 5. So as that you must want constancy only to sin Sapientis est mutare consilium nullus pudor est ad meliora convertie Sure it was no blemish to St. Paul to turn to Christ from a Persecutor it was no shame to Constantine the Great of a Heathen to become a Roman Catholick Converted and Baptized by Pope Sylvester and it was no blemish to Louis I. King of France to be drawn to Christ's Faith by a Woman Then what shame can it be to your Grace to forsake Schism and come to the true Mother-Church the which King James I. of Blessed Memory did acknowledge in open Parliament to be the only Mother-Church of all Churches I hope my Lord you are none of those who say to God Job 21. Depart from us we will not have the knowledge of thy ways I hope you are none of those which abhor to hear good Inspirations flie and detest good Company and Books lest by such occasions they might be touched in conscience and so be converted and saved I hope you are none of those most unfortunate hard-hearted men whereof the Prophet Isa. 28. speaketh We have strucken a league with Death and made a bargain with Hell it self which is in effect as much as if they had said Trouble us not molest us not with thy persuasions spend not thy words and labour in vain talk to others who are not yet settled let them take Heaven that will we for our parts are resolved we are at a point we have made a league that must be kept we have made a bargain that must be performed yea though it be with Hell and Death everlasting O what a wonderful fury and obduration of an unrelenting heart is this My Lord when men are byass'd or prepossess'd they lie open to be imposed upon to the belief of a down-right Lye or to the disbelief of a manifest demonstration of an infallible Truth and so to be mis-led to a plausible Errour The great reason why there are few in comparison who now-adays come to a right understanding and a well-grounded persuasion in matters of Faith is because they are not many who make a due enquiry with sincerity and unbyassed disposition sure such who wilfully remain under the power of the false Principles which were instill'd in them in their Education or who blindly following failable and fallible Guides whose persons they have in admiration and veneration resolving never to trouble themselves with a free and impartial use of their own Iudgment concerning those Doctrines which they have in their own Opinion wisely and safely as they imagine taken upon trust led away by lofty conceits and opinion of their own Reason and Capacity will not suffer them to attempt any sincere ingenuous Examination of such things as imply a possibility of being deceived in points of Faith whence it comes to pass that they weigh only what is offered in favour of their own side and make it the great end of their search not to follow what shall appear to be true upon enquiry but rather to be confirmed in their present erroneous Persuasion it 's no wonder then that such as do enquire thus are rather hardned in Errour than convinced of the
Truth I say then that it is at once disingenuous dangerous and silly to entertain such blind thoughts I pray God these motives may have a strong influence upon you by the assistance of God's Grace which is never wanting to those that are not wanting to themselves and imprint in your Soul the Character of Truth that you may conquer all oppositions of Vnderstanding or Will which may bar your ready Obedience thereunto First divest your mind of all prepossess'd Opinions and worldly respects in favour of any Sect or in dislike of the true ancient Church so as truly having deposed all obstinate prepossessions of your Iudgment you 'll be easily persuaded that the Roman Church is the true Church wherein only is Salvation to be had Pursue this Quest my Lord suffer not your self to be mis-led by the seducing of flattering blind Guides or Obstinacy Adjourn not this Quest Say not as Felix said to St. Paul Acts 24.25 When I have a convenient season I will call for thee The World expects your happy Return to the Glorious Liberty of the Sons of God. Alexander the Great my Lord being asked if he would run at the Olympick Games said I could be content so I might run with Kings Begin then to exercise a Virtuous Ambition in running after Kings at the Olympick Game for an Eternity of never-ending Glory in the Roman Communion in so doing you may know that you run with two and twenty brave Kings of England that were Saints you run with King Charles II. whose dear Favourite you have been who by the quick-sighted piercing eye of his natural Iudgment said in his Speech That Christ can have but one Church and that the same is the Roman Catholick Church and that Christ left his Power to it even to forgive sins He desired to know How came that Church to lose that Power and by what Authority men separated themselves from it His Majesty answers saying That it was that particular men raised Schism for their own advantage Here my Lord you see the King leaves the heavy guilt of SCHISM at the door of the Protestant Sect. You run with our most Sacred Leige and Sovereign King JAMES II. whom God preserve for many many happy years whose Motto is Let Life and Three Kingdoms lie at stake Before I damn my Soul or true Faith forsake Run with King James I. of ever Renowned Memory who did acknowledge in open Parliament That the Roman Catholick Church is the only Mother-Church of all Churches See Stow pag. 840. Run finally my Lord with all the present Kings in Christendom excep those of Swedeland and Denmark who reign in that Cold Cloudy and Sin-darkned Northern Corner of the World where Heresie is entertained by a company of dull stupid people that will not penetrate Run I pray with the best part of Mankind in all Ages with the wisest Heads of the World for unfeigned Holiness and Learning Run along with these irradiant Pole-Stars and you cannot go astray and it 's an undoubted truth that the Life Example and Heroick Actions of a Prince have usually a greater sway upon the minds of his Subjects than his Laws for the Example of a King is a living Law which secretly over-rules mens minds and bends them to a compliance with it None can deny this but those who have their Iudgments swallowed up by prejudice and whose blind passions have over-run their reason Listen therefore to the Voice of Heaven Apoca. 18.24 Go out of her my people that ye be not partakers of her sins and that ye receive not of her plagues Schism my Lord and damn'd Heresie to which you pertinaciously adhere are most grievous Plagues from it redeem your precious Soul from forfeiture that has been this long time mortgaged to Death for Sectae non possi debunt Regnum Dei and non est prudentia nec concilium contra Dominum and Sapientis est mutare concilium Make it my Lord your daily Prayer to God to settle you in the right This said my very good Lord begin to put on in the Name of Ever-glorious Iesus a Noble Resolution to shake off those Chains and Bonds of that Monstrous Tyrant Schism which detains you in slavery let the scales of blind misguided Zeal fall from your eyes that you may see to find out a most secure Vnerring Guide in your Iourney towards a happy Eternity I beseech the Father of Lights and Mercy to illuminate your Vnderstanding with Beams of his Saving Grace that you may learn embrace and practise the Faith of Christ which shall be the daily Prayer of me who intreats your Grace to bestow one Grace which is to permit me to bear all my Life-time the Title of your humble Chaplain being always Your most obsequious and faithful Servant I. E. He may be won that longest does resist To pray for your Return I 'll ne'r desist I 'll ne'r despair of any whil'st I see A fruitless Tree may next year fruitful be A WINDING-SHEET FOR THE Schism of England CHAP. I. THe ALMIGHTY as a most Divine Architect rais'd the Fabrick of his Church in this World as a medium to Salvation a Man for not hearing this Church is term'd in St. Matth. 18.18 a Publican or Heathen Protestants segregating themselves and not hearing this Church are in a most lamentable state Sure a natural unity and connection of the Parts among themselves and to the Head is necessary for the conservation of the natural Body Christ promised that there should be Unity in his Church St. Iohn 10.16 They shall be made one Fold and one Pastor This Unity is most requisite in God's Church St. Iohn 17.11 Christ prayed that his Disciples should be one And again 1. Cor. 1.10 I beseech you that you all speak one and the same thing and that there be no Schism among you but that you be perfect in one judgment Protestants denies and flyes from this Unity being divided and subdivided Christ praying Sure his Prayer took effect his People his Flock and Congregation being still one in the bonds of Peace The pretended Reformation have no Unity differing in most essential Points for Salvation therefore no true Church the Roman Catholick Church and no other stands firm and infallible against all the tempests of Apostacy Heresie and Schism and this by her Unity and Uniformity Sure by confession of Protestants the Roman Church was once the true Church according to St. Paul Rom. 1.8 First I thank my Lord through Iesus Christ that your Faith is spoken of throughout the whole World. And again v. 7. To all that be in Rome beloved of God call'd to the Saints Grace to you and Peace Now I say having it once how could they but retain the same Faith still infallibly For no general Council even ever yet condemned her of Error none of the holy Fathers ever wrote against her and by no authority was she to this day reproved of Schism for she left no Church or Company
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
de Eucharistia And was adored with outward Gestures as the true Body of Christ in Concil Ephes. in Epist. and Nestor in Concil Nicaen c. 14. To give prime Honour and supreme to St. Peter Bishop of the first See as Universal Pastor and Vicegerent of Christ Concil Nicaen c. 15. Concil Chalced. Act. 4. 16. constit c. 5. To pray to Saints that they may intercede for us in Concil Chalced. Act. 11. Prayers for the Dead offered publickly and privately in St. Augustin's time August de cura pro mortuis In those days the Church held the Fast of Forty days of Lent as Apostolical Tradition St. Hier. ad Marcel Ep. 54. Fridays likewise Confession and priestly Absolution St. August Homil. 49. saith The Keys given to the Church is to some purpose sure We must not frustrate the words of Christ. So St. Basil Tertullian St. Clement c. And thus of all other Points in Controversy we may find Reason Authority Practice and uninterrupted Custom in all Ages as Napier in his Treatise on the Revelations pag. 145. confesseth saying After 300 years the Emperour Constantine subdued all Christian Churches to Pope Silvester from which time till these our days the Pope and his Clergy hath possess'd the outward and visible Church Protestants employment being not at all to convert Heathens but to pervert those already converted Tertul. praescr c. 42. And we may find in the Writings of Roman Catholick Authors Orthodox Fathers that the Doctrine now held by Protestants were condemned as Heretical in those Persons that then held them For Example The Protestant hold that the Church may err so did the Donatists who were condemned by St. Augustin Potestants deny unwritten Tradition and urge Scripture only so did the Arrians and were condemned by St. Augustin and Epiphanius Protestants teach that Priests may marry so did Vigilantius and condemned by St. Hierom contr Vigilant c. 1. Protestants deny Prayers for the Dead so did Arrius condemned by St. August haer 53. and St. Epiphan haer 75. Protestants deny invocation of Saints so did Vigilantius for which he was condemned by St. Hierom contra Vigilant c. 3. Protestants deny the Real Presence so did the Capernaits and Berengarius who reclaimed and did Penance Protestants deny confession of Sins to a Priest so the Novatian Hereticks did reproved and condemned by St. Ambros. lib. de penitent c. 7. So did the Montanists condemned by St. Hierom Epist. ad Marcel 54. I leave off an addition of many other Points which makes really the new-moulded Protestant Sect appear but a meer frippery or hodge-podge of old condemned Heresies Hence you may understand that the Doctrine of the Roman Church is this day as it was 1600 years ago still one Holy Catholick Apostolick and Unchang'd grounded on such a solid unshaken Foundation that it is never to be brought down by the Gates of Hell i. e. Heresie Schism Apostacy Wranglings foolish Fopperies Lyings Railings c. Now Sir if you are sufficiently toss'd and wearied out with variety of Disputes and desire to put an end to them now follow the guide and direction of the Roman Catholick Church in Faith Religion Sacraments Sacrifice and Doctrine all which are derived from Christ himself to his blessed Apostles from the Apostles down to us and is to continue in the same heavenly Channel of Succession unto the end of the World Which Roman Catholick Church hath obtain'd supreme Authority from the Apostolick See by a wonderous succession of Bishops by the judgment of the People by the gravity and authority of Councils and lastly by the Majesty of Miracles And not to submit to this Divine Authority sure is the height of Impiety and precipitant Arrogancy and not to Dotages of particular idle Intruders Now as Rebellion is the bane of Civil Government in Kingdoms and Peace and Concord the preservation of the same so is Schism Division and diversity of Faith the ruin and calamity of the Church and Unity Peace and Uniformity the special Blessing of God therein and in the Church above all Commonwealths because it is in all points a Monarchy tending every way to Unity there being but one God one Christ one Church one Faith one Hope one Head one Body one Baptism Christ's Church is a Society of those that God hath called to Salvation by the profession of the true Faith Religion dread Sacrifice the sincere Administration of Sacraments and the adherence to a lawful Pastor as Head which Description is so fitted and proportioned to the Church that it resembles the Nest of the Halcyon which according to Plutarch is of such a just and exact size for the measure of her Body that it can serve no other Bird either greater or lesser Since Christianity is a Doctrine of Faith a Doctrine whereof all Men are capable of and since the high virtue of Faith is in the humility of our Understanding and the merit thereof in the ready obedience to embrace it what madness it is for any Man to tire out his Soul to wast away his Spirits in tracing out all the thorny Paths of the main Controversies of these our backsliding days wherein to err is easie and dangerous what through the malice of Authors abusing him what through Sophistry beguiling him what through blind Passion and Prejudice transporting him and not rather betake himself to the right way of Truth whereunto Christ Reason Nature and Experience do all give witness and that is to associate himself to that Church established by Christ whereunto the custody of a heavenly and supernatural Truth hath been from Heaven it self committed to weigh and find out discreetly which is the true Church to receive it chearfully and discreetly without doubt or discussion whatsoever it delivers without any farther inquisition she having the warrant that he that hears her hears Christ and whosoever hears her not hath no better place with God than a Publican and Pagan And what folly is it now to receive Scriptures upon the credit of her Authority and not to receive the interpretation of them upon her Authority and Credit also Sure if God should not always protect his Church from Error and yet peremptorily commanding Men upon pain of Damnation to obey her always then had he made very slender provision for the Salvation of Mankind which conceit concerning God would render us very ungratefully impious These Considerations or Motives may very easily perswade Persons of Reason and Piety to embrace and maintain that which they know to be the Religion of their Fore-fathers before her Adversaries had a Name her Doctrine having had a very long continuance which cannot easily be supposed in the present possessors to be a Design since they have received it down from so many Ages and it is not likely that all Ages should have the same purposes or that the same Doctrine should serve the several different ends of divers Ages relying upon the Grounds to wit that Truth is more ancient than Falshood
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
Sacraments Where that Children who cannot yet believe or answer for themselves are to be Baptized c. And so many other things of this nature which makes us sufficiently understand they ruine themselves by their own Hands and Weapon the Bible which they force and wrest to fit it to their depraved purposes Alas poor deluded Pretenders To whom do you trust your Souls for Salvation your Honours and Lives having blindly rejected the old Belief and Truths of your Fore-fathers upon a bare pretext of Scripture cast and moulded on the heads of changeable Men Let us therefore follow and embrace the Generality the Antiquity and common Consent let 's hold what is held every where and always and by all so it be authorised by the Divine Law and the Catholick Church's Tradition Let us now see what the Ministers of Protestantism oppose against so many infallible Proofs to cover their want of Antiquity Mission Succession Miracles Sanctity Judgment and Reason They cease not to buzz out every where a false pretext of Scripture 〈…〉 ich verily is the greatest illusion that can be imaginable for these pitiful ones seeing themselves batter'd on every side from the beginning of Reformation know well in their consciences that the Scripture is against them yet say they to mock at the faith of Mankind and lead Souls to Atheism We must avoid the decision of a Power lively and lawful we must only take colour from the holy Text we will make it say what we list we will maintain nothing is to be believed but what is written we will disguise it with glosses and consequences to catch these who seem to have reason and wit. Behold the only means to colour their pretences Who are endued with sufficient and solid Judgment cannot but consider and discover how deceitful weak and ruinous their Foundation is Now behold the powerful and invincible Reasons which made St. Austin resolve upon the Religion we profess Many great Reasons said he with much reason keep me in the obedience of the Catholick Church the consent of People and Nation 〈…〉 hold me the Authority of the same 〈…〉 which is risen up by Miracles m 〈…〉 ed with Hope augmented by Charity established by its Antiquity the succession of Bishops holds me therein which begins in the Seat and Authority of St. Peter to whom God recommended the Care of his Flock is maintained to this day Lastly the name Catholick holds me to it adding Contra Epist. Manichaei He would not believe the Gospel it self if he were not convinced by the Authority of the Church What can be more clear Yet tho' the Scripture doth so straitly recommend unto us in the practise of Humility the seat of Grace not to make our selves over-wise or able Rom. 12. Not to rest upon our own proper Judgment or Prudence Prov. 35. To hearken to our Fore-fathers to obey Pastors who have lawful Succession to work out our Salvation in fear and trembling What may a Man think of a Protestant Sect which authorizeth a peculiar Spirit which hath ever been the Seminary of all Schisms and Disorders in Church and State which without distinction puts the Scripture into all hands to judge of Points of Faith Verily from hence it is an admirable thing to behold how the petty Spirits of silly Artificers Mechanicks and even simple Women busie themselves with their Bible and to what degree of Pride they come when abused by some imaginary Text of Scripture they are puffed up with their own poor Ability flattering themselves deluded Souls by some Text not rightly understood with assurance of Salvation and Predestination in the greatest Exorbitancies and neglects of Life What Pride more irregular than this to see Men not content with the Religion practised in England's three Conversions doing all they can to deifie their own Opinions What Pharisee ever came near this height of Pride Yet the Bible they daily read and use Verily I plainly see they must hereafter live in Re-union it is the Spirit of God that commands it and will effect it in due time Whereas now a days Shism and Faction has evidently prevailed over Unity Pride over humble Submission to reveal'd Truth and ill stubborn Nature over real Truth CHAP. V. Plain Testamonies of holy Scripture both Old and New for the Church's Infallibility WE read that the Jewish Synagogue had a Supream Court of Judicature to end all arising difficult controversies from whence there was no Appeal because God promised that the Judge there should shew them the Sentence and threatned Death to those who should do presumptiously and not harken to the Priest or Judge Deut. 17.8 nay Christ himself commanded the people even in his time to do as they said who sate in Moses Chair but not to do as they did Matth. 23.3 So that till the spirit of God forsook the Synagogue it was to be obeyed and by consequence was secured from giving a false Sentence in necessaries to Salvation And can we imagine that God would leave his Spouse his Church without this so great a priviledge to whom a Covenant with better promises hath been given Heb. 8. The Prophesies that speak of the Churches the New Law tells us that there shall be in those daies a way of Holiness that the way-faring Men tho' Fools shall not Err therein Isa. 35.8 Furthermore the Prophesies tells that God had made a Covenant with his Church that his Spirit shall be upon her and his words which he had put into her mouth shall not depart out of her mouth nor out of the mouth of her Seed nor out of the mouth of her Seed's Seed for ever saith the Lord Isa. 59.20.21 Therefore no Errors Read besides the 60. Chapter of Isa. Say that all Nations that will not serve Her shall perish she will Suck the Breasts of Kings that her Sun shall not go down nor her Moon withdraw it self but the Lord shall be to her an everlasting light sure this is to secure her from teaching false Doctrine or falling into Idolatry the most abhorred of all Vices From the New-Testament Christ promises that he will Build his Church upon a Rock and that the Gates of Hell which the Fathers interpret Error and Heresie shall not prevail against it Matth. 16.18 That he will be with her Pastors and Preachers even to the end of the World Amen Matth. 28.20 That he will send them another Comforter the spirit of Truth to abide with them for ever Iohn 14.16 To teach them all things and to bring all that he has taught them to their remembrance ver 26. And that he shall guide them in all truth chap. 16. v. 15. Moreover he has laid an Injunction upon all persons to hear his Church under the severe Sentence of being look'd upon as Heathens and Publicans Matth. 18.17 Christ told his Disciples and their Successors that who heard them heard him Luke 10.16 he commanded to teach all Nations and told them that they who believed should be
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
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
put on black and warning take FINIS TO THE Most Puissant and most Renown'd JAMES the SECOND KING Of England Scotland France and Ireland Defender of the Faith Long and Prosperous Reign is Wished and Prayed for OUR bright Orient Star King IAMES long may shine With True Faith's Rays most Powerful and Divine Whom the Lustre of Glorious Greatness Crown'd May God his Foes Convert or them Confound Whom all Admire whom all almost Adore Who to his Subjects doth now all good restore Who for Valour Wisdom Piety and Stature Is a wond'rous Master-piece of Nature His Deliverances from Plots a Miracle His rare Judgements Royal word an Oracle He out-brav'd all Perils his Prowess met A calm Spirit amidst main Storms he kept In Heaven's Annals his Royal Acts are Enroll'd His Heroick Feats are still in Flanders told In Spain and France his pure conduct is Renown'd And now through the World doth his Vertue sound Ne'r since the Grecians call'd this World their own Or Romans theirs was greater Valour known Than his if yet new Worlds to Conquer Were Sure Brave IAMES were the fitter Conquerer His Valour and Conduct surpassing far Great Champions that were Thunderbolts of VVar Bravest example of most Heroick worth That ever yet this later Age brought forth VVhat Tongue or Pen is able to express His matchless Gifts Graces and high minds Hapiness Therefore Can Royal IAMES fear the VVhigs those Scare-Crows then Those Bugbear VVretches the meer shades of Men NO NO for He wants no Arms to fit him for the Field His Prayers are his Sword True old Faith his Shield He in sweet Jesus by true Faith confides Mark Christ all safety still for him provides VVhigs when they list may for VVar and Storms call They with loud Thunder shall in fury fall In vain they Plot Contrive Conspire Combine They 'll fail by God of their most damn'd design For if by Sedition they his Power contemn For him Christ will dire Vengeance fling on them For God's Transcendent Providence still bear sway Which Plots against Kings doth with sorrow pay Lo VVhen the Rare Arabian Bird doth burn Her Beauties are not lost but doth return For when her Body 's laid on sweet Flames to Death Out of her Cindars a new Bird takes Breath From blest Queen Mary's Ashes and Royal Blood Y'our Sovereign Leige a Lovely Flower did bud For your Deiform Zeal for True Old Faith doth show That her Blood in your Sacred Veins do flow Lo God printed in your Pure Serene Face Mild Majesty Royal Terrour dreadful Grace Live long unpeer'd great Prince I Prayers amain Will daily offer for your most Happy Reign And humbly beg of God's Eternal bounty That Peace Union One Religion Plenty Of all Blessings from his most Potent Hand Be pour'd down upon this thy British Land And on Christ's in thy Kingdoms Faithful Flock Built on St. Peters Rome and St. Peters Rock Reign long great Phaenix now 'mongst Earthly Kings Still prosper Great IAMES for VVits pure managings Now you appear with mild and sweet fervour 'Gainst forlorn Sects Lies Schism and all Errour Y'own St. Ambrose Hierom and St. Austin Before Mad Luther Beza and blind Calvin Your Majesty hates the new Sin-sick Tricks Of deluded deluding Schismaticks Who to new fangled Faiths are so affected That by them Christs Faith is quite rejected Whose curs'd Spawn adventur'd t' expose to Sale The best of Kings their Faith their Souls and all Who to Rent his Church daily do devise And God's pure Spouse still Harlot like despise Lying Pamphlets Pulpits their black Art do try To stop True Faith's most Triumphant Victory In vain they Plot Contrive Conspire Combine They 'll fail by Gods power of their damn'd Design Therefore Let blind VVhigs stoop to serve at Royal IAMES's Feet Where Valour VVisdom Mercy and Justice meet Sure non can frown at King IAMES his gentleness But those that have an apparent Guiltiness Or such as at length to foul Death must run As Monmouth aiming at the Crown have done God bless our KING defend him from his Foes Ill Fate befall those that will him oppose VVe bless his Birth-Day and the Ground he tread FOR His Zeal for True Faith through all VVorld is spread Christ bless King IAMES Queen MARY and then Let all True Real Loyal Subjects say Amen On their Seat their Seed may ever Flourish VVhich may in One Truth Three Kingdoms Nourish God grant that never any other Hand Then Royal Stuarts sway the Scepter of this Land. May it please Your Most Sacred Majesty this is the daily Humble Prayer of J. E. one of Your Majesties most devoted Subjects Who For shew of his True Real Loyal Affection Plain Lines and Life offers to Your High Protection Perge age prosper abi Rex Vince JACOBE Secunde Hostes Armipotens Religione Fide. A Divine Poem Disswasive from Shism IN this vast World none full content can find For tho one may be rich indeed yet his mind Is empty still for still he covets more And is amidst his main heaps of riches poor Lo the Spherick figure cannot suffice Equally to fill what is triangle wise Lay one upon another and you 'll see Always some corner will unfurnish'd be When the Almighty made man's Soul the same Triangular by high Providence did frame To represent his matchless self and be The image of one God in persons three Ordaining man to love fear obey and serve God alone who always doth reward reserve For here beneath sure nothing can be found In this low Orb that 's Spherical and round Can satisfie Man's Soul nor can man rest In Creatures who is ord'red to be blest By Gods sweet fruition who to him gave The sublime being and essence which he have Good Sir Slight not eternal goods and with much pain For blind Schism ev'rlasting torments gain Renounce thy right t'Heaven and purchas Hell Chosing in dungeon fire and chains to dwell Don't forsake Christ ways safe true and immense Pursuing lying false doctrine to please thy Sence Which will debase thy nature and the fruit Will be to leave thee level with the bruit What will enoble you and truly raise Are Visions of those beams which God displays From his reconciled sweet face shall make Your Soul of his bles'd nature to partake Nought Sir can here be offer'd to thy eye That can the glory of Heaven outvie Nought here beneath of comfort doth so thrive As when God pure hearts doth with grace revive Gods light must guide thee how grace must be us'd Mercies proves judgment when they are abus'd Schism breeds blindness and beats reason back Forgets shames blush and doth honour wrack By faith we know immortal Souls to be And that for Souls there 's an Eternity Become what will of all the rest you have Pray Sir mind still thou hast a Soul to save A Soul your only Soul which when you die Is either sav'd or damn'd eternally This only thought will dark Schism controul Saying avant
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