Take heed of both Extremes OR Plain and useful Cautions AGAINST POPERY AND PRESBYTERY By way of DIALOGUE In Two Parts By LVKE DE BEAVLIEV LONDON Printed for Henry Brome at the Gun in St. Paul's Church-Yard 1675. TO THE Christian Courteous and Impartial READER I Would fain oblige thee in the beginning of my Book because possibly the rest will not please thee so well Therefore instead of a Preface or a short Advertisement wherewith usually the Reader is put off I give thee an Epistle Dedicatory This I hope will prove acceptable in that it is a new device and also because thou mayst have very cheap the Honour of having had a Book Dedicated to thee But yet besides I assure thee that this Book of itself is worth thy reading for it will make thee see in their natural shape and colours many things which before appeared only under a disguise and if thou art a Lover of Truth as all pretend to be thou canst not but rejoice to see it come out from under the Cloud where before it lay hid And withal thou mayst use it as an Antidote against the Infection of some sugared Poisons which many venture to drink of not knowing their deadly Qualities Therefore I require thee that thou wouldest not fling away the Book as soon as thou findest some things in it against thy former persuasions or thy present liking for oftentimes wholesom Physic is the most unpleasant and if thou readest through and then repentest of thy labour I give it here under my hand that I also will repent of mine but if the Book doth work upon thee the good effect I intended all the Requital I expect is this that as thou art unknown to the Author so thou wouldest not enquire after him because he is unwilling to be known any otherwise than by being Thy Real Friend and Affectionate Well-wisher L. B. P. THE PREFACE MAny Learned Books have been written against the Errors of the Church of Rome by several worthy Champions of the Church of England but usually they read them most that have least need of them while in the mean time they that have but little of knowledge are left unarmed against the Crafts and Subtilties of the Propagators of the Roman Faith I know there is an in-bred Aversion to Popery in the major part of our People but Popery is now a word of a very dubious signification and means rather what every one dislikes than what is so indeed and it is to be seen in the second part of this Book that they that exclaim'd most against what they pleased to call Popery ran themselves into the worst of Popish Errors However 't is not a brutish Hatred or a blind Zeal against unknown Errors can secure us from them A man may easily embrace his mortal Enemy if he knows him not or if he meets him under a disguise Jesuites are Travesty among us and so is their Doctrine they put a strange garb as well upon their Opinions as upon their Persons and I am confident they win more Proselytes by mis-representing the Popish Religion than by proving it to be true Therefore that they might no longer be imposed upon that have not the leisure or the capacity of knowing what the Papists do really believe contrary to that sound and orthodox Doctrine which is profest in the Church of England I have here set down their real Opinions taken out of their most approved Doctors and the Council of Trent itself having transcrib'd their very words without any the least alteration and then Englisht them as faithfully as their sense did require And afterwards I have added some of those places of Scripture which I thought most express against those Errors which our Church hath rejected as being contrary to Gods Word and the Faith of the Primitive Church Now if any man likes those Doctrines of the Church of Rome as they are really in themselves and as they stand in opposition to the Word of God let him embrace them if it so please him but let none flatter himself or be made to believe by others that the Popish Tenets I have mentioned are not so bad as I represent them for I have used the very Words and Expressions of their own Authors which certainly could not be made either better or worse by being transcrib'd by me Perhaps I shall be censur'd for having writ my Book Dialogue-wise and not well manag'd the Intrigue but if they that find fault with this like the matter let them not mind the form if not I had as lieve they should dislike both as but one onely My design was not to make a Dramatic Piece but to make my Actors speak truth This way of writing is easie to the meanest capacities and I am minded to imitate at least in the method that excellent Dialogue called the F.D. However if I can profit those that shall read me I little care whether I please them or not And now if it may be lawful for a Controvertist to moralize a little give me leave to tell thee Dear Reader that what I have written is not to engage thee into Disputes and Religious Quarrels I had rather thou shouldest read The whole Duty of Man and the excellent Discourse which that pious Author hath written against Disputes in his Decay of Christian Piety than this Book of mine By discovering the foul stains of those Religions that make shew of a fair and specious outside my design is not to teach thee how to rail at them or wrangle with their followers But to make thee love and obey that holy Religion which is taught in the Church of England and which promiseth rewards to her followers not for hating those that are of different Persuasions but for obeying the Precepts of Christ If thou art an ill liver no matter what Religion thou art of thy recompence shall be according to thy Works if not thy Creed and a Good Life will do thy soul more good than much Knowledge and Activity in what concerns the Differences among Christians in points of Religion And if thou dost ask me why therefore I should meddle with them and not be wholly employed in the performance of good Works I answer somewhat like as Aphraates did Valens when he came into Antioch to oppose himself to the then prevailing Error of Arius and the Emperor askt him why he had left his Religious Retirement to come into the City Niceph. l. 11. c. 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. When the flock of Christ is in danger of being seduced it behoves me also to do my utmost endeavour for its Preservation And when my heavenly Fathers house is set on fire I will by all means endeavour to quench it and fling water upon it though it were but one drop Imprimatur Tho. Tomkyns Ex Aed Lambethanis Decemb. 13. 1675. Popery Manifested AND THE Papist Incognito made known By way of DIALOGUE between a Papist Priest a Protestant Gentleman and a
Presbyterian Divine The First Part. P. SIr your humble servant I come to wait you upon a double account to give you thanks for the Civilities I have heretofore received from you and to spend in the best Company I can that short time I am allow'd to stay in England G. I protest Master it grieves me that contrary to our inclination we should be forc'd to be thus severe against you for to secure the peace of the kingdom And were it not that your Religion stands in opposition to the good and peaceable intentions which I believe some of you may have I do protest that I my self would heartily intercede for your staying and living quietly with us However you are very welcome P. Sir I know you to be of a very sweet nature by a long experience and I will requite your kindness by praying heartily for your conversion to the true Catholic Faith G. Master I thank you for your good will but I believe if your Prayers be heard I shall never be of your Religion for if it hath the truth yet therewith ye have mixt so many false Doctrins particular to your own Church that it can never be justly call'd The true Catholic Faith P. Sir you speak as you have been taught but did you well understand those things as you call false Doctrines I am sure you would be of another mind G. Well we are entred ab abrupto upon a Subject that will help us to pass away the time therefore I desire you my good Friend for our old acquaintance sake to let me know positively the truth of what your Church believes in the chiefest things we differ from you as it is taught and recorded by your most approved Doctors P. I will with all my heart as far as I am able and that you may not think I disguise any thing or speak my private Opinions I will bring the very words of the Council of Trent or Bellarmin or Stapleton as the Authentic Proofs of the truth of what I shall say ask you what you have a mind to know G. First let me enquire of what you believe concerning the Holy Scripture for we make it the Ground and the Rule of our Faith being persuaded that it conteins all things necessary to Salvation P. We are much of another mind for we hold that the Scripture doth not expresly contein all that is necessary to be believed or to be done i.e. Bellar. de Verbo Dei l. 4. c. 3. that its Doctrine is defective in what concerns Faith and Morality Nos asserimus in Scripturis non contineri expresse totam doctrinam necessariam sive de fide sive de moribus G. That 's very plain and I believe more than you dare say to those you endeavour to make your Proselytes P. Nay Sir before we proceed I must tell you that I expect you would render me like for like and cite the words of Cranmer or Calvin or whatever Authors they are you have your Doctrine from that it may be seen which of us hath the better Authorities for our several Opinions pray who taught you that all things necessary to salvation are contein'd in Scripture G. Our Blessed Saviour who approved the Jews opinion of believing that by the Scriptures they might have eternal life and therefore commanded them to search them John 5.39 Search the Scriptures for in them ye think ye have eternal life and they are they which testifie of me And more expresly S. Paul who affirms that they are able to make us wise unto salvation 2 Tim. 3.15 c. being inspir'd by God These two Texts are of more weight with me than the contrary affirmations of twenty Cardinals And as for the Authors of our Religion we own none besides Christ and his blessed Apostles Those Doctrines of our Church which are positive are plainly contein'd in Scripture and the best Records of the Primitive Church and are own'd and believ'd by you also and the negatives which are against your Innovations can neither be disprov'd by Scripture nor the Antient Fathers but are generally included in the positive All this is to be seen in the learned labours of many of the Reformed Doctors I will not make our Discourse so tedious as to rehearse what they have said upon that subject therefore I desire you to be contented with a few plain Scriptures which I will bring to authorize our denying those Articles of your Roman Faith we have rejected P. Well do so if you will but let me tell you that Scripture is not to be the judge of Differences in Religion 'T is the Pope and Council must decide all Controversies and declare the true sense of Scripture Bellar. de Verbo Dei l. 3. c. 3. Judicem dicimus veri sensus Scripturae omnium Controversiarum esse Ecclesiam id est Pontificem cum Concilio G. I don't believe it for I find that God sends his People to the Law and to the Testimony to examin the Doctrine of the Prophets Isa 8.20 and I hope the Gospel may as well have the Privilege that by it we should examin the Doctrin of the Pope Christ tells the Saducees that they cried because they knew not the Scriptures Mar. 12.24 Luke 16.29 It is said in the Parable of Dives They have Moses and the Prophets let them hear them And it is recorded to the praise of the people of Berea that they searched the Scriptures daily to see whether those things were so Acts 17.11 In all these the Scripture is made Judge of Controversies and by it the Doctrin of S. Paul himself is tried and examined P. But for all that the Scripture is very obscure and harder to be understood than the Notions of Metaphysic Bellar. de Verbo Dei l. 3. c. 1. Certe si scientia Metaphysicorum difficilior quomodo non obscurissima erit Scriptura quae de rebus longe altioribus agit And if the People should read it it would do them more harm than good for 't would be an occasion of their falling into error about those Doctrines that concern Faith and a good Life Et ibid. l. 2. c. 15. Populum non solum non eaperet fructum ex Scripturis sed etiam caperet detrimentum acciperet enim facillime occasionem errandi tum in doctrina fidei tum in praeceptis vitae morum Therefore all men ought to follow the Decisions of Popes and Councils that they may be guided in the truth G. Nay I would have the people follow the judgment of the Church they live in but I would have them to make use of their Rationality to chuse the Communion of the purest Church according to the Word of God and if they have learning enough according to the four first General Councils and the Primitive Christians and not deny their Reason and the plain meaning of Scripture and make themselves blind that they may be led by those that pretend to
Infallibility and a supreme Authority in things of Faith As for the Decisions of your Popes and Councils it hath been observed by learned men of ours that they are also subject to mis-interpretation and that they have not been able so much as to compose any one of those Differences that have been and are still amongst you And indeed why should not God speak as plain as the Pope in what is absolutely necessary to be known Is it because he is not able or because he is not willing we should know the truth But Friend whilst you tax the Scripture with obscurity and make the people think 't is a dangerous Book see whether you do not give the lie to God himself who saith Ps 19.7 â— The Law of the Lord is perfect converting the soul the Testimony of the Lord is sure making wise the simple according to Rome it should have been making the simple to err The Statutes of the Lord are right rejoycing the heart the commandment of the Lord is pure enlightning the eye not blinding or darkning the eye Psal 119 105. In another place Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path Could any thing be more express against the charge of obscurity 2 Cor. 4.3 4. And so S. Paul saith If our Gospel be hid it is hid to them that perish in whom the God of this world hath blinded the minds lest the light of the glorious Gospel of Christ who is the image of God should shine unto them It seems the Gospel hath a light that shines unto men and the devil endeavours to blind them that they may not see it and whether the Pope be not an useful instrument to that effect let them judge that are not yet quite blind Sure if there was so great a danger in reading the Scriptures God would not have commanded his people so absolutely to study his Law Christ would not have preached to the multitudes for his words might be misinterpreted as well spoken as written and the Apostles should not have directed their Epistles to all the people of Corinth Ephesus c. We should rather have been forbidden searching the Scriptures and sent to his Holiness to know what we must believe and do P. Sir you are tedious in your Reasons and Proofs and whereas I cite only one of our approved Doctors at a time and that in few words you bring me I don't know how many places of Scripture I had rather you would tell me what Luther or the Church of Geneva have resolv'd in these Controversies G. 'T would be to no purpose for we regard not their opinions nor those of any private men but as far as they agree with the truth Our Church is founded upon that Catholic and unchangeable truth which God hath revealed in the Sacred Books and which hath been and is still entertain'd by all those that own the Fundamentals of Christianity Therefore as I have told you 't will be the shortest way for me to back those Doctrins of our Church which oppose any of yours by the authority of Gods Revelations his most Holy Word which is a sufficient foundation for us to ground our faith upon P. As far as I can see you are run a great way off from us for we as many as own the Pope to be the Head and Monarch of the Church never mind what the Scripture saith we follow blind-fold the Judgment of our Church as a most infallible guide Bellar. de Rom. Pont. l. 4. c. 4. We believe that neither the Pope nor the particular Church of Rome can err in things of Faith Non solum Pontifex Romanus non potest errare in fide sed neque Romana particularis Ecclesia No Sir take it from Bellarmin Bellar. de Eccles l. â— c. 14. It is absolutely impossible that the Church should err in any thing whether it be necessary or not Nostra est sententia Ecclesiam absolute non posse errare nec in rebus absolute necessariis nec in aliis G. And you Sir take it from experience that the Church of Rome could and hath greatly erred in many things if it be an error to make huge additions to the antient Creeds and to go directly against the Word of God And though it be impossible that ever the Universal Church should forsake and deny the saving truths of Christian Religion because of the Promise of Christ Matth. 16.18 Yet any one particular Church or Society of Christians though never so great may err and that in Fundamentals as we know of some Pseudo-Councils that have broach'd or confirm'd damnable Heresies And accordingly the Scripture saith Rom. 3.4 Let God be true and every man a liar the Bishop of Rome himself is not excepted And doubtless if the Church of Rome was infallible and the only guide that can lead us to heaven God who hath revealed to us the way to happiness would not have omitted so essential a thing But instead of a command wholly to rely on the judgment of the Pope speaking ex Cathedra we are commanded to prove all things 1 Thess 5 2â— 1 Joh. â— 1 and to hold fast that which is good and again to try the spirits whether they be of God because many false Prophets are come out into the world Now how shall we try them but by the Word of God and if we find you do not follow it why should we any longer follow you Find me as many Texts out of Gods Word to prove that your great Bishop is infallible and that we are all bound to believe every thing he saith as I have produc'd already for the Divine Authority of Scripture and its sufficiency to bring us unto Salvation and then we 'll weigh them together and my faith shall follow the heavier Scale But when we prove and demonstrate that you err and go directly against Scripture for you to come and say that it is impossible because you are infallible and free from all error is to my thinking a very odd and unsatisfactory answer P. Well if you talk of Scripture till tomorrow I am sure ours is the Antient Catholic Church without the which there is no salvation But your Religion is a new upstart you cannot shew me where it was and the Professors of it two hundred years ago G. As for the Professors where they were and that there were many even in the highth of Popery is a long Historical labour but ready done to my hand by several learned men the Author of Catalogus testium Verit. Abbot Vsher Fox White c. They were in the Eastern and Greec Churches much larger than that of Rome they were amongst you some declar'd and marty'd for it some for peace sake living in the Communion of your Church and some conceled for fear of your cruelty sighing in secret for Liberty and Reformation But you may satisfie your self fully in their Books As for our Religion It was
where it had been above a thousand years in the Holy Scripture And suppose what is utterly false that soon after its being written all Christian Churches had been so corrupted as to own fifteen hundred years together those Errors which now are amongst you yet still the Scripture had been the same as much to be obeyed and followed as if it had always been so 2 King 22. When Josiah had found the Book of the Law he did not fling it by because it had been hid and neglected during the reign of Manasseh and Amon his Fathers but he caused it to be read before all the people Ibid. 23. that they might observe what was conteined in it So now we have the Holy Scriptures read and preached to us we must not reject them to follow the Customs of some of our Fore-Fathers in whose time they were hid and disregarded for they are as much the Rule of Faith as if they had never been disown'd But I say farther that our Religion was in those Churches in the East and South which never own'd Popery and even amongst you our Religion was professed you believed all along those three Creeds which you and we do still retein which contein the Articles of our Faith but not the new additions which are particular to Rome The Popes universal Supremacy and his Infallibility Transubstantiation Worshipping of Images Purgatory Indulgences c. These are neither in Scripture nor in the first Councils nor in the Writings of the Antient Fathers not so much as in your Creeds an evident mark of their novelty but in the late Councils and Constitutions of the Popes We confess indeed that there is an universal Church out of which there is no salvation according to that known saying of S. Cyprian Deum non potest c. He can be none of Gods children who is not a son of the Church But that Church is the Christian not the Roman Church and to know which is the Christian Church or which is the purest of Christian Churches for they are all Christian in some measure that own Christ we must not consult humane Histories for they cannot inform us of that and if they could we must not build our faith upon mens report De Sacâ—a l. 2. c. 21. Bellarmin saith of humane Histories Faciunt tantum humanam fidem cui falsam subesse potest that they only beget a human saith which may be erroneous Wherefore in the Controversie betwixt us which is the purest Church we must not search old Records and Chronicles to see which was the oldest the most visible or the most large and flourishing Church that is not the Question and if it were still human Histories cannot be the ground of a Christian Faith but we must examin which agrees best with Holy Scripture which we all acknowledge to be the Word of God for no doubt the true Church wherein Salvation may be had is that which holds that Doctrin which God himself hath reveled to Mankind whatever her condition may have been in times past P. There may be something considerable in what you say but you Hereties have strange cunnings and subtilties to justifie your Opinions and yet still for all you have said you are no better than Rebels against your spiritual Sovereign you are Schismatics undutiful Children that have forsaken your Mother the Church The true and only Church wherein Salvation is to be obtein'd guided and governed by the Vicar of Christ upon earth our holy Father the Pope Vna est tantum Ecclesia sub regimine unius Christi in terris Vicarii Romani Pontific is Bellar. de Eccl. l 3. c. 2. But pray do not make such a tedious Discourse as you have just now G. Good Sir sometimes short Questions cannot be answered in few words I could propose one to you much like that as you put to me which I believe would take a great deal of your time to answer that is Where your particular Religion your sacrificing of the real and corporal body and bloud of Christ for the sins of the living and the dead your Worshipping Images and Saints and making them your Intercessors your Purgatory Indulgences c. Where was all that in the time of Christ and his Apostles Whereabout can it be found in Scripture or in the antient Creeds or in the four first General Councils or in the three or four first Centuries But I will not put you to so long and impossible a Task As for our forsaking the Communion of the Church of Rome we were absolutely bound and in a manner forc'd to do it because of the many errors which had crept and been brought into it by the Ignorance Pride Avarice and Ambition of the late Popes of Rome and their Partizans and which were confirm'd by your Church and defended with that violence that it was death to any man to speak in the least against them Now you know 't is a Rule agreed on of all sides that he is not guilty of Schism that separates but he that gives a just cause of Separation wherfore I retort the charge upon you of being Schismatics except you can prove by the Word of God those Doctrins of yours we have rejected to be Divine and Orthodox for we have left your Church upon this account that you had perverted the truth of God and added many false opinions to it which ye impos'd upon the people as if they had been Articles of Faith And we find it in Scripture Ro. 16.17 Mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the Doctrin which ye have learned and avoid them 't is not said except it be the Church of Rome And in another place Gal. 1.8 Though we or an angel from heaven preach unto you beyond or over and above in the Greec 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the vulgar praeterquam quod what we have preached let him be accursed the Pope himself you see is not excepted Again we have left the Communion of your Church because it was Schismatic itself in that it had forsaken the Doctrin taught and believed in the Primitive Church We have come out of Rome to return into the more antient and universal Church We have left the Pope to follow Christ and his Apostles and we have forsaken you no farther than you had forsaken the truth The antient Creeds the first Councils many good and Fundamental Doctrins we hold together in these we hold Communion with you We reject your Communion only in those new Doctrins which ye have superadded to the antient and divine Faith of Christians And so likewise we rebel not against the Pope only we set God above him I 'll still acknowledge him to be a Bishop and the Patriarch of the West and perhaps I had been civil enough never to have disputed his Infallibility and spiritual Sovereignty though I find nothing for it in Scripture had I not found that he hath really erred and that very
have a desire to depart Phil. 1.23 and to be with Christ 2 Cor. 5.8 We are confident and willing rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord. And our blessed Saviour tells the penitent Malefactor Luk. 23.43 This day shalt thou be with me in Paradise Though it hath been and is still questioned whether the Souls of the Righteous are admitted into the same Mansions of Glory as they shall be after the Resurrection yet that there is Rest and Bliss in their Receptacles is certainly taught by these Scriptures But there is no mention made of Purgatory in the whole Bible 1 Joh. 1.7 Ibid. v. 9. rather we are told That the blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth us from all sin That If we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness and that Heb. 1.3 Christ by himself hath purged our sins by himself not by the flames of Purgatory I can't but commend the modesty of your Clergy that they have not inserted their new-devised Doctrines in the holy Scripture but rather hid the Scripture from the People but I do hugely suspect their honesty to perswade men to relie upon such imaginary things as Indulgences and Purgatory when the best argument to prove that they can in any wise benefit the People is that they bring great profit to the Church P. Yes I know you would fain bring contempt upon our Clergy I suppose you envy their mighty Power in that they can do more than all Men and Angels besides They have the Keys of Heaven and Hell Bel. de poenit l. 3. c. 2. except they absolve a man though he be never so penitent yet he must be damn'd Si non essent Sacerdotes judices nec vere peccata remitterent nemo periret ex eo solum qued Sacerdotem reconciliantem habere non posset sed c. Moreover they have the power to destroy all the seven Sacraments Without their intention goes along with their ministration the Sacraments are ineffectual and insignificant and they are accursed that don't believe it Bell. de Sacram. L. 1. c. 27. Con. Trident S. 7. Can. 11. Sententia Catholicorum est requiri intentionem faciendi quod facit Ecclesia ut expresse sacra Synodus Tridentina His verbis Si quis dixerit in Ministris dum Sacramenta conficiunt conferunt non requiri intentionem saltem faciendi quod facit Ecclesia Anathema sit G. Indeed if your tale be true your Priests have a most unlimited Power and except they use it aright the poor people are like to smart for it 'T is a thing must make them very dear and precious to the Laity that except they repent a penitent sinner he must go to Hell notwithstanding his repenting and begging for mercy But sure you forget one thing in their commendation that they are as infallible as the Pope nay more that they do as well as God know the hearts of men for 't would be a very odd thing if they should absolve a wicked Hypocrite and send him to Heaven or send a true Penitent to Hell by resusing to absolve him What a dreadful thing must a Priest be amongst you and how careful must your people be to please them when by their only thoughts they can damn them as fast as they will If his intention be wanting when he baptizeth a Child the poor Creature will live and die a Heathen If when he marries he intends it not Master Bridegroom in stead of a Wife hath got none but a Concubine In the Sacrament of the Lords Supper he may chance to make the people worship nothing but a Wafer if he doth not intentionally consecrate And who knows but that intention might be wanting in the Ordination of a Priest of the Pope himself or of some of their Predecessors and then how great are the mischiefs that follow thereupon Are not those very pious Doctrines and don 't they well deserve the Councils curse that will not believe them Your Clergy-mens Power is indeed much to be admired that they can get credit to such stuff as this and impose so grosly upon the people P. No wonder if you are injurious to our Ministers when you are so to the Sacraments themselves making them to be but signs to put us in mind of what they signifie We differ as much from you in this as in the precedent Article for we are taught by the holy Council That Sacraments confer Grace to the Receivers Cone Trident. S. 7. Can. 8. Bel. de effectu Sacram. l. 2. c. 1. opere operato by their own immediate vertue and efficacy As the fire burns by its self saith Bellarmine not by the dryness of the wood so the Sacraments give Grace by their own selves without any disposition or qualification be required of the Receiver and not as Hereticks say by exciting faith c. Catholici probant Sacramentorum efficaciam non pendere ab ulla qualitate suscipientis Nam ut ignis urit Et c. 3. c. Et ibid. Titulus Capitis tertii quod Sacramenta ex opere operato conferant gratiam Non ut concio excitando fidem ut dicunt haeretici G. By Mr. Bellarmine's good leave we derogate nothing from the Ordination or the Ministrations of Clergy-men much less from the two Sacraments which Christ instituted they all really give and exhibit what they signifie by them God conveys his Grace really and effectually at all times and to all Receivers non ponentibus obicem that do not hinder their efficacy by their indisposition and perverseness But 't is very strange that you make spiritual Graces to be inherent in things material as if they were their natural properties and make those Elements to work upon our souls by themselves more powerfully than that very matter that is personally united to them And 't is likely to prove a great hindrance to Devotion and Holiness to tell the people that whatsoever their preparations or the condition of their Souls be they shall certainly receive the Grace offered in the Sacraments so that if a dying wicked man can but make the Priest to believe that he hath attrition or contrition enough to be in a capacity of having the Sacrament administred to him then the Absolution and Extream Unction will conjure him up to Heaven by their abstruse and powerful vertue And then who would be at the trouble of living soberly righteously and godly as the Gospel requires when one may be saved without it I might bring Sacriptures against this opinion but it confutes it self and I believe the Owners of it will rather mis-represent than defend it But sure the Fathers of Trent were got in an ill mood when they did curse those that would not believe that under the Gospel there is seven Sacraments instituted by Christ as they did in the Canons of their seventh Session for one might
par canonis verba consecrationis proferuntur damnandum esse aut lingua tantum vulgari Missam celebrari debere Ibid. Can. 9. aut aquam non Miscendam esse vino in Calice eo quod sit contra Christi institutionem Anathema sit In a word let any one read the Institution of that blessed Sacrament in the three Gospels and compare it to what is now done and taught among you and if he will but believe his own eyes he must needs confess that you have most wretchedly corrupted and deform'd it But against your pretended sacrificing of Christ for the sins of the living and the dead Heb 7.26 27. I 'll oppose these Scriptures Such an high Priest became us who needeth not daily as those high Priests to offer up sacrifice first for his own sins and then for the peoples for this he did once when he offered up himself Heb 9.12 By his own bloud he entred once into the holy places having obtained eternal redemption for us What need then he be sacrificed any more for sin and satisfaction as you reach At the 26 verse Once in the end of the world he appeared once to put away sins by the sacrifice of himself the whole Chapter is against Christ being sacrificed again Saint Paul saith that the New Covenant which Christ made with us in his Bloud is this Their sins and iniquities will I remember no more and then infers Now where remission of these is there is no more offering for sin And at the 14 verse it is expresly said That he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified And then what need those daily Sacrifices or Offerings for sin that are amongst you Now let your Church boast no more of her infallibility except she can first prove that those many clear and express Scriptures which speak against her new Doctrines are mistaken or else that God meant by them quite another thing than what he exprest and that men are not to believe any thing of Scripture though never so plain until the Pope hath determined how far and in what sense until that be done we will together with the primitive Concils and Fathers make the Word of God the Rule of our Faith and adhere to the three ancient Creeds and then laugh at your wilful and confident Assertions as we do at that which is call'd a Womans reason P. You may laugh as long as you will you can never scorn us so much as we do you and for all you are so stout here at home if you were in those Countries where there is an Inquisition they 'll make you talk after another rate and feel that such perverse Hereticks as you are deserve to be used as bad as the worst of Infidels and that faith is no more to be kept with you than with Tirants and publick Robbers Praesens Sancta Synodus ex quovis salvo conductu per Imperatorem Reges alios saeculi principes Concil Constant S. 19. haereticis vel de haeresi diffamatis putantes eosdem sic à suis erroribus revocare quocunque vinculo se astrixerint Concesso nullum fidei Catholicae vel jurisdictioni Ecclesiasticae praejudicium generari posse seu debere declarat Quominus dicto salvo conductu non obstante liceat judici competenti Ecclesiastico inquirere punire c. Etiamsi de salvo conductis Confisi ad locum venerint judicii alias non venturi Nec sic permittentem cum fecerit quod in ipso est ex hoc in aliquo remansisse obligatum Fides haereticis data servanda non est Becan Inst tit 46. S. 51. sicut nec tyrannis piratis caeteris publicis praedonibus And so I leave you to the tickling of your own fancy G. Nay good Master don't be gone yet and don 't be so angry I 'll rather not laugh at all than lose your company And the truth is I could much sooner weep when I think of the sad Divisions which are betwixt the hearts as well as the judgments of Christians Though I have an aversion to some of your Doctrines yet I assure you I have none for you nor any others that dissent from our Church And would to God our different Opinions had not so utterly destroyed not only Christian Charity but even Humanity such bloudy and unnatural Doctrines and Practices as you now mentioned had never been seen nor heard of And for all your suddain passion I am perswaded you have so much of humane Nature in your breast that if you consult your heart upon second thoughts you 'll find in it some abhorrence to those cruelties as have often been used against dissenting Christians by those that pretended to be better if not the best of that name P. Truly I confess that in cold bloud I should be unwilling to use such severities against any body and for my own self I would not persecute any man upon the account of Religion But yet I cannot condemn the practice of our Church in this for the Pope out of the plenitude of that power he hath over all the Christian World may well dispose of the life of an Heretick that will not be reclaim'd for he hath power to dispose for the good of Souls and the advancement of the Catholick Faith of the Kingdoms and the very Lives of all Princes if the aforesaid exigencies require it Cardinal Stapleton after having disputed against those who granted too large a power to the Bishop of Rome asserts this as the most moderate Opinion of the Doctors of the Church That in case of mortal sin especially Heresie when 't is likely to be prejudiciable to the Church the Roman Pontiff as being Supreme Pastor of it may for its preservation punish any Princes whatsoever and if it should be requisite deprive them of their Kingdoms either by means of the Parliament or Peers and Commons or in case of necessity that is if it can't be effected that way he may do it immediately by himself by his own Authority by giving his Kingdom to another Prince or to any the first Catholick Conqueror For so he saith Pope Stephen transferr'd the Empire from the Greeks to the Germans and Pope Innocent the Fourth took the Government of the Kingdom from the King of Portugal and gave it to his Brother Stap. contr 3. de primario subjecto potestatis Ecclesiasticae quâ—st 5. a. 2. In casu peccati mortalis maxime haeresis potissimum quando in publicum aliquod magnum Ecclesiae detrimentum vergit Romanus Pontifex tanquam supremus Ecclesiae Pastor ad ejus conservationem punire quosvis principes potest si rei necessitas exigat regno privare Romanus Pontifex in casu haeresis principem aliquem dominio privare immediata authoritate potest in casu necessitatis alioqui non nisi mediata per populum aut ordines regni vel Senatum civitatis at si istud non succedat qui
Durell speaks as if there was hardly any difference betwixt you and the Church of England Bonasius Vapul 1672. p. 80. It may be worth saith he the consideration of those who are in Authority whether they may not enjoy Ecclesiastical Preferments who differ from their Brethren only in some few points of Discipline for as to the Essentials of Discipline I am not so quick-sighted as to find that we disagree c. But if it be so the more wicked you who have made crimes and enormities of a few indifferent points of Discipline What was it the tenderness of your Consciences that made a few Ceremonies to be Popery and Antichristianism so that upon their account you must call upon the people in Sion to war against Babylon Either you are the greatest Cheats in the World or else you differ from your Church at least in those points wherein as I have shewn you come so near to us chuse you which you please As for your loving and honouring the reformed Churches beyond Sea and the first Reformators of this I find no such thing in your Books but rather that you lov'd and honour'd your selves far beyond them all Mr. Dury in his Sermon to the Parliament upon these words Depart ye c. Isai 52.11 p. 5. is pretty plain in it I chose these words saith he because the destruction of Babylon and the deliverance of the Church out of it is the great work which God intends to accomplish by the Gospel in these latter times and because of the relation wherein we do stand to it for I conceive that God is not only working out our deliverance to bring us out of Babylon at this time c. Where could you have been worse than in Babylon before the good men in King Edward the sixth's time had done any thing towards a Reformation So you may hear him say at the 25 pag. None of all the Magistrates or Ministers of other Nations have ever given such an answer to this Call to come out of Babylon as you and we of the Ministry and this people have done for we have undertaken the Cause in the full extent thereof therefore we are in this employment nearer unto God than any others and he is more interest in us and in Scotland than in any other Nation whatsoever Two Witnesses more I hope will make the thing credible Mr. Boden in his Sermon Revel 18.6 Reward her as p. 9. c. saith 'T is no wonder that our forefathers did little or nothing against the Beast and the Babylonians for their eyes were blinded they could not see to work much less to fight but that we having clear visions and full discoveries made of the Beast and her abominations should sit still and be careless and suffer her for ever to play her beastly pranks is a most deadly shame and stain unto us And Mr. Tho. Goodwin in his foresaid Sermon Others had had the honour in the first Age of reforming p. 52. and we had been like blear-eyed Leah yet since we have been abundantly the more fruitful of Saints faithful and chosen And indeed the truth is you went so far beyond all other Reformers that you might well despise them as having done their work very imperfectly to what you did Pr. I took you to be but a Priest but I doubt you are a Jesuite too for you can turn other mens words to what sense you please I believe those good men meant no such thing as the interpretation you give to their words But whether they did or no 't is nothing to us we pin our faith upon no mans sleeve if they have said or done any thing amiss we utterly disclaim it We own the Kings Supreme Authority and we own the Doctrine of the Church of England and to prove the contrary by particular mens words as you have endeavoured to do is altogether lost labour because their Opinions is not the Rule we follow So that all your Quotations evince nothing of what you intended and you well deserve to be laugh'd at for having taken such a huge deal of bootless pains in repeating other mens words Pa. Very well 't is but making up your mouth and wiping of it and looking very demure and then you have done nothing and so you think you can abuse the world everlastingly But stay Sir dear-bought experience hath taught us that your goodly words are little to be trusted and you have approved your selves such incomparable Jugglers that we will see what you tell us before we believe it In the highest of your Rebellion you were for the King forsooth much more now he reigns Th. Palmer was Minister of the Army raised for King and Parliament as he stiles himself in the Title of his Sermon 1644. Mr. Peech at the Siege of Basing was fighting for the King pag. 24. We honour the King we fight for him we resolve though it cost us our lives we will have his love and his presence again And John Arrowsmith before the House of Commons calls him his Dear Sovereign 〈…〉 They saith he that brought our King into this Civil War are a Generation of scornful men that laugh at our Builders as Sanballat and his Complices did at Nehemiah What is this thing as ye do will ye rebel against the King a Generation which can neither find in their hearts to afford a good word of advice to our Dread and Dear Sovereign c. But 't is more than probable that by a worse than Jesuitical Equivocation you meant only a notional King the workmanship of your deceitful Brains for so we find a cunning distinction between the King and the Kings Person Tho. Case in his Sermon to the Court-Martial on 2 Chron. 29.6 7. And Jehoshaphat said unto the Judges Take heed what ye do c Tell them That though they had not a Jehoshaphat to give them that charge in his personal capacity yet they had him in his political capacity So Robert Austin D. D. printed a Book intending to prove 1644. That by the Oath of Allegiance the Parliament was bound to take up Arms though against the Kings personal command for the just defence of the Kings Person Crown and Dignity So you might be sure by such means ever to be for him and have him of your side whatever you did for so Mr. Burroughs prov'd by the same art pag. 27. That his most Loyal Party was not fighting against the King but for the King for the preservation of true Regal Power in the King and his Posterity and to rescue him from the hands of evil men who were his greatest Enemies And he said pag. 57. That the Saints and most Religious had ventured their Lives Fortunes Children and all for the safety of the King One would have taken him then for a great Royalist but that there was an unlucky Equivocation in the case The Scripture saith he pag. 28. bids us to be subject
much happiness with many secret and glorious things after all their trouble so saith the same Author ibid. pag. 6. We shall see at last that the mercy God intended for us was worth all the troubles and bloud c. God hath many Promises to his Church to accomplish many Prophecies to fulfil many glorious things to declare many Mercies for his Saints to bestow and these stirs among us will make way for all And so Mr. Joh. Bond 1644. Bond tells the Parliament That the present work of Salvation and Reformation they had in hand was carried on in a mystery was a shadowed master-piece altogether made up of stratagems paradoxes and wonders and so the comfort is it shall be a great Salvation a Salvation from Babylon But this will suffice at present to shew that the people was deluded more ways than one and to give a warning to the following Generation that so they never be drawn into Rebellion by the same arts and pretences as their Fathers were It would be endless to rehearse all the equivocations jugglings and deceits as were used to seduce the people next time we meet perchance you shall hear more of them What I have said now is enough to prove that your words signifie nothing but what you please that your dissimulations are deep and specious and that you never want arts and evasions to plead innocency and salve your credit after the foulest doings and miscarriages Now you differ but a very little from the Church of England and you are for Obedience to the King whatever some of you may have said or done heretofore Very good That 's as much as to say That do you what you will you are resolved ever to be in the right and never to acknowledge your selves faulty in the least for fear of losing the repute of Infallibility But let it be considered 1. That I have proved what I charged upon you not by the words of the obscure and ordinary but of the most famous men of your Party who must needs have known the Tenets and Doctrines of your Sect and who were then and are still now cryed up and followed by your Disciples and Admirers 2. That those words of theirs I have cited were not taken out of Libels or prophane Books nor were spoken heedlesly in the heat of dispute but are to be found in their Sermons and were delivered out of their Pulpits in the powerfulness of Preaching as being the Word of God 3. That those Sermons were not preached in Country-Towns or to ordinary Congregations where any stuff preached after the tone and manner in use among you had been as good as the best but almost all of them before the Parliament where none but great men were admitted to preach and where to be sure they preached none but their best Sermons and moreover that those Sermons were printed with the names of the Authors and with License and Approbation 4. That 't is more likely they would then deliver their true Opinions and speak out what was in their hearts when they had the power in their hands and were free to speak what they pleased than now they are under fear and restraint and are fain to conceal or dissemble what they would then openly preach and proclaim 5. That they not only preached Sermons but they and their Disciples lived Sermons also your practice and Doctrine agreed excellently well what was preach'd was acted there was none of their good Instructions lost you approved what they said by doing accordingly and you generally own'd by a practical belief those Doctrines I have set down as yours out of your most approved Authors Lastly It is manifest by my Quotations that your Ministers rendred the last King odious to his people and preacht him out of his Throne and Kingdom but 't is no where to be seen that they ever preach'd this King into the favour of his people again or used their powerful eloquence to have him restor'd to his Right And since his return though you have given over printing yet most of you have kept up the Faction and in stead of crying peccavi have still endeavour'd to weaken the Church and draw Disciples after you and your Synods have never disclaimed those men who by their Preaching had kindled up the late Rebellion and the Preachers have never recanted their former Opinions but either justified or disguised them nay many of them own still the Obligation of that infamous Oath call'd the Covenant whereby they acted and warranted all their wickedness Therefore though the people may be excused having been deluded and imposed upon yet you the Ministers and Heads of the Faction can never with all the wit you have plead any thing that can justifie you from owning the worst of Popish Errours Now let our Judge speak if he pleaseth G. I confess I am somewhat amazed at what I have heard I never thought so much could be said for proving a Conformity betwixt Papists and Presbyterians in so many points but yet I will decide nothing nor make any reflections upon what you have said I 'll rather transcribe and print your discourse and leave the Reader to think and to judge as his own discretion shall advise him Only seeing that you are most chiefly agreed in denying the King that Supreme Authority which God hath given him and pretending a certain Power and Jurisdiction over him in ordine ad spiritualia for the good of souls or to phrase it aright for to advance Gods Cause and to set up Christ I shall set down some Texts of Scripture which plainly evince the contrary and then desire all Christians to yield a chearful and loyal Obedience until they have been told from Heaven that the Pope or Classis are impowered from God to act contrary to his Word in this particular First For the Authority of the Supreme Magistrate over all that live in his Dominions read Rom. 13.1 and 2. Let every soul be subject to the higher powers for there is no power but of God the powers that be are ordained of God whosoever therefore resisteth the power resisteth the ordinance of God and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation v. 5. Wherefore ye must be subject not only for wrath but also for conscience sake Here you see that neither Pope nor Puritan is excepted but every soul is to be subject this was written when the Higher Powers were Heathen bloudy Persecutors of Christianity who endeavoured to destroy the Gospel and yet for all that they must not be rebelled against and their Authority must not be resisted Whosoever resisteth the power resisteth the Ordinance of God and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation and therefore we must be subject to them not only for fear of their anger but also for fear of Gods not only for wrath but also for conscience sake In Tit. 3.1 Put them in mind saith the Apostle to be subject to principalities and powers to obey