man most deeply engag'd in the love of the World most buried in all its pleasures the most taken with its glory one that is a public sinner guilty of all the excesses which libertinism or atheism are able to inspire such an one as this must be excus'd from too much troubling himself The bearing of a Medal bowing to a Saint walking to such a Church or the like will wash him whither then snow and presently render him as innocent in the eyes of God as the best of them who think it worth their while to work out their salvation with fear and trembling Phil. 2. 12. who are at the trouble of mortifying in themselves the body of sin by an incredible perseverance by continual Fasting Praiers and Alms that they may present their bodies a living sacrifice holy and acceptable unto God Rom. 10. 1. XXII Thus the power of Dispensing opens the door to infinite scandals But the Pope was impowr'd to do what he would the Council granting him that which he could never hope for viz. the affertion of his infallibility and pre-eminence above general Councils two Opinions that had never bin heard of for 14 Ages and were scarce brought forth into the World but all learned and pious Men opposed them the 400 Bishops at Basil and the famous Sorbon stiling them pernicious Heresies but the Fathers of Trent being afraid to contradict openly so considerable an autority and yet desirous to have their intent dealt after a most pleasant manner they take away these two words Infallibility and Superiority but preserve carefully the thing 1. The Council declares the Church of Rome is Mother and Mistress of all Churches 2. The Council affects to stick at many matters and remits their decision to the Popes judgment Now what man of sense is there who would not draw these two Consequences 1. The Church of Rome being Mother of all Churches in the World and a general Council being compos'd but of particular Churches the Pope being Bishop of Rome is therefore Father and Master of all Bishops Councils 2. There is Infallibility in the Church this must either be in the Pope or in the Council not in the last since the Council cannot and dares not give their Opinion in many and weighty matters therefore in the first whose Church is Mistress and Mother of all Christian Churches in the World and whose sentence an oecumenical Council submits unto as to an Oracle which must fix its uncertainty But the same man should with their good leave to these consequences add a third which is 3. That the faculty of Sorbon is Heretical The Learned Gerson Chancellor of Paris is an Heretic The 400 Bishops at Basil are Heretics Pope Pius the Second an Heretic Martin the Fifth an Heretic And generally all the Learned Men of the Church for these 200 years are Heretics for they all call that Doctrine of Infallibility and Superiority a pernicious Heresie XXIII These two Points Infallibility and Superiority being once stated what reformation could be expected in the Church If the Pope be infallible What an insolent boldness is it to subject him to other rules then his own And if the Church of Rome be Mistress and Mother of all Churches What right have these Churches to give Laws instead of receiving them from her And therefore I cannot sufficiently admire how the author of the Considerations upon the Council of Trent durst assert That the Pope had bin ill us'd at Trent and nothing was said of his Supremacy We leave it to all persons to judg of the truth of this Assertion we can only say That the Authors who had written till then with the greatest ardor to promote the Apostolical Grandeur had never given her the ambitious qualifications of Mother and Mistress nay they were so far from raising the Pope above Councils that they call such a Doctrine a Schism and an Heresie XXIV But as if Infallibility and Superiority were not enough the Council adds a third a Vow of true obedience The word true obedience is no less pleasant then the trae pardon of sins The Court of Rome is so us'd to equivocations and ambiguities that her fears appear in her own Decrees All Christians therefore whether Clergy or Laity are tied up or rather sacrificed to the Pope by a solemn Oath so as let him be as much Arian as Liberius as much a Monothelite as Honorius as unlearned as Celestine the Fourth as Simoniacal as John the Twenty second as unclean as Alexander the Sixth let him be as insolent towards Kings as Hildebrand to Frederic Boniface to Philip August Innocent to John King of England Leo the Tenth to Henry the Eighth Julius the Third to the Queen of Navar yet he cannot be resisted 't is not lawful to disobey the Father and Master of all Churches to believe him in the wrong whose judgment is above all Councils and to oppose him to whom you are sworn upon the four Gospels XXV These reasons occasion'd the doleful complaint of Monsieur d' Espences then present at the Council who saies openly That the Church is in a more desperate condition then before and that by reason of the Italian Bishops whom he calls the Helena which triumph'd at Trent there is no hope to cure her wounds Gentianus Hervaeus Doctor in Sorbon also and present at the Council speaks after the same rate and differs only from the others in that he ascribes all the miscarriages of the Council to Lainez and Salmero both Jesuits Julius Sanelius being return'd from Trent whether he had bin brought by the Cardinal of Lorrain gave an account of that Assembly in these terms That in the Council of the Apostles it had bin said Visum est spiritui sancto nobis it seem'd good to the Holy Ghost and to us but in that of Trent Plus nobis quam Spiritui Sancto more to us then to the Holy Ghost It appears therefore that the pretended Reformation of the Pope and Court of Rome is a meer Chimera nor is it an harder matter to evidence that the Reformation of the Church is a meer disorder It may be said and very truly that the sins which Lay-men lie under have no other source then the bad examples of the Clergy and we may learn both from profane Writings and Divine from Historians as well as Prophets that the good or bad life of Priests hath ever had an unspeakable influence on mankind But 't is another truth no less certain that if the sins of the people come from the Priests those of the Priests spring from the Bishops this being a daily experiment that as the Clergy is holy when it is govern'd by Saints so it becomes abominable to God when the life of its head does not answer the duties and excellency of his dignity The shortest way therefore to reform the Church was seriously to reform the Bishops But instead of reforming the Episcopal Order the Fathers
of the highest concernment Whatever you intend to raise and build upon it cannot be but weak and ruinous and till the Pope be pleased to do us justice in that point we do well to stop our ears to all others XI But should we set aside all these considerations and grant that the Pope could both call and preside in this Council we maintain he ought not to do it How came he to be judg of those whose adversary he was to sentence his own accusers and to rule in a Council demanded with so many tears and obtained after five and twenty years delay only to reform him The heats of Leo the 10 th against Luther are very well known That Pope who had for so many years trampled upon the neck of Europe was almost distracted to see a despicable Frier rebel against him and attack indulgences of which his predecessors had alwaies bin most tender So considerable an adversary gave more credit to Luther than either his own merit or the justice of his cause could have done Nor was he to be accounted an ordinary man that had answered Pope Leo so briskly and stoutly received all the Vatican thunders He made his appeal to a future Council and was the more easily induced to defer till then his condemnation or justification because â—e never imagin'd Pope Leo his public â—nd profess'd Enemy would become his â—udg The German Princes went further and â—fter their accusation brought against â—he Pope for Heresie and Simony they 〈◊〉 appeal'd to a lawful Council T was at least the Popes duty to purge himself of so many accusations and to â—cknowledge according to the rule of the 〈◊〉 Canonists his most famous oracles that â—n such occasions he was depriv'd of all power The Arch-Bishop of Colen having been excommunicated by Paul the Third refused the Pope for his Judg as having bin attainted of Heresie and Idolatry long before and protested that as soon as a free Council should be opened he would appear there to accuse him according to the ancient Canons King Henry the Eighth declared in his Manifesto that the Roman Bishops orders did not concern him at all that the Pope had conceived a deadly hatred against him and that he sought after all occasions to be revenged of him for having shaken off his tyranny and withstood the intolerable contributions exacted of his Kingdoms by that See These different appeals had been made in all requisite terms and were not intended as a pretence to annul the Council but were offer'd before it was commenc'd without ever being recall'd What ever slighâ— pretences the Pope had against Luther and the Princes of Germany he had none at all against Henry the Eight and the Arch-Bishop of Colen The one was a Prelate who demanded to be ruled by the Canons the other a great King never suspected of any Heresie one that was honoured with the glorious name of Defender of the Faith and tho we don't pretend to canonize all the actions of that incomparable Monarch it is well known his greatest guilt was the following the examples of his Predecessors in converting to the good of the State those immense riches which the Roman Luxury and idleness was maintained with and taking away those Monasteries whose People were become abominable and scandalous to the Church XII For these very reasons in former ages â—he Catholic Bishops defenders of Athaâ—asius his person and faith rejected the Council of Tyre because said they Theognis and Eusebius were his judges â—nd that Gods Law Inimicum neque teâ—em neque judicem esse vult St. Crysostome â—efus'd to appear before Theophilus only â—ecause he stil seem'd guilty of the crimes â—id to his charge and was his enemy â—uod contra omnes Canones leges est And â—his is so equitable that Pope Nicholas â—he First and Celestine the Third acâ—nowledged that ipsa ratio dictat â—uia suspecti inimici judices esse non deâ—cant Cardinal Bellarmine is so embarass'd by the laws which those two Popes conâ—ess to be of natural equity that he admits of them except when it concerns â—he supream judge I pity that great defender of the Popes for giving so miseâ—able an answer For if it be true how â—ame it to pass that Pope Vigilius's constitution which he certainly pronounceâ— ex Cathedra was condemn'd in the Fiftâ— general Council Why does the Sixth aâ—â—so excommunicate Pope Honorius for bâ—â—ing an Heretique Exclamaverunt oâ—â—nes Honorio haeretico anathema And thâ— Seventh Detestamur Sergium Honoriumâ— c. What means the Eight in forbidâ—ing Popes ever to be judged but wheâ— they are Heretiques Why did theâ— Basilean and Constantian make it an aâ—â—ticle of Faith that the Popes are subjeâ—â— to a superior Judg when they becomâ— Hereticks Schismaticks or scandalous Why were Pope Anastasius John thâ— Thirteenth and a 100 others depos'd â—oâ— must needs either condemn this shininâ— cloud of witnesses and with them all thâ— ages of the Church or confess that Popâ— Paul the third had no reasons to presidâ— at Trent XIII T is no new thing to appeal from the Popes judgment Saint Austin writing 〈◊〉 the Donatists and speaking of the sentence given against them at Rome uses these words Let us suppose saies he that the Bishops who judged their cause at Rome had not judged aright there yet remained a Council of the Universal Church wherein your cause with your judges might have been judged again and their sentence annul'd had it been unjust But without looking back to the Primitive times the histories of our age afford us a thousand examples of this kind Nothing is more frequent in the English French and German records Nay the Monks themselves claim'd right to such appeals Luther was not the first who attempted to make use of them and we read in Paul Langius his Chronicles that Cesano a Frier appeal'd from the sentence of Pope Martin the fifth as being Heretical tho in a matter of very little concernment it being only to know to whom belong'd the propriety of the Franciscans's bread XIV But laying aside all these reasons how could the Pope be president in a Council call'd only for his reformation There is none but know that the disorders of the Church had no other Origin then the Court of Rome Nor did Protestants only think so but those also of the Church of Rome And tho both were extreamly opposite in their opinions concerning the remedies for so great a disease yet they all agreed in their apprehensions of its cause Pope Adrian the sixth and the Councellors of Paul the third acknowledg'd it with much sincerity This was the sentiment of Princes as well as Doctors Their publique Ministers did alwaies touch upon that string Pope Marcellus the second did not apprehend how his Predecessors could abhor the very name of reformation And it is like that had God bin pleas'd to
waters flow to life Eternal The Word of God being the foundation of our happiness and the key of the World to come she permits all People perswades exhorts and commands all ages all conditions and qualities to peruse it St. Chrysostome was of opinion that all Merchants and men of affairs who had not zeal enough to read the Old Testament should at least read the new St. Jerome prescrib'd to many Ladies of quality the manner of teaching it their Daughters St. Austine in his Sermons declares to his People that the multitude of their sins proceeded from their neglect of the Scriptures God having resolv'd in process of time to accomplish the great work of Predestination in his Elect by his word to neglect the reading of it would be to reckon himself excluded of that blessed tribe The Church of England follows that opinion Her Bishops are not contented with instituting it in their Synods and the Preists preaching it in their Churches but the Holy Ghost being of all Nations and languages it has bin their business so justly to translate it as the most ignorant can make use of it and so all the World may equally have this great treasure for it is folly for any one to perswade themselves that it is only open to the learned There needs no science but much humility and Faith towards God for the knowing this truth of Salvation Let a Man have learning without humility the most ignorant person understands better then he do's Men teach the mind and corrupt it but God instructs the heart and it is converted VIII But because it is easy for our reason to be seduc'd and nothing is worse for any Man then to abandon himself to his own sense the Bishops order their Curats to look back on the former ages to get the explication of the Scriptures from the holy Fathers to hearken to the Church in her Councils and never to fall from her interpretations and ordinances The Church of Rome runs into one extremity and some authors to another the former so look on the Fathers as to equal their authority with that of God the others under pretence of hearing God hear no body and treat those holy Saints and August Councils with such contempt as merits a thousand Hells The holy Church of England keeps her self in an exact mean She rejects condemns and trembles at the folly pride and ignorance of those unhappy wretches before whose eies the Devil has cast so great a mist and who think it better blindly to cry Scripture then to hear those who are the most faithful interpreters of it She with great respect and reverence looks upon those former ages where truth was not disguis'd nor charity cool'd but she rises not to such an excess as the Church of Rome and whatsoever grace God has given to his servants she alwaies acknowledges that they are but rivulets which can never be equall'd with the Ocean from whence they proceed IX They therefore are mistaken who confound this holy Church with such unreasonable persons as refuse to be instructed by the examples and writings of so many holy servants of God She receives â—ot tradition in any other sense then is â—ccording to Scripture She will hold â—ll that as holy which can be alledged â—onformable to that excellent rule of St. Vincent of Lerins quod semper quod ubiâ—ue quod ab omnibus servatur She will alâ—aies receive with a profound reverence â—he unanimous consent of the Saints and â—ever appeal from the decrees of the Church assembled in general legitime Councils For tho the Church has no power to ordain any new article of Faith either to add or cast out any part of it nevertheless she has sufficient Authority to declare her opinion in any point of Faith and seeing that she do's it all Christians are bound to submit themselves to her judgment what seeming truth soever there appears on the contrary and it is much more probable for one particular person to be deceiv'd to whom God has promis'd no other assistance but that which is common to all Christians then the Catholic Church to which Christ is present till the end of the World and has promis'd to send his Spirit there where they are gathered together in his name Christ in speaking to inferiours said not he who hears you hears me they therefore have no right to be heard nor consequently to speak He said to his Apostles and Bishops whom he has order'd to govern the Church in their place t is therefore their business to speak and right to be heard and those who teach without or against their order do break the ranks in which God has placed them X. But to attempt the reducing the Catholic Church to one part of Europe and to force the name of Roman upon those who ought not to receive it and to exclude them from Salvation who are both Christians and Catholics without being Romans is the greatest absurdity in the world But to confine that part of Europe to the Pope to make him the center of unity which belongs alone to Christ is the greatest impiety and most insufferable extravagancy that can be imagin'd But that any man should call himself the High Priest the Universal Bishop of the Church that is take those titles w ch his Predecessors look'd on as an execration and which he hath not gotten but by an immensurable ambition is beyond all imagination But that the same person under pretence of a Pasce oves meas which he hath expounded as he pleased contrary to the opinion of the Fathers and Councils should march in the head of all his Brethren and raise Clergy men of the meanest order such as are Cardinals above the holy order of Bishops should excommunicate Kings and depose them give their Kingdoms to a depredation dispence Subjects from the Oath of Allegiance which they have sworn to their Prince and colour all these attemts as done by the autority which Christ hath given him the Church of England will never admit of such Principles as the most forlorn sinners cannot look upon without horror XI If the Pope would do all for the truth and nothing contrary to it if he would limit himself to the word of Christ and the practice which the Church hath prescrib'd him and go no further then St. Leo or St. Gregory she will communicate with him She will rob him neither of the dignity of Bishop nor Patriarch Christ gave him the one and the Church granted him the other She acknowledges that the ancient See of Rome is one of the most considerable in the world that hath bin formerly ennobled with as many Martyrs as Bishops that he hath bin mightily respected in Councils and that the Emperors have dignified him with great privileges But when he pretends to draw thence an occasion of exalting himself above others and that according to the remark of a famous Emperor at the Council of Florence He
the truth that being necessary to make truth reach the Pope spake after the same rate Nevertheless The sacred holy and oecumenical Council met at Trent in the name of the Holy Ghost to be rul'd there by the word of God the writings of the Fathers and the Apostolical Tradition thinks not fit to take away the Annats The Holy Ghost just goes so far as to correct small abuses frivolous nothings but reaches not to Heresies and Crimes Salva semper Apostolicae sedis autoritate There is not in so vast a number of Bishops one single Nathan or Elijah or if it be too much to seek Prophets among them there is not a single Ambrose or Basil none of all these Vicars of Christ who durst say with his Master Our friend sleepeth but I go that I may awake him out of sleep Joh. 11. 11. XVIII And indeed it would have bin a kind of Murder to have cut off Annats Rome would have bin no more a triumphant City all its Palaces would have bin either pull'd down or interrupted in the building and especially that of Pius the Fourth rais'd during the Council of which the Arch-Bishop of Brague told him That the stones would have serv'd better to build an Hospital To banish Painters Musicians Poets from St. Peters See to make a Pope in our daies live like S. Leo or S. Gregory to rule a Cardinal-nephew according to the Council of Carthage and the examples of S. Charles to require the same severity of life from an eminentissimo Cardinale as we saw in Cardinal Baronius and some years ago in Cardinal Bona Such demands I say would have brought a blemish upon the Council never to be obliterated and instead of procuring its confirmation fir'd upon them all the Vatican thunders How could a Cardinal undergo the hardship of riding without a retinue of 200 Coaches and an infinite number of staffieries In the Apostles time the most common Motto was The world is crucified to me and I to the world Gal. 6. 14. Priests then had no other liveries then the blood of Martyrs no other retinue then a vast number of poor no other Palaces then Prisons but in our Age you cannot walk in the streets of Rome without hearing People cry out The equipage of his Eminence the Mules of his Eminence the staffieries of his Eminence the perfumes of his Eminence the Music of his Eminence the Abbies and Bishopricks of his Eminence c. that is of a Deacon in the Diocess of Rome of a Parson in the City or Suburbs of a man maintain'd by the alms of the Church dead to the World and its vanities perswaded that there is a life to come and that the shortest way to enjoy its happiness is to renounce all the pleasures and honors of the present XIX The Fathers therefore at Trent were not cruel to the Pope nor Pius the Fourth ungrateful to them He confess'd in a full Conclave They had us'd him more gently then he would have done himself and that Council which otherwise had pass'd for a Conventicle became so sacred that this Pope never spake afterwards without an honorable mention of it in all his discourses But this Popes own confession is too puissant a proof against him 't is the testimony of his own Conscience Those Physitians flatter'd so much their Patient that he was asham'd of it and instead of applying powerful Remedies to his inveterate Distempers they took no notice of them 'T is wrongfully therefore they accuse the Popes self-love or the blindness incident to those who separate themselves from unity to constitute a particular order as speaks St. Gregory and St. Austin Pius the Fourth was convinc'd of the need he stood in of being reform'd But the Fathers put a bar to his desires huc usque venies without them he would have gone further XX. Nay least the small Reformation they made of some few things should last too long they found out an expedient from which experience shew'd the success of the whole was expected and this was the liberty left to the Pope of dispensing with all the Ordinances of the Council That only favor deserv'd all Pope Pius's acknowledgments he and his successors made so good use of it that it will not be amiss to give some examples thereof It had bin observ'd for many Ages how much the exemtions of Friars were injurious to Episcopacy and scandalous to the Church wherefore the Council cuts them off but Pius the Fourth using his power of dispensing re-establishes them with greater autority then before so that there has bin scarce any Bishop since zealous of his duty and the honor of his Divine Character whom a pitiful Friar whether more fraught with boldness or ignorance I shall not determine arm'd cap apied with his privileges durst not impudently oppose Some abuses concerning Dispensations Expeditions for Benefices and other pretended favors of the Apostolical See were remov'd the Pope uses his right of dispensation and scarce had the Trent Fathers got home from reforming them before Pius the Fourth had again brought up all those Impieties XXI The Council had handled the matter of Indulgencâ—s with as great dexterity as moderation and in its Decree not one of the following Propositions which the Friars have since bâ—ndâ—ed about with so violent heat is to be â—een 1. That Indulgences are authoriz'd by the Scripture 2. That they are granted and receiv'd for the dead 3. That they are a super-abundance of the merits of the Saints 4. That they are any thing else but a relaxation of Canonical Penance accorded only to those who pray who demand who work petenti operanti roganti 5. That the Pope has greater power to grant them then any particular Bishop No man had reason to complain of so wise and moderate a Decree but the Pope uses his right of dispensing too many People being interessed in keeping Indulgencies The Vatican magnificence the softness of the Cardinals and the Friars idleness ow'd their maintenance to that solid and clear Revenue You see therefore Bulls both for the living and the dead dispers'd into all parts of the World every Church hath its priviledg'd Altars and a thousand Books are made public most of them dedicated to the Pope and approv'd by the Inquisition wherein they are call'd Heretics and Atheists who oppose the Opinions which the Council hath left undetermin'd The stile of these Bulls is as extraordinary as their matter the Popes grant two four six or seven thousand years of true pardon and indeed the word true looks very pleasantly in that place he remits not only the pain due to sin but the sin also into the bargain somtimes to make the most on 't he divides it and pardons but a third part somtimes one half somtimes all just as his Holiness is in humor And that we may not tire our selves with too much pains in getting so precious and rare a favor as the pardon of our sins a
there would be no pretence or excuse at all to live at Rome The loss of Rome for a Cardinal is no small sacrifice and there is a great difference between these two to lie conceal'd in his Diocess and to shine in a Court known to be the most proud rich and voluptuous in the World The second should have hazarded too much in striving against the Cardinals They lived in their families eat the crumbs which fall from their tables and made a part of their retinue Those of them who were less despis'd had also more ambition they aim'd at Cardinalship and Residency was the nearest way to be depriv'd of it They forgat therefore that they were Bishops and chose rather to betray their character then leave their pretences and pleasures XXXVIII What then has the Council done in its so much boasted of Reformation Great things indeed Those two hundred Bishops that had bin five and twenty years before they could meet and eighteen after they had met answer'd perfectly the expectation of all Christendom 1. They have forbidden Praiers in a known Tongue 2. Ruled the Church-wardens 3. Ordained that Friars could not vow but being sixteen years old 4. Approv'd the Jesuits's order that is strengthn'd the enemies of Christ 5. Shaped an Index expurgatory as barbarous in its form as in its name 6. Establish'd Inquisition a new tribunal which may be properly call'd the eleventh persecution of the Church XXXIX But to speak seriously we must say with Mr. D'Espences and the most considerable men of the Roman Communion 1. They have encroached upon the liberties of all Churches 2. Rais'd the Popes power and brought Episcopacy to nothing 3. Cut off all hopes of Reformation and canoniz'd all the vices of Rome 4. Made breaches in the Discipline which shall never be made up and induc'd those who have some knowledge of the ancient Canons to ask them in Saint Austin's words Curare est hoc an occidere Levare de terra an praecipitare de coelo A CONCLUSION Of the foregoing Discourses Concerning the State of the Church of England and how she hath bin more successful in the reformation of her Faith and manners then the Church of Rome I. THE Anglican Church is not any private Society but a part of that body which as the Scriptures tell us is spread over the face of the whole Earth Her intent is only to be a member of the Catholic Church from whose Spirit she receives life and governs her self by her laws She do's no less abhor Heresie and Schism then the Roman seems to do only she do's not attribute that name to all persons and things but knowing truth and charity to be the most precious gifts the holy Jesus purchas'd by his death she is the less easily mov'd to accuse any of forsaking them II. Her extent greatness and prudence with the moderation of her conduct hath alwaies made her seem the main and most considerable body of the Protestants and hence arises that ardent zeal of the See of Rome either to recover or to destroy her hence proceed so many artifices to tempt and draw away the Children of this holy mother that for these hundred years its emissaries have labour'd to raise new Churches within her But he who commands the winds and imposes silence to the Seas will suffer no tempest to arise within her breast unless it be to render her the more glorious She hath alwaies liv'd in unity catholicism and which is the spring of them both in that holiness which God requires III. Neither Calvin nor Luther were the authors or reformers of her Faith nor do's she look upon them any otherwise then the Church of Rome do's upon Baronius or Bellarmine She indeed considers them as great writers but yet as men on whose words she founds no part of her Creed The word of the Prophets the Gospel and writings of the Apostles are her laws God having spoken so clearly and plainly she looks for no other instructions then his word and according to that she being a national and independent Church and consequently having just authority did reform her self IV. The reverence she hath for the Scriptures carries her neither to Enthusiasm nor a private Spirit She explains not the word of God by any humane exposition She knows there is nothing so difficult in one part of the Scripture which is not plainly illustrated by another more easy She therefore compares the one with the other as did the Fathers in former Ages She seeks the will of God by the light God himself hath given and knowing that he cannot and will not deceive her she relies upon and wholly delivers her self up to his care and conduct She acknowledgeth no other Infallibility then his She knows all men are subject to error and falshood and the greatest Saints themselves may truly say If we say we have no sin we deceive our selves and the truth is not in us V. The Church of Rome flatters her self with an Infallibility which she can reduce to no certain principal The Pope assumes it to himself as if he were the only source of it and the Italians call all other opinions Heresie The rest of her communion attribute it to a General Council and anathematize all those who think the contrary So that this Infallibility is reduc'd to that as to prove either the Pope or Council to be in Heresy The Church of England cuts off such an abominable division She acknowledgeth the power of God and the infirmity of man the eternal and essential truth of the one and the falsehood the other is subject to She hears with trembling the word of the Apostle Let him that glories glory in the Lord she therefore gives the glory to God and in this life she looks upon Gods word as the pillar of Fire which led the Children of Israel thro the desert and never forsaked them in so many intricate marches VI. If the Catholic Church hath not err'd at least in fundamentals t is not by reason of any promise of Infallibility which God hath accorded to men but because that he being a God of mercy has had in all times some faithful servants whom he made acquainted with his waies and who have walked according to his word The gates of Hell have not prevail'd against them because they were fill'd with that charity which triumphs over both visible and invisible Enemies And God having resolved in the decrees of charity which the Scripture teacheth us he hath lov'd the Church by to be served in spirit and truth to the end of the World he hath not permitted his word to be taken away from her how bloody soever the persecution of Martyrs has bin how blind soever the ignorance was in which many ages had bin involved how terrible soever the corruption appear'd in which we see the World every day plunge it self VII The holy Church of England stops not that Fountain out of which
soever her members be By this she gives glory to the grace of Christ who hath workt in them all these things By this she brings Christians to follow the examples she proposeth them and to beleive that nothing is impossible to Christians who in the flesh walk not after the flesh She takes care then that the People read their lives and the preachers make their Elogies and that both the one and the other endeavour to imitate them By this also may be seen her moderation She runs not into the excess of those furious and unreasonable men that will not hear the very naming of a Saint nor yet degenerates to the invoking of them as in the Church of Rome but equally avoids impiety as superstition XLI The like moderation appears in respect of Images She judgeth it a crime to adore them to bend the knee before them and sticks not to call this Idolatry But she beleives not Idolaters those that only retain them XLII She hath with no less wisdom retain'd Ecclesiastical habits and ceremonies necessary to Divine worship Her Canons are extream severe for the first of these She knows a Priest hath nothing to do with the World and that he must understand he is even outwardly separated from it For the second she hath retrenched all the profane pomp of the Church of Rome but hath avoided the frightful nakedness which appears on the other side Her ceremonies have neither the appearance of Grandeur nor affected baseness In the Cathedrals Collegiate Churches may be seen whatever can excite the Piety of People to praise God But nothing which occasions to say that the luxury and vaniety of the World is brought into the sanctuary XLIII There remains but one thing at which the Church of Rome is offended altogether as unjustly as in many others that is the marriage of Priests Sure Celibacy is a most holy exemplary and upon many occasions a necessary thing T were to be wish'd that those who are call'd to the ministry of Angels had their purity and that it might be said of them neque nubunt neque nubuntur but being made of flesh as well as spirit of flesh subject to the infirmities of other men the remedy God has ordain'd and so highly recommended in the Scripture must not be denied them The Church of Rome hath never lookt upon Celibacy but as an Ecclesiastical law This opinion is maintain'd taught publickly every day in Sorbon The obligation thereunto is imposed as a point of Discipline that hath no relation to Faith Now the Church is absolutely mistress of whatever is of Ecclesiastical right She may introduce continue change what and as she judgeth expedient The holy Church of England hath thought fit to alter this point in her Discipline She hath weighed all the circumstances seen all the inconveniences considered the good and evil that may accrue thereby It hath not appear'd that she ought to lay a yoke on the necks of such as have not grace enough to bear it And she hath promis'd her self that those to whom hath bin granted a sufficient measure would endeavor to increase and multiply it Nor hath she bin deceiv'd in so judicious a conduct she hath the glory to see the greater part of her Bishops and Clergy like to the great Apostle and at the same time the consolation to know that the others live in their houses in such sort as to be the examples of all Christian Families I cannot see what answer a moderate person can give to this reasoning For to return to the Pope and to say that this cannot be done without his consent because he is master of the whole discipline is a miserable reason and no Church of the Roman Communion but that of Italy will ever assent unto it XLIV The Clergy of England is generally the most Learned in the World and if the common people retain somthing of the natural dulness of the vulgar it hath nothing of the ignorance This must be ascrib'd to the care and capacity of their Teachers and above all to the famous Universities of Oxford and Cambridge These are two Seminaries of Virtue and Science There may be found whatever can be desired for greatness of Revenues magnificence of Buildings and infinite number of Books collected with incredible expences and care during several Ages Clergy-men are there for many years before they are entrusted with the care of souls They pass from the studies of humane Arts and Sciences to that of Divinity and the Oriental Languages Their Professors are endow'd with all the abilities that can be expected from men who besides vast natural parts have born the burden and heat of the day The Bishops are not such as those whom Monsieur D'Espences calls Barbatulos Juvenes who in so sacred and high dignity as Episcopacy are not yet free from the passions of the World Their zeal for the salvation of souls their punctual visiting their Dioceses their charity to the poor their hospitality their fidelity to the King and their love for their Country are qualities they are so much owners of as their greatest enemies cannot but admire them We do not hereby pretend that all those whom they govern are saints It is to be acknowledg'd with a sensible grief that in the Church of England are too too many who tresure up unto themselves wrath against the day of wrath and live after such a manner as is little conformable to that which they have promised in their Baptism But we must not conceive from thence an ill opinion of a Church which hath nothing in her but what is most holy If we should judg of the Romish Church by those disorders which have crept into the very Sanctuary what conclusion might there be drawn This cannot be done without opposition to the Judgment of God who hath left the wicked in the midst of the good and hath permitted the number of the latter to be less then that of the former for reasons best known to himself It is a secret of his Justice and Mercy which shall not be manifested till the last day The dross is in the same fornace with the gold that is consumed and this purified and embellish'd by the fire There is much more dross then gold but it sufficeth that the work-man know them In a word there is not one that considers the Church of England without prejudice but does at the same time admire the sanctity moderation and wisdom of her conduct A Christian will find there that the veneration which is given the Scripture excludes not the esteem which is due to the Church nor the esteem paid to the Church any way extenuate the soveraign obedience due to the Scriptures He will see that she practiceth nothing but what the Primitive Times have done and that she leaves nothing unpractised but what those happy ones ne'r knew He will compassionate a vast number of people so miserably abused in the Church of Rome and when