best of Governments left by Christ in his Church wherein every sound man should have Power to cancel the Decisions of the highest Courts and a full liberty of disobeying and opposing the Sentence of the Supream Judges in Law unless it should agree with his own private sense of the same Law. For if in matters of Faith the object whereof is remote from our senses and Essentially obscure to us in this Life every sound Sheep is left Judge over his Pastor and the whole Church what more reasonable than in a Question of meum tuum which we feel with our hands and see with our eyes and which is the ground of all Law and Government every sound man should be his own Judge and Arraign Judge and Condemn his Ruler Governour Prince King or Emperour if in his private Opinion he Judges they proceed not according to Law as he understands it This sequel is so natural and inevitable in our Protestant Principles that it has effectually in all Countreys where-ever Protestancy has spread it self Armed the Subjects against their Temporal Lords as it first had done against the Spiritual and nothing was so ordinary as to see them March to the Field with a Bible under their arms and a Text of Sripture in their Banner to fight the Battle of the Lord against the Princes of the Earth and hence perhaps it was that wise Prince King Iames the First presaging as it were the Fate of his Royal Son said of the Members of Parliament then sitting That they were an Assembly of 300 Kings That all the late Wars of Germany against the Emperour and Lawful Soveraigns happen'd upon their change of Religion is witness beside many others Dretserus A Protestant writer in part 2. Nullenarii 6. pag. 661. Of Basil Geneva Zuitzerland Sweedland Holland see Crispin Chitreus Flor. Rai c. 4 Paradox A true Protestant must grant that our Saviour was much over-seen in the method he took of Converting the World by Teachers and Preachers and laying a reiterated Command upon all men of believing them since really no man is bound to pin his Faith upon anothers sleeve Now the Efficacious way would have been to Command his Life and Actions to be writ in all Languages and compil'd with the Old Testament to be sent into every part of the World for all things necessary to Salvation being clear and evident in Holy Scripture and no body being oblig'd to believe more than the comprehends and as it were sees to be true out of the said Holy Scripture all by this means would or at least might have presently discover'd the nullity of their own false Religions and consequently imbrace common Christianity that is believe so much of Christ and his Doctrine as each one should draw under the Scheme of his own Reason nothing else being necessary to Salvation in our Protestant Principles 5 Paradox Should a Gentleman make the delivery of his Estate saying Sir I deliver unto you a full and free Possession of this Inheritance to dispose of at Discretion in quality of true Owner and Lord but if you touch it against my will or dispose of it in whole or in part otherwise than I shall judge expedient expect to be treated with all the Violence Severity can invent Would not this be a most impertinent and self-destroying Settlement questionless it would Yet this is the procedure of the Church of England Here take says she to all sound Members of the whole Christian Church this Holy Bible Read and Interpret it freely you can't but find out the Truth therein contain'd nor are you oblig'd to submit to any Authority under Heaven against your own Dictamen But if you presume to judge of matters therein contain'd contrary to my Sentiment thereof though you are as able and as free to judge as my self know that no Severity of the Law shall be spar'd in Chastizing you Is not this an admirable Liberty An unparallel'd Charity Millions who never were in themselves or their Ancestors Members of her Communion must be oblig'd against Conscience to come over to her and no body must presume to question her Authority because ipsa dicit and she shall inveigh against Roman Catholicks most violently for requiring that she return to the Union of the Church whose Member she had own'd her self for upwards of a thousand years Is not this a Paradox of Paradox's I must believe she had just reason to separate from the Church of Rome though if I read Scripture till Dooms-day I can find no ground for it I must blindfoldly believe no Subject in the Kingdom has just reason to remain out of her Communion That is I must believe no body but an English Protestant can be a sound Member of the Christian Church or a fit Judge in Controversy And that the Scripture has not for these thousand years been clear to any at all and at present is only so to an English Protestant Which if granted as granted it must be it evidently follows that our English Protestant is the most Uncharitable and Unconscionable Christian in the World. 6. Paradox The true Protestant believes that a Roman Catholick Prays to a Crucifix as well as to Christ himself and attributes as See Advice to the Pulpits the Repres Misrepres much satisfaction to it as to the Blood of his Redeemer That the Roman Catholick Saints were Canonized for Treasons detestable Villanies as a reward of strife and every evil Work That to be false and deceitful is meritorious and worthy of Eternal Life That with Money one may compound with Heaven for unforsaken sins and be absolved without being at all sorry for them That Indulgences serve instead of sanctification and good life Confession to carry on the Plots and projects of the Priests with a hundred such detestable Abominations True Protestant Ministers have laid out the Catholick Tenets under these foul colours for above these hundred years while the whole Body of Roman Catholicks and every Member of them disown condemn and execrate every point thereof in particular Now is it not a mysterious Paradox that a Minister of the Church of England should better understand our Catholick Tenets than the Council of Trent and the whole Body of the Catholick Clergy I do most solemnly protest See the Catechism of the Coun. of Trent in the presence of Almighty God that were these Doctrines and the like taught in the Roman Catholick Church as Protestants say they are I would not remain one hour in her Communion yet the Vulgar must believe it so and why Because it is for the Interest of the Protestant Clergy that the People should live in Apprehension and Horrour of Popery whether by false or true Reports it was always alike to the Protestant Teachers 7 Paradox Although it be evident that King Henry the Eighth never thought of laying the first stone of the Reformation pretended till he was refused by his Holiness the liberty of putting away his
A Full and Clear EXPOSITION OF THE PROTESTANT Rule of Faith With An Excellent DIALOGUE Laying forth the large Extent of True Protestant Charity against the Uncharitable Papists I Having made it a prime part of my Study these several years to seek into the Principles of Religion and upon account that I judged the saving of my Soul the greatest concern I had to deal in this World I was resolved maugre all the Principles of Education Interest or Passion there to fix where I truly was convinced between God and my own Soul that the surest footing was and securest way to Salvation Which to my unspeakable comfort being satisfy'd that I have found I can't conceal the desire I have of directing others to endeavour the same that they may partake of the like happiness which I my self enjoy To accomplish this the more compendiously I conceive nothing more efficacious than to search as I have done into the different grounds of each Church The Roman Catholicks tho' they allow any sober Person may read with leave the Holy Scriptures yet they permit none to interpret the same in points of Faith unless they take along with them the Judgment of the whole Church either diffusive or assembled by her Representatives in a General Council Lawfully call'd under their chief head his Holiness of Rome and to such Definitions alone do they believe themselves bound to subscribe Now our Protestant Churches deal more liberally and allow every sound Member a power of reading Holy Scripture and judging of Controversies in Faith according to the measure of light imparted so that no body is Bound to submit either to Fathers or Councils unless he judge they speak conformably to his private sense of Scripture Now having lately touched upon this point in my Answer to Dr. Tennison's Remarks and having fram'd an argument of no small force to invalidate the Protestant Rule of Faith as by him delivered to which the Dr. in his fifteen Sheets has not returned one Syllable I thought it might prove very beneficial to the Publick if that point were throughly handled the whole weight of all Controversy turning upon this Hinge viz. whether there be any Power upon Earth to which all Men are bound to submit in matters of Faith as the Catholicks teach or whether every sound Man be left free to judge for himself as the Protestants assert Methinks I see the Protestant Reader in a Zealous fret for having bought the Paper of an Author against whom he has conceived a notable prejudice borrowed from the Writings of Dr. Tennison which he has been pleased to inter-line with many very Injurious and Scandalous reflections upon Me and My Religion nothing provoked thereto as appears from the modest account I gave of the Conference nor do my Remarks contain any more than a Vindication void of Passion to which Truth and Justice did oblige me And although the Dr. continue in his fifteen Sheets called Pulton Considered his Reviling Defaming and Bantering Stile yet ever willing to yield to the Dr. in this the Answer I will shorly publish thereto as it shall be very short so it shall contain nothing that may disedify the Reader The Dr. having assign'd the Holy Scriptures as understood by every sound Iudgment for the Rule of Faith and consequently having given to every such Person authority to Judge of Controversies in Faith at least as far as concerns his own salvation I fram'd the following Discourse the Dr. has not been pleased to return an Answer tho' it was the chief Querie put to him We must allow if to any a soundness of Judgement to Luther Calvin Carolostadius Zwinglius Beza Castalio c. who were the principal Heads of the Reformed Churches and consequently receiv'd more of the Divine Influence us'd more industry in acquiring Authentick Copies comparing of Texts Imploring the Divine Assistance than any of their Followers To begin therefore with Luther Zwinglius says of him That he was a foul Corrupter and horrible Falsifier of God's Word One who followed the Marcionists and Arians that raz'd out such places of Holy Writ as were against him Thou dost says he to Luther corrupt the word of God Thou art seen to be a manifest and common Corrupter and Perverter of the Holy Scriptures How much are we asham'd of thee who have hitherto esteem'd thee With how great reason Zwinglius objected this to him those are Judges who have noted above a thousand places chang'd by him in the New Testament alone Vide Bell. Ser. de Pentec and that he set forth the Gospels seven times every Edition very much differing from the precedent Now I desire to know whether and when Martin Luther had the assistance of the H. Ghost Luther on the other side affirms of the Zwinglian Translators That they are Fools Asses Anti-christs Deceivers and of an Ass-like understanding Beza says of the Basilian Translation That it is in many places Wicked and altogether differing from the mind of the Holy Ghost Of Beza's Translation Castalio observes That to note all his Errours would require a great Volume Beza again pronounces of Gastalio's Edition that It is False Foolish Unskillful Bold Blasphemous Vitious Ridiculous Cursed Erronious Wicked Perverse In the first English Bible set forth in the Reign of Henry VIII by Tindal the chief Apostle of the pretended Reformation Bishop Tunstal has noted no less than two thousand Corruptions in the Translation of the New Testament alone Give me leave here to argue as follows I have a Soul to save which is the Concern of Concerns and which being once lost is irrecoverably lost and for all Eternity never to be redeem'd from an Abyss of inexplicable Wo. For the saving of this most precious Soul I ask of our pretended Reformers What I am to do Take this Scripture say the Zwinglians and here you shall find the word of Life Hearken not to them says Luther they are Fools Anti-christs Deceivers I turn to Luther Take heed says Zwinglius He is a Marcionist an Arian a manifest and common Corruper and Perverter of the Holy Scriptures I leave them both and go to Beza He offers me a Volume which he calls the Word of GOD when Castalio crying out bids me beware and tells me 't is a Volume of Errours Beza defends himself by defaming Castalio as False Bold Blasphemous Cursed Erronious Allarm'd at the clashing of this Cadmean Race of Reformers I leave Germany and come into England a Wise and Polite Nation which having consider'd at a distance these mutual Dissentions of our Heavenly gifted Gospellers takes doubtless better measures Tindal her prime Apostle offers me the Book of Life when Tunstal warns me of two thousand Corruptions in the lesser half of it I hang in suspence The Parliament declares it to be a Crafty False and Relig. Gover. p. 306. 318. untrue Translation Yet Cranmer is allowed to present me it again little chang'd besides the Marginal Notes and Preface
down to me a false sense of Holy Scripture yet I must by no means question but that now at last an English Parliament has hit upon the right You may as rationally oblige a Man his eyes being wide open not to see at mid-day but I must believe or away to Prison and undergo the severe Penalties of the Law This goes hard I would fain Conform if it stood with my Conscience Let us therefore try for once whether I can't in Prudence and Christian Sincerity secure my Soul by a Conformity to so advantagious a Judgment I find therefore in Henry VIII's time an English Parliament crying down the Pope and placing his Majesty of England in his room and yet I see the same Men persecute as Hereticks those who in other Points joyn'd with the Transmarin Innovators In Edward VI's days I find the same Men declare that Doctrine to be most damnable Heresy which themselves had all along during the Reign of Henry VIII profess'd as Catholick Queen Mary being seated on the Throne I find them Recanting and Condemning themselves and censuring all the Points of Protestancy as Wicked and Heretical and within six years after I see them again pass the same Censure on the Roman Catholick Doctrine to which they had so lately and solemnly been reconcil'd Now give me leave Christian Reader to ask you can I with a safe Conscience leave a Church whose General Councils Lawfully Assembled and approv'd by which I govern my self have not in 1600 years produc'd as I can find any one contradiction in matters of Faith to depend upon Parliamentary Creeds four times wholly inverted in sixteen years Can I in Prudence and Conscience renounce the former to embrace the latter Give me but one pregnant Reason for this and I engage to become your Proselite If you tell me one Parliament was guided by Passion another by Interest but that 't was Queen Elizabeths Parliament which consisted of Men according to the Spirit of GOD Is not this again a manifest begging of the Question Where does the Bible for at present as a good Protestant I admit of no other Rule where I say does the Bible tell me that the Parliament of Queen Elizabeth should be guided by the Holy Spirit and not that of King Henry VIII c. If you shall return to your old Evasion that you are sure on 't because you find that Parliament agree with your own Judgment those who liv'd in King Henry's days will on the same ground of pure Scripture tell me quite another story How then can I be satisfied which of your Judgments is true You will answer me I must judge for my self What therefore if according to my sense of Holy Scripture I judge in my Conscience as in the presence of Almighty GOD I truly do that King Henry VIII's Parliament was Schismatical Queen Elizabeth's Heretical and this as indeed it falls out after a serious long calm dis-interess'd Examen am I still a True Protestant You must grant me to be one because I follow the Protestant Rule which is as you say Holy Scripture as every one after the use of due means does in his own proper judgment understand it What can be more ridiculous than this I am a True Protestant at least in my Principles tho' by those very Principles I judge the Protestant Church to be Schismatical and Heretical The Great Extent of Protestant Charity Or a Dialogue between Eudoxius and Philautus concerning the Protestant Rule of Faith shewing it to be an in-let not only to all Heresy but even to Turcism Judaism and Atheism it self Eudoxius I Shall not Sir I hope offend you by proposing you a few Doubts concerning your Protestant Rule of Faith which is holy Scripture as understood by every sound judgment Philautus So far from it Sir that on the contrary you will very much oblige me Eu. Reading lately Sir the Works publish'd by the first Lights of your pretended Reformation who all give us the same Rule of Faith I discover'd in them a wonderful Spirit of Contradiction and found that they not only differ'd the one from the other in matters of Faith but that the same Men dissented from themselves now teaching one Doctrine then another Phil. When you shall have prov'd your Assertion I will return you a satisfactory Answer Eu. Luther in his Book De Potestate Papae teaches that there are seven Sacraments De Captivitate Babylonica that there are only three ad Waldenses only two and again de Captivitate Babylonica that according to Holy Scripture there is but one In his Sermon of the Eucharist he tells us that in the Sacrament of the Altar there is neither Bread nor Wine but only the Species or appearance of them yet in his Book against the King of England he asserts That he is wicked and a Blasphemer who says The Bread is changed into the substance of CHRIST's Body Concerning the Popes Power he affirms in his Book de Potestate Papae That if it were not Jure Divino and from GOD it could never have subsisted so long and yet in his Treatise de Captivitate Babylonica he often repeats That he is certain the Power of the Pope is the Kingdom of Babylon In Disputatione Lipsiensi he says I do not only believe but certainly know that there is a Purgatory and yet de Abrogandâ Missâ he tells us 'T is more secure to deny Purgatory I have Sir to the number of threescore such Contradictions out of this one Author the first and greatest Light of the Reformation and near as many out of Calvin Beza c. Now I desire to know how I may be assur'd which part of the Contradiction is conformable to Divine Revelation which otherwise Phil. Of contradictory Doctrines you may safely hold that to be true which after a serious and due examin appears to you agreeable to holy Scripture Eu. But what if another be convinc'd of the opposite Phil. He is bound to believe as he comprehends it however different his belief may be from yours Eu. And shall each of us be assured he has Divine Faith relating to such a Mystery tho' we evidently contradict one another Phil. I do not say you shall each of you have Divine Faith concerning that particular point in which you differ but that each of you may safely hold that side of the Contradiction which he verily believes to be true provided you both proceed with sincerity and are neither of you blinded with Passion For the Article may perhaps be of such a Nature that there will be no necessity for either of you to believe it with Divine Faith. Eu. What then say you of a Quaker who grounding himself on his own sense of Holy Scripture believes Baptism as impertinent and superstitious as you do the use of Holy Water Phil. I say the Quaker so believing proceeds not with Sincerity and without Passion Eu. How will you make it appear that you are the only Men