wholly reject it or set up a Judge of Controversies and in my Opinion the Infidel seems to have the better of it for it is a natural and immediate consequence not to believe what we are not certain of but I can see no connexion in the World between the want of Certainty and the necessity of an infallible Judge something to be sure must come between to unite them together and the least we can think of is this That it is necessary we should be certain in matters of Religion and that there is no way to make us certain but an infallible Judge and therefore since there is no certainty in Religion without such a Judge we must grant that there is one But now if this be granted that there wants Evidence to make Christianity certain how do they prove that it is necessary we should be certain of it Which signifies that it is necessary we should be certain of that which is not certain and methinks it wants a little proof too that a Judge of Controversies is the only possible way to make men certain I would advise all Papists not to press this Argument of the uncertainty of Religion too far lest when they come to consider it throughly it make them Infidels But if men will be but reasonable what greater certainty can they desire than we have The Revelation of the Will of God contained in a plain and intelligible Writing which all honest and diligent Inquirers at least with the help of a Guide may understand in all things necessary to Salvation the promise of the Divine Spirit to enlighten our Minds to understand the Scriptures and to perswade us of the reason and certainty of our Faith and the Mercies of God to pardon involuntary Mistakes Secondly The next Pretence for an Infallible Judge is Unity For we see by sad Experience that while every man judges for himself the Christian Church is divided into Sects and Parties who first differ in their judgment of things and then separate from each others Communion and thus it necessarily must and will be till all submit to one Sovereign Authority and unite in one Visible Head And therefore since it is evident that Christ intended that all his Disciples should live in Unity with each other which he so strictly enjoyns and so passionately recommends we must conclude That he has appointed some effectual means to end all Controversies and to unite them in one Communion which can be no other than an Infallible and Governing Head Now in Answer to this I considēr 1. That a Supreme visible Head as suppose the Pope of Rome is not necessary and essential to the Unity of the Church for if all Christian Churches lived in Communion with each other they would be one Church though they were all equal without owning the Supremacy of one over the rest And therefore that Christ instituted but one Church and requires all the several parts of it to live in Communion with each other does not prove the necessity of one Visible Head because they may be one without such a Head and it is easie to prove that this is all the Unity Christ intended but of this in Answer to the following Papers 2. Though Christ has made Unity necessary with the necessity of Duty it does not hence follow that he has appointed infallible and necessary means of Unity I suppose all men will grant that Christ has made Holiness as necessary as Unity and yet he has appointed no necessary and infallible Means to keep men from Sin but we see the state of the Church suffers as much by the Wickedness as by the Divisions of her Members Unity is a necessary Duty and so is Holiness but the practice of both is the Object of our own choice and liberty and if the Commands and Exhortations of the Gospel and the hopes and fears of another World with the assistances of the Divine Grace will not make men do their Duty I know of nothing else that can and I do not see how Christ is more concerned for the Unity than for the Holiness of his Church 3. For Thirdly I think it a great Mistake to attribute all diversities of Opinions to want of Evidence and all Divisions to diversities of Opinions for it is plain that the Lusts and Interests of men have a great hand in both or else both Heresies and Schisms are more innocent things than I took them to be All the World cannot preserve men who have any Interest to serve by it from being Hereticks for Interest will make men teach Heresies without believing them or believe them without reason and Interest and Faction will divide the Church where the Faith is the same of which the Donatists of old are a sad Example And there is a present and sensible Example of this which the Romanists must own and yet if they own it it utterly destroys all their Pretences to Infallibility and Supremacy as such certain and infallible Remedies for Heresie and Schism For they must say as they do That Christ has vested St. Peter and his Successors the Popes of Rome with the Supremacy of the Church here then is their infallible Cure of Schism How then come all those Schisms that are in the Church For there are a good number of them notwithstanding the Popes Supremacy and some more for that Reason Has not Christ appointed an Head of Unity Yes but other Bishops and Churches won't submit to him How not to Christs Vicar How comes this to pass Why they dispute his Authority And has not Christ plainly given him this Authority Yes but they won't see it But is this inculpable Ignorance or Pride and Faction If the first then they must grant there wants certain Evidence for this infallible Head and this they must not say if the second then the Vices of men will make the Institution of a Supreme Head as ineffectual to prevent Schisms as the Commands of our Saviour are and it argues a good degree of Assurance in the Church of Rome to pretend the necessity of an infallible Head and Judge of Controversies to prevent Heresies and Schisms when though they say That Christ has appointed such a Head and Judge yet the Experience of the World for Sixteen hundred years tells us That there are never the fewer Heresies nor Schisms for it by which it appears That this is not an infallible Remedy against them Well! but it would be so if all men would submit to the Authority of this infallible Judge Very right and so any other way would do in which all men would agree for then I guess they would be all of a mind but this gives no advantage to an infallible Judge above any other means of Union and therefore the necessity of Unity does not prove the necessity of an infallible Judge For if the Romanists be in the right that Christ did appoint such a Judge and such a Judge be such an infallible Means of Unity
we must either say That Common People who have not time nor abilities to understand and answer all the Objections which are made against the Existence of a God can have no good reason to believe there is a God or we must grant that men may have sufficient reason to believe some things without being able to answer all possible Objections which are made against them The plain account of this matter is this That there is such a degree of Evidence Arguments so plain and clear and convincing that the Mind may safely acquiesce in them without examining or answering all possible Objections which may be started Every man finds this in himself there are many things which he can never be made to doubt of though it may be he has but one plain Argument to prove them Though the Philosopher disputed very subtilly against the possibility of Motion he could perswade none of his Scholars that Motion was impossible because they saw themselves and every thing else move every day which was a sufficient confutation of all the Arguments that can be brought against Motion If I have any one unanswerable Argument to prove that a thing is or that it is not this is a sufficient foundation for my Faith though I cannot answer all Objections against it For there are no Objections of any force against a plain and positive Proof but such as weaken the Proof it self and they indeed must be considered but all other collateral difficulties may be rejected for if I can prove that a thing is no other difficulties about the nature notion or operations of such a Being can prove that it is not As for Instance We have a great many positive Proofs that there is a God especially from the visible effects of his Power and Wisdom in making the World now if this be a good Argument and nothing can be said against it which can move a considering man then we may firmly believe there is a God though there may be a great many difficulties objected against the Notion of a God what he is and how he made the World c. which do not prove that there is no God but that we do not perfectly comprehend him And yet this is generally the case that where there is one plain and evident Proof for or against any thing there is no plain and evident Proof on the other side for then indeed we should be in a hard case could there be plain positive Proofs for both sides of the Question It will be of use to shew this more particularly how men of very ordinary Abilities may arrive to a very great certainty in Religion without being able to dispute the Point or to answer all possible Objections and the best way to explain this to the meanest Understanding is to give some particular Instances of it It is a great Dispute between us and the Church of Rome Whether the Sacramental Bread and Wine be transubstantiated into the Natural Flesh and Blood of Christ which I think a plain man who will believe his Senses may determine without disputing for he has the best Evidence that he possibly can have for any thing that the consecrated Bread and Wine is still Bread and Wine not Flesh and Blood for all his Senses tell him so and he who will suffer himself to be reasoned out of his Senses deserves to be deceived and very absurdly complains of want of Evidence and Certainty when he rejects the most certain Evidence that God can give him In matters of Sense the restimony of our Senses is certainly the best Evidence and every man who has his Eyes in his head can see whether it be Bread and Wine or not and therefore this alone is sufficient to create Certainty in defiance of all Objections to the contrary Thus the second Commandment which forbids the worship of all Images without any restriction or qualification is a plain and express proof against Image-worship for whatever Apologies may be made for the worship of Images here is an express Law against it in such plain terms as require great Art and Sophistry to evade them but no Art to understand them now there being a positive Law against the worship of Images and no Law either in the Old or New Testament to give the least allowance to any kind of Image-worship any man who will believe according to Evidence must condemn Image-worship whatever other unscriptural Arguments or Authorities may be alledged for it And I know no need there is of any dispute in the case if men will be determined by a Divine Law Thus if there be a Supream infallible Head of the Church he must be appointed by Christ and that in such plain words that every body may know who he is and what his Authority is but Christ has done no such thing and therefore there is none and this alone is Evidence enough to satisfie the meanest man in this matter without disputing For if Christ hath appointed no Supream Infallible Judge I am sure all the Arguments in the world cannot make one This is so plain and evident that a man who will be convinc'd by Reason cannot resist it for though no pretence of usefulness or necessity can prove that there is such a Judge yet that Christ has appointed no such Judge evidently proves that there is none for he cannot be unless he is evidently appointed by Christ and yet he is not evidently appointed unless it be in such plain words as admit of no reasonable dispute So that this whole Controversie about the Supream Head of the Church and an infallible Judge issues in this one Point Whether Christ hath appointed such a Head and Judge and there is but one way to prove it viz. by shewing where and when Christ has done this and this the meanest man without disputing may judge of for if no such thing plainly appear the want of Evidence for it is all the Evidence we need to have against it And thus it is in most of the disputes between us and the Church of Rome especially where the People are most concerned they are reduced to this one plain Question Whether any such thing was instituted by Christ because without such an Institution they can have no vertue in them and whether they be instituted or not the most unlearned man who can read the Bible at least with the help of a Guide may satisfie himself As for instance Whether the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper be a Propitiatory Sacrifice for the Living and the Dead whether the Laity are not as much bound to drink of the Sacramental Cup as to eat of the Bread whether it be lawful to pray to Saints departed and to make them our Advocates and Intercessors with God whether we must pray to God in a Language which we do or do not understand c. I say nothing can justifie these things but an Institution and when no such Institution appears it is a vain thing to attempt
and the like have been thought a just Reason in the Apostles days to deny Communion to all those Churches which reject them The Church of England is in Communion with all those Churches from the Apostles days till now who never owned nor imposed those Doctrines and Practices for which we now Separate from the Church of Rome as necessary Terms of Communion which upon inquiry will be found a much more Catholick Communion than that of the Church of Rome for we communicate with more Ages and with more Churches than they do The Church of Rome as now constituted in all its parts and proportions is no older than the Council of Trent which is some time since Luther that we may with more reason ask them Where their Church was before the Council of Trent then they ask us Where our Church was before Luther We find our Church in its Doctrine Worship and Government in the Apostles days but their Church was not made all at a time but one Age brought in one Corruption another another Some aspiring Popes began the Encroachments upon the Liberties of other Churches and others kept the ground their Predecessors had got and as they had opportunity made new Conquests and thus by degrees it grew up into a Papal Omnipotency Some thinking Monks started some uncouth Opinions which were tossed about for a while in Disputes and if they were such as might be of use to advance the Power of the Pope or of the Priest they began to be countenanced at Rome and that made honest men cautious of Opposing and then they grew up into received Doctrines and when it was ripe for that purpose they were dubbed Articles of Faith and at length were digested into method and order refined and polished and received their last Authority from the pack'd Conventicle of Trent And will any man call this Catholick Communion the dividing Terms of which were wholly unknown to the best and purest Ages of the Church crept in by degrees in several later Ages and never received its accomplishment and perfection till since the Reformation it self and is now already in the wane and almost expounded into Protestant Heresie at least so they would perswade us by the Bp. of Meaux and our Modern Representers However this shews how among all the Divisions of Christendom we can prove our selves to be a Catholick Church and in Catholick Communion which is all that we at present are concerned for and let the Church of Rome do as much for herself if she can Upon these Principles she now rejects us it is plain she must have denied Communion to the Apostolick Churches and I am sure they would have denied Communion to her and what is become then of her Catholick Communion which shuts out the Apostles and Apostolick Churches The Paper And how in the Communion of Saints For that which I think makes a Corporation become a Body of Men is the Obligation imposed on those who live in that Corporation to be subject to the peculiar Laws and Government there established for even of those that make Scripture their Rule of all those Churches Answer I suppose the latter part of this is either false or hastily writ If the meaning be that the whole Christian Church in such a Corporation as is under the same individual Government or one governing Head who must give Laws to the whole Church this we utterly deny and it ought to have been proved Christ at first committed the planting and governing his Church to Twelve Apostles who as St. Cyprian affirms had all equal Power and Authority though Christ named Peter only in bestowing the Apostolical Power not to give Peter any Superiority over the rest but only to signifie that unity and harmony of consent which ought to be among them in exercising the Apostolical Power that they were all to act as one Man The Apostles left their Power to the Bishops of the several Churches who had the immediate Inspection and Soveraign Power over their own Churches as the same Father frequently asserts but yet were to govern their several Churches with mutual advice and consent So that the Unity of particular Churches consists in their Obedience and Subjection to their Bishop and in the Communion of all the Members of it in all acts of Worship and Discipline and those who separate from the external and visible Communion of the Church wherein they live without necessary and unavoidable Reasons are Schismaticks who cut themselves off from the Body of Christ. The Communion of the Catholick Church consists not in the Subjection of one Church to another but in the Profession of the same Faith and in the Agreement and Concord of their Bishops in owning each others Churches and maintaining Communion with them upon Catholick Principles and governing their Churches as far as is expedient by common Rules of Worship and Discipline This then being the Constitution of the Catholick Church let us briefly consider what it is that unites particular Churches in Catholick Communion 1. Every particular Church which professes the true Faith of Christ is part of the Catholick Church and by virtue of this Catholick Faith is so far in Communion with the whole Catholick Church and thus we own the Church of Rome her self to be part of the Catholick Church for she professes the true Faith of Christ though with a great mixture of dangerous Errors 2. The Communion of particular Churches does not consist in using the same Liturgies or external Rites of Worship if their Worship be a true Christian Worship and agreeable to the general Laws of the Gospel for every Church has Authority within her self to direct and model her own Worship and therefore if there were no fault in it yet the Church of England is not bound to receive her Liturgies and Worship from the Church of Rome but may use her own without being charged with Schism for doing so 3. Every Catholick Church is bound to receive each others Members to Communion when they come among them which makes them all but one Church one Society Body the Members of which have a mutual right and interest in each other and therefore it is a Principle of Catholick Communion not to adhere so stiffly to the Rites and Usages of our own particular Churches as not to communicate with other Churches who use different Rites from our own if they be innocent Thus far all things are plain and easie but the difficulty is how we shall maintain Communion with those Churches which teach very erroneous Doctrines or use very corrupt and suspected kinds of Worship And therefore Fourthly How corrupt soever any Church be if she still retains the true Faith of Christ we must own her for a Christian Church though a corrupt one which is one degree of Communion with her to own her of the same Body with our selves though as a sick or rotten Member This was the charge against the Novatians and Donatists not only that they