Church to give Testimony to a matter of Fact and another to assume the Power of making Books Canonical which were not so This latter no Church in the World hath and therefore can never lose it The former is only Matter of Testimony and all parts of the Church are concerned in it and it depends as other Matters of Fact do on the Skill and Fidelity of the Reporters And by what Autority Men separate themselves from that Church What Church The Catholick and Apostolick We own no Separation from that but we are dis-joyned from the Communion of the Roman Church that we may keep up the stricter Union with the truly Catholick and Apostolick Church And this is no Separating our selves but being cast out by an Usurping Faction in the Church because we would not submit to the unreasonable Conditions of Communion imposed by it the chief whereof is owning all the Usurpation which hath by degrees been brought into it To make this plain by an Example Suppose a prosperous Usurper in this Kingdom had gained a considerable Interest in it and challenged a Title to the whole and therefore required of all the Kings Subjects within his Power to own him to be Rightful King Upon this many of them are forced to withdraw because they will not own his Title Is this an act of Rebellion and not rather of true Loyalty Schism in the Church is like Rebellion in the State The Pope declares himself Head of the Catholick Church and hath formed himself a kind of Spiritual Kingdom in the West although the other parts of the Christian World declare against it as an Usurpation However he goes on and makes the owning his Power a necessary Condition of being of his Communion This many of the Western Parts as well as Eastern disown and reject and therefore are excluded Communion with that Church whereof he is owned to be the Head The Question now is Who gives the Occasion to this Separation whether the Pope by requiring the owning his Usurpation or We by declaring against it Now if the Conditions he requires be unjust and unreasonable if his Autority he challenges over the Catholick Church be a meer Usurpation for which we have not only the Consent of the other Parts of the Christian World but of Scripture and the Ancient Church then we are not to be condemned for such a Separation which was unavoidable if we would not comply with the Pope's Usurpation And upon this Foot the Controversie about Schism stands between Us and the Church of Rome The only Pretence I ever heard of was because the Church hath fail'd in wresting and interpreting the Scripture contrary to the true sense and meaning of it and that they have imposed Articles of Faith upon us which are not to be warranted by Gods Word I do desire to know who is to be Iudge of that whether the whole Church the Succession whereof hath continued to this day without interruption or particular Men who have raised Schisms for their own advantage The whole force of this Paragraph depends upon a Supposition which is taken for granted but will never be yielded by Us and we are sure can never be proved by those of the Church of Rome viz. That in the new imposed Articles the whole Church in a continued Succession hath been of the same judgment with them and only some few Particular Men in these last Ages have opposed them Whereas the great thing we insist upon next to the Holy Scripture is that they can never prove the Points in diference by an Universal Tradition from the Apostles Times either as to the Papal Supremacy or the other Articles defined by the Council of Trent VVe do not take upon our selves to contradict the Universal sense of the Christian Church from the Apostles Times in any one Point But the true Reason of the proceeding of the Church of England was this VVhile the Popes Authority was here received and obeyed there was no liberty of searching into abuses or the ways of Reforming them But when Men were encouraged to look into the Scripture and Fathers and Councils they soon found the state of things in the Church extreamly altered from what they ought to have been or had been in the Primitive Church But they saw no possibility of Redress as long as the Popes Autority was so absolute and inviolable This therefore in the first place they set themselves to the accurate Examination of and the Result was that they could find it neither in the Scriptures nor Fathers nor Councils nor owned by the Eastern Churches And therefore they concluded it ought to be laid aside as an Usurpation Our Church being by this means set free even with the consent of Those who joyned with the Church of Rome in other things a greater liberty was then used in examining particular Doctrines and Practices which had crept into the Church by degrees when Ignorance and Barbarism prevail'd and having finish'd this enquiry Articles of Religion were drawn up wherein the sense of our Church was delivered agreeable to Scripture and Antiquity though different from the Modern Church of Rome and these Articles are not the private sense of particular Men but the Publick Standard whereby the World may judge what we believe and practise and therefore these are the sense of our Church and not the opinions or fancies of particular Men. And those who call the retrenching the Popes exorbitant Power by the name of Schism must by parity of reason call the casting off an Usurper Rebellion But certainly those who consider the mighty advantages and priviledges of the Clergy in the Church of Rome can never reasonably suspect any of that Order should hope to better themselves by the Reformation And if we judge of Mens actings by their Interest one of the most surprising considerations at this day is that the Clergy should be against and Princes for the Church of Rome AN ANSWER TO THE Second Paper IT is a sad thing to consider what a world of Heresies are crept into this Nation But is it not a strange thing to consider that no distinction is here put between the Religion by Law established and the Parties disowned by it and dissenting from it And yet many of these though justly liable to the charge of Schism embrace no Heresies against the Four or Six first General Councils But if the Dissenters were guilty of never so many Heresies how comes the Church of England to bear the blame of them when the weakning its Power and Authority was the occasion of such an overflowing of Schisms and Heresies among us And it is indeed a sad thing to consider how many Ways and Means have been used by all Parties to introduce and keep up Schisms and Divisions amongst us and then how the Church of England is blamed for not being able to suppress them But if all Doctrines opposite to the Church of Rome be accounted Heresies then we desire to be informed
besides without setting up any private Spirit against it or the present Roman Church to be the Interpreter of it And now I hope I may have leave to ask some Questions of any ingenuous Man as whether it be not the same thing for the Church of Rome to make the Rule as to assume to it self the fole Power of giving the sense of it For what can a Rule signifie without the sense And if this were the intention of Almighty God had it not been as necessary to have told us to whom he had given the Power of Interpreting the Rule as to have given the Rule it self Whether it be reasonable for the Church of Rome to interpret those Texts wherein this Power of Interpreting is to be contained For this is to make it Iudge in its own Cause which was thought an Absurdity before And whether it be not as mischievous to allow a Prosperous Usurper the Power of interpreting Laws according to his own Interest as any private Person according to his own Fancy Whether it be possible to reform Disorders in the Church when the Person principally accused is Supream Judge Whether those can be indifferent Judges in Councils who before-hand take an Oath to defend that Authority which is to be Debated Whether Tradition be not as uncertain a Rule as Fancy when Men judge of Tradition according to their Fancy I would have any Man shew me where the Power of deciding matters of Faith is given to every particular Man If by deciding Matters of Faith be understood the determining them in such a manner as to oblige others I do not know where it is given to every particular Man nor how it should be For then every particular Man would have a Power over every particular Man and there would want a new Decision whose should take place But if by deciding Matters of Faith no more be meant but every mans being satisfied of the Reasons why he believes one thing to be true and not another that belongs to every Man as he is bound to take care of his Soul and must give an account both to God and Man of the Reason of his Faith And what can be meant in Scripture by Proving all things and holding fast that which is good 1 Thess. 5. 21. By trying the Spirits whether they be of God 1 John 4. 1. By judging of themselves what is right Luke 12. 57. unless God had given to Mankind a Faculty of discerning truth and falshood in Matters of Faith But if every Man hath not such a Power how comes he to be satisfied about the Churches Autority Is not that a Matter of Faith And where ever any Person will shew me that every Man hath a Power to determine his Faith in that matter I 'le undertake to shew him the rest Christ left his Power to his Church even to forgive Sins in Heaven and left his Spirit with them which they exercised after his Resurrection But where then was the Roman-Catholick Church And how can it be hence inferred That these Powers are now in the Church of Rome exclusive to all others unless it be made appear that it was Heir-General to all the Apostles I suppose it will be granted that the Apostles had some gifts of the Spirit which the Church of Rome will not in Modesty pretend to such as the Gift of Tongues the Spirit of Discerning Prophesie Miraculous Cures and Punishments Now here lyes the difficulty to shew what part of the Promise of the Infallible Spirit for the ordinary Power of the Keys relates not to this matter was to expire with the Apostles and what was to be continued to the Church in all Ages A Promise of Divine Assistance is denied by none but Pelagians But how far that extends is the Question In the Souls of good Men it is so as to keep them in the way to Heaven but not to prevent any lapse into sin and it were worth our knowing where God hath ever promised to keep any Men more from Error than from Sin Doth he hate one more than the other Is one more disagreeing to the Christian Doctrine than the other How came then so much to be said for the keeping Men from Error when at the same time they confess they may not only commit great sins but err very dangerously in the most Solemn manner in what relates to the Doctrine of Manners Would any have believed the Apostles Infallible if they had known them to be Persons of ill Lives or that they had notoriously erred in some Rules of great Consequence to the Welfare of Mankind Now all this is freely yielded as to the Pretence of Infallibility in the Church of Rome It is granted that the Guides of that Church have been very bad Men and that in Councils they have frequently erred about the Deposing Power being only a Matter of Practice and not of Faith Whether it be so or not I now dispute not but it is granted that notwithstanding this Infallible Spirit the Roman Church may grosly err in a matter of mighty Consequence to the Peace of Christendom and yet it cannot err in decreeing the least Matters of Faith As for Instance it can by no means err about the seven Sacraments or the Intention of the Priest about them but it may err about Deposing Princes and Absolving Subjects from their Allegiance Which in easier terms is They can never err about their own Interest but they may about any other whatsoever I pass over the next Paragraph the sense being imperfect and what is material about the Creeds hath been spoken to already That which next deserves Consideration is That the Church was the Iudge even of the Scripture it self many years after the Apostles which Books were Canonical and which were not We have a distinction among us of Iudges of the Law and Iudges of the Fact The One declare what the Law is the Fact being supposed the Other gives judgment upon the Fact as it appears before them Now in this Case about the Canonical Books the Church is not judge of the Law For they are not to declare whether a Book appearing to be Canonical ought by it to be received for Canonical which is taken for granted among all Christians but all they have to do is to give Judgment upon the Matter of Fact i. e. whether it appear upon sufficient Evidence to have been a Book written by Divine Inspiration And the Church of Rome hath no particular Priviledge in this matter but gives its Judgment as other parts of the Christian World do And if it takes upon it to judge contrary to the general sense of the Christian Church we are not to be concluded by it but an Appeal lyes to a greater Tribunal of the Universal Church And if they had this Power then I desire to know how they came to lose it Who are meant by They And what is understood by this Power It is one thing for a Part of the
how the Church of Rome came to have this Power of defining Heretical Doctrines or how any Doctrine comes to be Heresie by being contrary to its definitions For Heresie is an obstinate opposing some necessary Article of Faith It must therefore be proved that what the Church of Rome declares doth thereby become a necessary Article of Faith or it is very unreasonable to lay the imputation of Heresie upon us And this can never be maintained without proving that the Church of Rome hath a Power to make Doctrines not necessary before to become necessary by her Definition which is the same thing with making New Articles of Faith But these can never be proved to be such by Universal Tradition which the Church of Rome pretends for all her Articles of Faith Every Man thinks himself as competent a Iudge of Scripture as the very Apostles themselves Doth Every Man among us pretend to an infallible Spirit And yet Every Man owns that the Apostles had it But what is meant by being a Iudge of Scripture If no more be understood then that every Man must use his understanding about it I hope this is no Crime nor Heresie The Scripture must be believed in order to Salvation and therefore it must be understood for how can a Man believe what he understands not the sense or meaning of If he must understand the sense he must be Iudge of the sense so that every Man who is bound to believe the Scripture in order to his Salvation must be Judge of the sense of the Scripture so far as concerns his Salvation But if by being a Iudge of the Scripture be meant giving such a judgment as obliges others to submit to it then among us no particular Man doth pretend to be a competent Iudge of Scripture so as to bind others to rely upon his Authority in expounding Scripture We own the Authority of Guides in the Church and a due submission to them but we do not allow them to be as competent Iudges of Scripture as the very Apostles And 't is no wonder it should be so since that part of the Nation which looks most like a Church dares not bring the true Arguments against the other Sects for fear they should be turned against themselves and confuted by their own Arguments This is directly level'd against the Church of England which is hereby charged with Insincerity or Weakness in dealing with the Dissenters But we must consider the meaning of this charge It is no wonder it should be so i. e. That every Man should think himself as competent a Iudge of Scripture as the very Apostles because the Church of England dares not use the true Arguments against the Sects Whence it appears that this true Argument is the Churches infallible Authority and the Obligation of all Members of the Church to submit their judgments intirely thereto I confess that if the Church of England did pretend to this against the Sectaries they might justly turn it against her because in our Articles though the Churches Authority be asserted yet Infallibility is denyed If there can be no Authority in a Church without Infallibility or there can be no obligation to submit to Authority without it then the Church of England doth not use the best Arguments against Sectaries But if there be no ground for Infallibility if the Church which hath most pretended to it hath been most grosly deceived if the Heads of that Church have been not barely suspected of Heresie but one of them stands condemned for it in Three General Councils own'd by that Church then for all that I can see the Church of England hath wisely disowned the pretence of Infallibility and made use of the best Arguments against Sectaries from a just Authority and the sinfulness and folly of the Sectaries refusing to submit to it The Church of England as 't is called would fain have it thought That they are the Iudges in matters Spiritual yet dare not say positively there is no Appeal from them Is not the Church of England really what it is called I would fain know what it wants to make it as good a Church as any in the Christian World It wants neither Faith if the Creed contain it nor Sacraments and those entire nor Succession of Bishops as certain as Rome it self nor a Liturgy more agreeing to Primitive Worship then is any where else to be found Why then the Church of England as 't is called Well! But what is this Church now blamed for They pretend to be Iudges in matters Spiritual and yet dare not say there is no appeal from them How then Are there no true Judges but such as there lies no Appeal from There lies an Appeal from any Judges in the Kings Courts to the Court of Parliament are They not therefore true Judges in Westminster-Hall There lay an Appeal from Bishops to Metropolitans from them to Patriarchs from Patriarchs to General Councils according to the Antient Polity of the Church Were there therefore no true Judges but General Councils What follows relating to the Churches Authority and every Mans following his own judgment hath been answered already I proceed therefore to what further concerns this matter of Appeal What Country can subsist in Quiet where there is not a Supreme Iudge from whence there can be no Appeal The natural consequence from hence appears to be that every National Church ought to have the Supream Power within it self But how come Appeals to a foreign Jurisdiction to tend to the Peace and Quiet of a Church They have been always complained of in the best Ages of the Church and by the best Men such as S. Cyprian and S. Augustine and the whole African Churches The worst Men began them and the worst Church encouraged them without regard to the Peace of the Christian Church so it increased its own Grandeur by them We have had these hundred Years past the sad effects of denying to the Church that Power in matters Spiritual without an Appeal And our Ancestors for many hundred Years last past found the intolerable Inconveniencies of an Appeal to foreign Jurisdiction Whereby the Nation was exhausted Justice obstructed the Clergy oppressed and the Kings Prerogative greatly diminished But these were slight things in Comparison to what we have felt these hundred Years past for want of it Have not the Kings Courts been open for matters of Law and Justice which have been fill'd with Men of as great Abilities and Integrity since the Reformation as ever they were before Hath not the Appeal to the King in his High Court of Chancery been as much for the King and People as ever the Appeal was to the Court of Rome Have not all the Neighbour Princes been forced for the preserving their own Dignity to set Bounds and Limits to Appeals to Rome and to Orders or Bulls that come from thence How then comes the want of such an Appeal to be thought to produce such sad effects here All
Christendom groans under the sad effects of them and it is a very self-denying humour for those to be most sensible of the want of them who would really suffer the most by them Can there be any Iustice done where the Offenders are their own Iudges and equal Interpreters of the Law with those that are appointed to Admister Iustice And is there any likelihood Justice should be better done in another Country by another Authority and proceeding by such Rules which in the last resort are but the Arbitrary will of a Stranger And must such a one pretending to a Power he hath no right to be Iudge in his own Cause when he is the greatest Offender himself But how is this applied to the Protestants in England This is our Case here in England in matters Spiritual for the Protestants are not of the Church of England as 't is the true Church from whence there can be no Appeal but because the Discipline of that Church is conformable at present to their fancies which as soon as it shall contradict or vary from they are ready to embrace or joyn with the next Congregation of People whose Discipline or Worship agrees with the Opinion of that Time The sense of this Period is not so clear but that one may easily mistake about it That which is aimed at is that we of the Church of England have no tie upon us but that of our own judgments and when that changes we may join with Independents or Presbyterians as we do now with the Church of England And what security can be greater than that of our Judgments If it be said to be nothing but fancy and no true Iudgment we must beg leave to say that we dare Appeal to the World whether we have not made it appear that it is not fancy but Iudgment which hath made us firm to the Church of England Might it not as well have been said that the Protestants of the Church of England adhered to the Crown in the Times of Rebellion out of Fancy and not out of Iudgment And that if their Fancy changed they might as well have joined with the Rebels Will not this way of Reasoning hold as strongly against those of the Church of Rome For why do any adhere to that but because it is agreeable to their Judgment so to do What evidence can they give that it is Iudgment in them and only Fancy in us If Reason must be that which puts the difference we do not question but to make ours appear to be Iudgment and theirs Fancy For what is an infallible Iudge which Christ never appointed but Fancy What is their unwritten Word as a Rule of Faith to be equally received with the Scriptures but Fancy What is giving honour to God by the Worship of Images but Fancy What is making Mediators of Intercession besides the Mediator of Redemption but Fancy What is the Doctrine of Concomitancy to make amends for half the Sacrament but Fancy What is the substantial Change of the Elements into the Body of Christ but Fancy for both Senses and Reason are against it What is the deliverance of Souls out of Purgatory by Masses for the Dead but meer Fancy But I forbear giving any more Instances So that according to this Doctrine there is no other Church nor Interpreter of Scripture but that which lies in every Man 's giddy Brain Let Mens Brains be as giddy as they are said to be for all that I can see they are the best faculties they can make use of for the understanding of Scripture or any thing else And is there any Infallible Church upon Earth which must not be beholding to Mens giddy Brains for believing it And it may be never the less giddy for doing it For God-sake why do any Men take the Church of Rome to be Infallible Is it not because their Understandings tell them they ought so to do So that by this consequence there is no Infallible Church but what lies in every Mans giddy Brain I desire to know therefore of every serious Considerer of these things whether the great Work of our Salvation ought to depend on such a Sandy Foundation as this I thank God I have seriously considered this matter and must declare that I find no Christian Church built on a more sandy Foundation than that which pretends to be setled upon a Rock I mean so far as it imposes the new Faith of Trent as a necessary Condition of Salvation Had we no other reason to embrace Christianity than such as they offer for these New Doctrines I am much afraid Christianity it self to all inquisitive Men would be thought to have but a Sandy Foundation But what is this Sandy Foundation we build upon Every Man 's private judgment in Religion No understanding Man builds upon his own Judgment but no Man of understanding can believe without it For I appeal to any ingenious Man whether he doth not as much build upon his own Judgment who chuseth the Church as he that chuseth Scripture for his Rule And he that chuseth the Church hath many more Difficulties to conquer than the other hath For the Church can never be a Rule without the Scriptures but the Scriptures may without the Church And it is no such easy matter to find the Churches Infallibility in the Scripture But suppose that be found he hath yet a harder Point to get over viz. How the Promises relating to the Church in general came to be appropriated to the Church of Rome Which a Man must have an admirable Faculty at discerning who can find it out either in Scripture or the Records of the Ancient Church The places of Scripture which are brought about Christ's being with his Church to the end of the World about the Power to forgive Sins about the Clergy being God's Labourers Husbandry Building having the Mind of Christ do as effectually prove Infallibility of the Church of England as the Church of Rome for I cannot discern the least inclination in any of them to favour one against the other And pray consider on the other side that those who resist the Truth and will not submit to his Church draw their Arguments from Implications and far-fetch'd Interpretations at the same time that they deny plain and positive Words which is so great a Disingenuity that 't is not almost to be thought that they can believe themselves This is a very heavy Charge To resist the Truth to deny plain and positive Words of Scripture to be guilty of great Disingenuity so as not to believe our selves are faults of so high a nature as must argue not only a bad Cause but a very bad Mind And God forbid that those of the Church of England should ever be found guilty of these things But to come to Particulars Is it resisting Truth or arguing from Implications and denying plain and positive Words of Scripture to say We must not worship Images We must make God alone the
wavering in Religion and that he had acquainted her Highness with it the Lent before the Date of this Paper and was so much concerned at it that he obtained a Promise from her That if any Writing were put into her Hands by those of the the Church of Rome that she would send it either to him or to the then Bishop of Oxford whom he left in Attendance upon her After which he saith She was many Days with him at Farnham in all which time she spake not one word to him of any Doubt she had about her Religion And yet this Paper bears Date Aug. 20. that Year wherein she declares her self changed in her Religion So that it is evident she did not make use of the ordinary Means for her own Satisfaction at least as to those Bishops who had known her longest But she saith That she spoke severally to two of the best Bishops we have in England who both told her there were many things in the Roman Church which it were much to be wished we had kept As Confession which was no doubt commanded of God that Praying for the Dead was one of the Ancient Things in Christianity that for their parts they did it daily though they would not own it And afterwards pressing one of them very much upon the other Points he told her That if he had been bred a Catholick he would not change his Religion but that being of another Church wherein he was sure were all things necessary to Salvation he thought it very ill to give that Scandal as to leave that Church wherein he received his Baptism Which Discourses she said did but add more to the desire she had to be a Catholick This I confess seems to be to the purpose if there were not some Circumstances and Expressions very much mistaken in the Representation of it But yet suppose the utmost to be allow'd there could be no Argument from hence drawn for leaving the Communion of our Church if this Bishop's Authority or Example did signify any thing with her For supposing he did say That if he had been bred in the Communion of the Church of Rome he would not change his Religion Yet he added That being of another Church wherein were all things necessary to Salvation he thought it very ill to give that Scandal as to leave that Church wherein he had received his Baptism Now why should not the last words have greater force to have kept her in the Communion of our Church than the former to have drawn her from it For why should any Person forsake the Communion of our Church unless it appears necessary to Salvation so to do And yet this yielding Bishop did affirm that all things necessary to Salvation were certainly in our Church and that it was an ill thing to leave it How could this add to her desire of leaving our Church unless there were some other Motive to draw her thither and then such small Inducements would serve to inflame such a Desire But it is evident from her own words afterwards that these Concessions of the Bishop could have no Influence upon her for she declares and calls God to witness that she would never have changed her Religion if she had thought it possible to save her Soul otherwise Now what could the Bishop's words signify towards her Turning when he declares just contrary viz. not only that it was possible for her to be saved without turning but that he was sure we had all things necessary to Salvation and that it was a very ill thing to leave our Church There must therefore have been some more secret Reason which encreased her Desire to be a Catholick after these Discourses unless the Advantage were taken from the Bishop's calling the Church of Rome the Catholick Religion If he had been bred a Catholick he would not have chang'd his Religion But if we take these words so strictly he must have contradicted himself for how could he he sure we had all things necessary to Salvation if we were out of the Catholick Church Was a Bishop of our Church and one of the best Bishops of our Church as she said so weak as to yield That he was sure all things necessary to Salvation were to be had out of the Communion of the Catholick Church But again there is an inconsistency in his saying That he thought it very ill to leave our Church which no Man of common sense would have said if he had believed the Roman Church to be the Catholick exclusive of all others that do not join in Communion with it The utmost then that can be made of all this is That there was a certain Bishop of this Church who held both Churches to be so far Parts of the Catholick Church that there was no necessity of going from one Church to another But if he asserted that he must overthrow the necessity of the Reformation and consequently not believe our Articles and Homiles and so could not be any true Member of the Church of England But the late Bishop of Winchester hath made a shorter Answer to all this For he first doubts Whether there ever were any such Bishops who made such Answers And afterwards he affirms That he believes there never was in Rerum Naturâ such a Discourse as is pretended to have been between this Great Person and two of the most Learned Bishops of England But God be thanked the Cause of our Church doth not depend upon the singular Opinion of one or two Bishops in it wherein they appareently recede from the establish'd Doctrine of it And I am sure those of the Church of Rome take it ill from us to be charged with the Opinion of Particular Divines against the known Sentiments of their Church Therefore supposing the Matter of Fact true it ought not to have moved her to any Inclination to leave the Church of England But after all She protests in the Presence of Almighty God that no Person Man or Woman directly or indirectly ever said any thing to her since she came into England or used the least Endeavour to make her change her Religion and that it is a Blessing she wholly ows to Almighty God So that the Bishops are acquitted from having any hand in it by her own words and as far as we can understand her meaning she thought her self converted by immediate Divine Illumination We had thought the pretence to a private Spirit had not been at this time allowed in the Church of Rome But I observe that many things are allowed to bring Persons to the Church of Rome which they will not permit in those who go from it As the use of Reason in the Choice of a Church the Judgment of Sense and here that which they would severely condemn in others as a Private Spirit or Enthusiasm will pass well enough if it doth but lead one to their Communion Any Motive or Method is good enough