former Health When Christ reformed the Jewish Religion from the false senses and glosses that the Scribes and Pharisees had put upon it and grafted Christianity upon the old stock will the Romanists call this a New Religion or rather an old one well amended and improved by Divine Authority Bellarmin doth allow this for Truth and saith that Christianity was rather a New State and Condition than a new Church and he that can call our Religion New because t is mended and made now what it was about 1600 years ago may affirm that Christ built a New Temple when he Whipt the buyers and sellers out of the old And that Hezekiah built a New Sanctuary and Instituted a New Passover because he cleans'd the one and restor'd the other to its first Institution our reformation did no more it only scal'd off the Leprosy that stuck to the Body of the Romish Church it only par'd off those Additions that Interest or Superstition Niceness or Foppery and glew'd to it what after remain'd was our Religion the same that Christ and his Apostles taught the World at first And if they can shew that any thing hath been added since pernicious to the Nature of the True and Old Religion our Church is ready to remove it or that any thing is wanting that is necessary to its complement and perfection she is ready to entertain it with the same spirit of meekness and Wisdom and Regard to the Gospel that she used in the Reformation but hitherto upon good grounds and strict inquiry She is fully satisfied that Her Religion is absolute and compleat Christianity 3. We have many and impartial Judges on our side that our Religion is Pure and Old Christianity The particular Church of Rome indeed that supports her self by a pretended Infallibility to be true to her principle refuses to be tryed by any other Church but will be only Judge of her self and others too yet we that are certain and sure of the Truth of our Religion though not Infallible dare Appeal to the Judgment of other Christian Churches The Greek Church condemns their half Communion the Doctrines of Purgatory Merit and Supererogation The Adoration of Images their locking up the Scriptures in an unknown Tongue their extream Unction and sale of Masses and laughs at their Infallibility the thing that makes their errors in Faith incorrigible the Armenian Christians reject the Supremacy of the Pope Transubstantiation Purgatory and Excommunicate those that Worship Images The Jacobites the Indians of St. Thomas the Egyptian and Abassine Christians dissent from most or all of the Romish errors which we condemn We have all the truly Ancient Christian Churches on our side and most of the Modern whom the busy Emissaries of Rome have not terrified or seduc't into their party our Writers have Appeal'd with great success to the Ancient Councils the Holy Fathers and to the Learned and Pious Bishops and Priests of old and from thence discover'd the Novelty of the Romish Faith and the good old way of the English Church And they dare not stand the trial when we desire to be determin'd by the best and Infallible Judge the Holy Scriptures except they must give the meaning of them otherwise they load them with Ignominious Names of a Lesbian rule mere Ink and Paper and a nose of Wax Who will they be try'd by By a Council truly General No except it be called manag'd and confirm'd by the Pope Will they be Judg'd by any that differ from them yet are Men of Good Honest and unprejudic't Judgments No they are out of the Pale of the Church and Stubborn Hereticks And the best reason they have for their assurance that they are in the right is that they are sure they are so and keep themselves safe in their inchanted Castle of Infallibility The Arabian Philosopher was offended at and abhorr'd their barbarous Doctrine of Transubstantiation and Eating of their God and resolv'd to stick to his Philosophical rather than be of such a Christian Religion The Roman Images and the Worship of them have laid a Stumbling Block before the Jews who therefore approved our Sentence and Condemnation of them having therefore such a number of good Testimonies and Judgments on our side we rise up and reverence the grey Hairs of our Religion which Rome once Cloth'd in a Wanton and Phantastick dress and made it ridiculous which because we have pull'd off and put on its Ancient habit and made it look Manly with the Image of God and Christ upon it they call us Innovators Many of their own Writers have spoke in favour of the English Church and many of their distinctions in a fair sense have concluded for her Doctrine and shewn their dislike of many opinions of their own Church 4. That our Religion was long before Luther will appear from the oppositions that were made to the Papal corruptions which did not enjoy so quiet a life but were frequently disturb'd and cry'd out against not only by other Churches but by many honest and considering Men in their own Communion Men they were not of Interest or Discontent Peevishness and given to change of little Learning and less Conscience and note in the World but Men Eminent in their Generation Men of Probity and Studies of Temper and Consideration Men that stood not alone but had great numbers of Disciples a Visible Society of Christians who follow'd their Judgments Some of these sadly bewail'd the degenerate State of the Roman Church others petition'd for and advised not only the correction of the abuses of good Doctrines and Innocent Institutions but the reformation of Gross Errors and Scandalous Additions to the Christian Faith and others in great Authority promised an amendment and to reduce the whole frame of Christianity to its Primitive Sense and Model And the famous Council of Trent was promist and begun to rectify Errors and Abuses crept into the Romish Faith and government yet after a long Sitting it fatally concluded confirming those corruptions which was hop'd after so many complaints and addresses with strong reasons for them should have been thoroughly redrest and reform'd The Original of their Barbarous Inquisition will be a standing record of the frequent and stout oppositions that were made against the Romish Innovation in the Christian Faith And so long as the Blood of the numerous Albigenses and Waldenses crys to Heaven for Vengance against the Papal cruelty we have a cloud of Witnesses for this Truth who resisted unto Death the new Doctrines of Romes The carriage of old Wicliff and his Followers tells us plainly in story that the corruptions of Rome had no such quiet possession but ever and anon some or other in considerable numbers did endeavour to eject them out of their hold though they paid dear for it And so long as the Treachery of their Council of Constance about the safe conduct granted to poor Huss And his Disciples in number above forty thousand remains upon
True Church whether Visible or hid which this Question denys 3. This Question supposeth that the Roman Church cannot err but that it remain'd pure and undefiled as it came from the Hands of Christ through the many Centuries of years till it came to the times of Luther and from thence shall so continue till the Worlds end and therefore we made a false charge against them of corruptions in their Religion to excuse our Innovation But we have reason to conclude She hath foully err'd from the Faith and that more fatally and obstinately because She pretends She cannot err For upon what grounds doth the found her Infallibility Upon the Scriptures They are only so many dead letters till the breath of the Church doth give them life and they are then to do the Church a good turn and give her Infallibility which is such a cirle as makes Mens brains so giddly turning round in it that they scarce know what the Scriptures and what the Church do mean the places of Scripture to prove Infallibility are such which have only reference to the Apostles themselves their Doctrines or Confessions of Faith as Divine and Infallible but not to their pretended Successors Or else they are restrain'd not simply unto all Truth but only unto all Truth that is necessary to Salvation in which the Pope or a Council cannot err while they follow the Spirit of Truth in the Scriptures and not compel the Spirit and Scriptures to follow them For they do not irresistibly force the minds of Christians into Truth Or else relate only to the Catholick-Church and not to the particular Roman or else are applicable to private Assemblies and their Worship of God which no body but Quakers and Enthusiasts think to be Infallible And all the first Ages of Christianity and undoubted tradition never in the least imagin'd such an Infallibility as now the Church of Rome dreams of They are at War among themselves where this Infallibility is lodg'd either in the Pope alone or in a General Council alone or in both together the Pope Sitting in person there or by his Legates or it the Council confirm'd by the Pope till they agree among themselves and prove it better we say 't is no where plac't but in the Scriptures and they do not prove any other person or persons upon Earth to be Infallible in their determinations To say such an Infallible Judge of controversies to guide the Church is absolutely necessary and therefore Divine Providence hath plac't him some where or other and who but the Pope can be the Man Is only to prescribe methods unto God and teach him how to Govern his Church and not be thankful for the good old ways of Salvation and Peace Scriptures an honest Judgment with Divine asistance and humane means he hath chalkt out for us but contrive some new ones of their own Such Infallibility must be of no use to the Church of God for upon the Romish principles it cannot be known for the Pope before he be Infallible must be Bishop of Rome but the Sacrament of Order according to the Council of Trent receives it validity from the intention of the Priest that when he ordain'd him Bishop he did what the Church intended and who can tell upon these grounds what this supposed Priest was who gave this Order or dive into his thoughts and intentions which their Casuists confess may sometimes be very perverse But if there be this Infallibility at Rome why do not the Countries and Religious Orders in them still under their Dominion receive the Blessed fruits of it and still all the brawls and squables among themselves if his Holiness be at leisure and it be worth his while And why should not the Champions of Rome bend all their Power to prove this main point of Infallibility when all other controversies would fall under and submit unto its Power a compendious way to make the Christian World at Peace and Unity with its self But why need we labour to disprove the Popes Infallibility when themselves put their shoulders to it and do the work for us in disputing among themselves whether the Pope being an Heretick may be deposed by which Question they confess that he may fall into Heresy which is error of the highest Nature carrying Wilfulness and Obstinacy with it And accordingly these Infallible Men have been guilty of Heresies as Pope Honorius of Monothelitism and Liberius of Arrianism and the like and many of them liv'd most debauched lives and fatal to Christianity as Heresy and Fallibility and wherein providence is highly concern'd This Doctrine of Infallibility looks like a plain contrivance of the Romish Church having some way or other slipt into these gross errors from small beginnings and finding them not defensible by all the sleights and arts of their cunning heads are forc't to quit their hold and betake themselves to their common Sanctuary of Infallibility that let these things be what they will in Dispute between us and them they are sure they are great Truths by Vertue of Infallibility which is one of the Miracles of Rome which can change the Nature of things which may be true in England and the quite contrary at Rome as Father Cotton and other Jesuites affirm'd at Paris For it 's plain to all impartial Judgments that their Doctrine of Purgatory Transubstantiation and the like are not to be found in Scriptures are utterly unkown to the truly Acient Fathers and the eldest and purest times of Christianity and contrary to the reason of Mankind They may as well tell us that the City of Rome was never sack't and spoyl'd because some Flaterers humour'd her Pride and Arrogance calling her the immortal City and impregnable Rock as that these gross errors never invaded and ruin'd the Christian Faith because of the fine name of Infallibility which they arrogate to themselves And may as well put out our eyes and then bid us see if we can discover any errors in the Romish Church And St. Peter's being at Rome proves no more that he left Infallibility behind him than Consecrated Clouts sent from Rome that the Infant that wears them shall ever after be a firm defender of the Romish Faith 4. This Question will serve any Heresies or Errors that have got some Antiquity on their side against a Reformation If it be true in this case 't is so in all others and then what a shelter have they provided for all Heresies if they chance to live long to be safe and secure in and escape correction And there are many errors contemporary with Christianity it self in its first plantation in the World at least followed it very close at the heels such were the Ancient Gnosticks the Carpocratians or Ebionites the spawn of Magus and others who can plead great Antiquity on their side and as properly ask any Reformer of their Heresies where was his Religion before such a time as the inconstant World
the late inventions of the Romish Bishop and is known to be the Spouse of Christ by her first Features and Complexion though She hath cast off the new Italian dress For was the Christian Church the House of God Irregular in its building wanting of Beams and Pillars the Essentials of Religion till Romes curious and careful builder cast it into a new model and compleated it 2. This Question supposeth that the Christian Church ought always to be Visible which is not so strictly true For Visible or Invisible make not two Churches but different States Conditions or Respects of one and the same 'T was designed by Christ that all that are Baptiz'd into the Communion of his Faith and Church should make an Outward and Visible Profession of it by their Religious Assemblies and Worship by their Sacraments Discipline and Government whereby being United among themselves and to Christ their Head they should Constitute one Body call'd the Catholick-Church in whose Communion they must Live and Dye But so it came to pass that the number of Christian People so professing and owning the Faith of Jesus was lesser or greater more conspicuous or obscure as Persecutions or Heresies grew and prevail'd among them which like raging Plagues wasted whole Countries destroying some perverting others and making many Fly into remoter Kingdoms and only some Scattered and Solitary Christians living in Caves and Wildernesses remain'd behind or only the Face of a distressed Christian Church as it hapned to the seven Asian and the African Churches which now labour under a Mahometan Pride and Superstition But as it lost in one Country it gain'd in another the Jewish Presecution and others driving several Colonies of Christians into remoter Countries where they spread and enlarged their Religion and many times the distress or triumph of the Church follow'd the changes and revolutions in the Civil State suffering or flourishing with it And often the abuse of Religion Prostituting of it to Hypocrisy and secular ends the Wicked lives of its Disciples or want of courage or resolution in its defence hath tempted Providence to permit pestilent Heresies worse then that in these Northen parts to prevail and Paganism to return again But still the promise of Christ to his Church was firm and the Gates of Hell did not prevail against her And though she was forc't sometimes to Travail from Country to Country and lookt small and obscure in the number of her followers yet still some or other parts and corners of the World and True and Zealous Christians in them made up the little flock and shall never fail while the World endures Popery like the Egyptian darkness had overspread this and other Nations yet here and there was an Israelite that had light in his dwellings and a countercharm against the enchantments of Egypt the Gospel that at length did prevail against corruptions and made its followers Visible and Numerous They ask us where was our Religion before Luther As though it was not because it did not Visibly appear or no where in the World because not here in England or in other parts where Popery did domineer and the Romish Faction was all and whole Christianity in the World the Catholick-Church which implies contradiction and absurdity Christianity here indeed was obscur'd and like the Sun under the cloud but still the Sun was the same and at length conquer'd the mists 't is a fine Question to ask Where was the Sun before Noon day We will suppose her followers to be few yet Christ is True though others are Lyars for he never promist that the Members of the True Catholick-Church should be always famous for their numbers or that multitudes should always follow Truth nor ever directed Men to follow the multitude in search of Truth which is found otherways not by Votes and Polling for her Did not our Saviour ask the Question when he should come again whether at the Destruction of Jerusalem or at the Judgment day whereof the other was a Type and Prefiguration whether he should find Faith on Earth or no did not the Prophet sadly complain in the Reigns of Jotham Ahaz and Hezekiah Kings of Judah that the good Man is perished out of the Land and there is none Righteous among Men they could not then reckon up of the Tribe of Judah twelve thousand and yet there was True Faith and a Church of God though little and obscure Doth not King David cry out Help Lord for the Godly Man ceaseth for the Faithful fail from among the Children of Men corruption in Faith and manners usually going together And Elijah tells a sad Story of the Children of Israel that they had broken their Covenant and destroy'd the Altars and the Prophets and he only was left alive that they sought his life also God tells him that yet for all that he had seven thousand Knees that had not bowed to Baal still there was a small Church not infected with Idolatry though obscure and unknown to Elijah Have not some of the Romish Writers told us that at Christ Passion the Church was only left in the Virgin Mary all them forsaking Christ but the Holy Mother The Shepherd was Smitten and the Sheep disperst And they further confess that in the times of Antichrist there shall be neither Pope Monk nor Mass if this be all that Monster is not so Terrible as he is Painted and their Annalists complain of such sad things as these in the tenth Century And certainly they have read of the Woman in the Wilderness and the Witnesses Slain and of Hay and Stubble covering the Foundation which describe the deplorable condition of the Christian Church and Fopperies Niceties and Inventions of Men obscuring the Essentials of the Christian Faith Should a revolt happen which God divert from the reformed Church of England to Romanism again might not others ask them the same Question where was your Religion before eighty three or eighty four before such a time Would they not Answer at Rome and in England also only kept under and obscur'd by Hereticks and Tyrannical Princes Ours was also here lockt up in Bibles own'd by some numbers desire'd by more only frighted from a Visible profession of it by the torments that did attend it And Christianity though not so Visible yet was purer when it and its professors dwelt in Rocks and Mountains and Dens places of privacy and obscurity in the Reigns of Nero and Dioclesian then when some Kings were its Nursing Fathers and Queens its Nursing Mothers and took possession of the seven Hills And there was a True Church of God though overlay'd and groaning under Arrianism as before Persecution and in Cyprians time as ours once under the Popish Yoke And the Truth of Christianity like the Truth and Essence of other things depends not upon splendid entertainment or Judgment of others nor the Church upon the Visible number of its Members but it may be a