b In summa lib. 5. tit de haereticis c summ de Eccles. l. 2. c. 93. 112. d de Schismate Pontificum e de concord catholicâ l. 2. c. 17. f summ part 3. tit 22. c. 7. g adv haereses l. 1. c. 2 4. h locor Theolog l. 6. c. 8. i de visibili Monarch l. 7. k controv 4. part 2. q. 1. l Canonistae in dist 40 c. si papa Archid Ioannâ— Andr. c. in fidei de haereticis in Sext. Cajetan de authoritate Papae Concilii c. 20 23. m Distinct. 40. c. si Papa n Synodus Romana quint. sub Symmachâ— S. Cresseyes Exomolog c. 51. Edit 1. Ibid. c. 52. Ibid. Ibid. Ibid. c. 59. Dr Holden de resolut fidei l. 1. c. 9. I am very irresolute in this opinion of mine because I often finde the ancient Fathers Councels upon the account of errour heresie to Excommunicate and forbid all resort to heretical Synagogues and other Acts of Church communion though I do not finde that they varyed from the Catholiques in their Liturgies and there be some texts of Scripture that may render the case doubtfull as 2 John 7 8 9 10 11 12. 1 Cor. 8.10 1 Cor. 10.20 21 22. Tit. â— 10. yet may th 〈◊〉 cogency of these and other texts be eluded by contrary practises determinations and Texts as 1 Coâ— 3 12. Ephes. 4 5 6. 1 Eliz. c. 1. â— Calybute Doâ—ning of the staâ— Ecclesiasticallâ— here conclus 2 p. 41. Mr Chillingworth ch 5. § 11. Ibid. § 40. Causabon resp ad Cardin. Perron Ioan. 10.3 Ephes. 3.6 1 Tim. 3.15 2 Cor. 6.15 De pace orat 1. In Orat. habita in Concil Constantin vide praef ad D. Tho. EdmunduÌ„ Neque nos consensionem pacem fugimus sed pacis humanae causâ cum Deo belligerari nolumus Dulci quidem inquit Hilarius est nomen pacis sed aliud est inquit pax aliud servitus Nam ut quod isti quaerunt Christus tacere jubeatur ut prodatur veritas Evangelii ut errores nefarii dissimulentur ut Christianorum oculis imponatur ut in Deum apertè conspiretur non ea pax est sed iniquissima pactio servitutis Est quadam inquit Nazianvenus pax inutilis est quoddam utile dissidium Nam paci cum exceptione studendum est quantum fas est quantumque liceat Alioqui Christus ipse non pacem in mundum attulit sed gladium Quare si nos Papa secum in gratiam redire velit ipse priùs in gratiam redire debet cum Deo Juellus apolog Eccles. Anglic. pag. 194.195 edit latin Londin 1591. Ephes. 1.22 Coloss. 2.19 Raynolds conf with Hart. c. 1. divis 2. pag. 6. Ephes. 2. 1 Cor. 14. See H. L'E-Strange about the Liturgy Iuell Apolog. Latin pag. 139 140. edit Londini 1591 ibid. pag. 191 Marke this thaâ— the great Apologist who lived and acted in thâ— transaction noâ— onely professeth that there was no resemblance of a Church in Rome but alsâ— that the Separation was made not out of a violent heat and transport as our Historian sayes but in obedience to the precept of God Whitaker controv 2. qu. 6. c. 1 Dr. Potter pag. 81. saith Although we confesse the Church of Rome in some sense to be a true Church and her errors to some men not damnable yet to us who are convinced in conscience that she erres in many things a necessity lies upon us even upon pain of Damnation to forsake her in those Errors that is whosoever is convinc'd in conscience that the Church of Rome erres cannot with a good conscience but forsake her in the profession and practice of those Errors and the reason is manifest for otherwise he must professe what he believes not and practice what he approves not Chillingworth ch 5 §. 104. Iuell apol pag. 117. Hom. against Idol part 3. Casaubon ep ad Perron When the Devil who wanted not the pretence of Antiquity tempted our Saviour by proposing and pressing unto him the Kingdoms of this World and all their Glory he would not worship or communicate with him but dismist him with an Apage Satana and must we kisse the Pope's pantafles and give him the right hand of fellowship or bid God speed him upon no grater motives if so great Juell Apolog. pag. 115. Arâ—ic 13. See the Article about Original sin pag. 346. pag. 349. Pontificii per fidem implicitam intelligâ—nt eam fidem qua Laici ignota nondum intellecta â—idei dogmata eredunt implicite in illo generali Quod vera sinâ— omnia quae Romana Ecclesia credit pâ—o veris amplectitur â—â—uae â—ides non est divina sed humana id est non â—ilitur Dei sed hominum tesâ—imoâ—â—o non est 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sed levis â—aliax conjectura quae non Dei verbo sed hominum judicio per se parùm firmo atque adeò fragili admodum ruinoso fundamento nititur Rob. Baronius exercit 3. de fide scient Art 5.83 Review of the Council of Trent l. 1. c. 8. §. 5. Ephes. 1.17 18 19. Robert Baronius exercit 3. de fide scâ—eliâ opin Artic. 16. Raynolds against Hart. ch 2. divis 2. pag. 45 46. Hilarius de Synodis adv Arianos id ibid. Malo aliquid novum commemorâsse quà m impiè respuisse id ibid. Hilarius contra Constantium jam vitâ defunctum Casaubon respons ad Card. Perron In the fifth paper his Majesty says also that the Vnanimous consent of the Fathers and the universal practise of the primitive Church is the best and most authentical interpreter of Gods word Pag. 413. Pag. 314. Dan. Heinsii Exerc. Sacr. in Matth. c. 2. If I have in the Preface against Glanvil said that the Canon was ancient in this case 't is a mistake I think 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But speak thou the things that become sound doctrine Tit. 2.1
A CENSVRE UPON CERTAINE PASSAGES Contained in the HISTORY OF THE Royal Society As being Destructive to the ESTABLISHED RELIGION and CHURCH of ENGLAND Parque novum fortuna videt concurrere Bellum Atque virum Oxford Printed for Ric. Davis A. D. 1670. TO THE REVEREND Dr IOHN FELL D. D. Dean of Christ-Church SIR I Offer these Papers unto you not to implore your Patronage but to acknowledge your Favours Had my leasure or abilities qualified me for a greater performance it had been tendered unto you with the same readiness This veneration I bear not to the Ranke you hold in the Church or University but to your Merit and in you I at once honour a Learning above this age and a Piety becoming the best Permit me to be just to so real worth and grateful for your constant civilities to me and I shall no way Interest your Person in this Quarrel 'T is enough that I defend Truth and the Church of England and that whatever else I have atchieved I intermedled with nothing but what 't was necessary to be undertook by some body This none can dispute who understands the Politicks of our Nation upon what foundations the publick Tranquillity is suspended Let them that will question the prudence of this action I am satisfied in the profession of a Wisdome that is first pure and then peaceable I am perfectly Your humble Servant HENRY STUBBE Warwick Feb. 16. 1669. A Censure on certain passages in the History of the Royall Society It is Naturall to mens minds when they perceive others to arrogate more to themselves then is their share to deny them even that which else they would confesse to be their right And of the truth of this we have an instance of farre greater concernment then that which is before us And that is in Religion it selfe For while the Bishops of Rome did assume an Infallibility and a Sovereigne Dominion over our Faith the Reformed Churches did not only justly refuse to grant them that but some of them thought themselves obliged to forbear all communion with them and would not give them that respect which possibly might belong to so ancient and so famous a Church and which might still have been allowed it without any danger of Superstition BEfore I come to resolve and parcell out this impious and pernicious paragraph into severall Propositions it is requisite that I premise two Observations the first is that by Communion here is not meant Civill commerce and the performance of those mutuall offices by which societies in generall or Trading is carried on or Humanity alone is relieved no Reformed Church ever denyed this to the Romanists But the Communion here treated of is Ecclesiasticall and consists not only in the acknowledging of such as are communicated with to be members of the universall Church of Christ built upon a right foundation and holding either no errours or such as do not overthrow the fundamentals but in resorting to the same Church assemblies and celebrating devoutly the same offices or Prayers Ceremonies and Sacraments and this is to be done interchangeably so that each upon occasion resort unto the Churches of the other joyn in the celebration of the same Liturgies or publike prayers participatiō of the same Sacrament of the Lords Supper which is more particularly termed the Cōmunion was alwaies accounted the tessera or mark of Church-fellowship The truth of this Observation appeares from that notion which all ages have had of Church-communion which is agreeable hereunto To owne any number or association of men to be a part of the Church Catholique and yet not to resort to the same religious offices amounts not to Church-Communion since All Excommunication cuts not off from the body of Christ but from outward or exteriour Communion with a visible Church thus when Chrysostome separated himselfe from the followers of Meletius and of Paulinus though he did acknowledge both Churches to be Orthodox yet is it said that He communicated with neither 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Neither doth it amount to an Ecclesiasticall communion if a man be present at the religious Assemblies and offices of another Church if so be he do it not upon a religious account nor devoutly joyne therewith thus when Elijah was present at the Sacrifice and worship of Baal he did not communicate with those Idolaters 1 Kings 18.26 27. Thus Lyranus Cajetanus and other Casuists excuse Naaman for bowing upon a Civill account in the house of Rimmon and allow the case of a Christian slave which waited on her Mistresse to the Sarracen worship and bore up her traine but did not joyne in the Mahometan Service thus the Protestant Divines as Sleidan and the History of the Council of Trent informe us resolved that it was lawfull for the Protestant Princes to pay a civill attendance on the German Emperour even at Masse in the Royall Chappell These things therefore amount not unto Church-communion But the joyning religiously in the same Church-worship and particularly in celebrating the Lords Supper together and this is to be done interchangeably for otherwise onely the one side can be said to communicate with the other not vice versâ Thus when the Papists did resort to our Churches in the beginning of the Reigne of Qu. Elizabeth and joyned in the same prayers and participation of Sacraments with the Church of England it might justly be said that they did hold communion with us but since the Lawes then in force did prohibit the Protestants to be present at or joyne in any publique Service or administration of Sacraments where other ceremonies then what were inacted by the Church of England should be used it is manifest that the Church of England did not communicate with the Papists The second Observation is that our Historian in this Paragraph doth make use of the words communion and respect as equipollent and Synonymous otherwise there is no apodosis no sense in the saying Some of them thought themselves obliged to forbear all communion with them and would not give them that respect which possibly might belong to so ancient so famous a Church If respect be a terme of a lesser import then communion then might those Reformed Churches decline all Exteriour communion with the Church of Rome justly and without blame and yet retain a respect and kindnesse such as Christians may and ought to beare to the excommunicate to the Heathens and Publicans and in which there is no danger of Superstition though in this Exteriour communion there be evident perill not only of Superstition but Idolatry 1. These things being premised my first Animadversion shall be That the Comparison betwixt men denying to such as usurp too much even their due rights and those that separate in case of religious usurpations is so carryed on by the Historian that to forbeare all communion with the Church and Bishops of Rome is represented as an extreame opinion and consequently as
represented as such by our Historian The third Proposition therefore carries something of prevarication in it So those Advocates which would betray the causes of their Clients propose a wrong state of the Case the vanity whereof being once discovered renders the Plaintiff contemptible in the sight of all men and reduces him to a necessity of complying with the injured Defendant There is a great deal of ignorance and intricateness the Consequent thereof in the Proposition of our Author as it is by him worded for Infallibility and a sovereign Dominion over our Faith are not equipollent Termes nor termes indifferently used No Papist did ever ascribe unto the Bishop of Rome except some Parasitical Canonist whose Credit is little in that Church a sovereign dominion over our Faith He that is Sovereign knows not any Superior nor any coercive Law but his will the objects about which his power is conversant are liable to what alterations he pleaseth and he rules by the Lex Regia but what Divine did ever ascribe such a power to the Pope in matter of Faith Place the Chair where and how you will none of that Church ever assumed so much nor did that Church ever attribute so much to the Bishop of Rome There have been those that have taught that if by way of supposal it could be imagined that all the Pastors of the Church Catholick should erre in a Decree of Faith the Laiety were bound to submit thereunto but such a Sovereignty in matters of faith none except some Iesuits and Parasites ascribe unto the Pope's person his Briefs and Decretals have not that credit amongst the Romanists as to authenticate such Assertions nor is the belief thereof a necessary condition to communicate with that Church upon If we look upon the contests in Germany that introduced Protestancy at first we find the erroneous doctrine about Indulgences to be the primary occasion there In Switzerland and in France and Holland abuses and Idolatrous practises or false Doctrines are the first subjects of Disputes and occasion the Reformation there Transubstantiation Communion in one kind the propitiatory sacrifice of the Masse Image-worship praying to Saints and such like Controversies are the first and most fiercely debated In England under Henry the VIII the Pope's Supremacy in Ecclesiastical causes and appeals to Rome c. give the the first occasions of discontent and that change which was afterwards carried on to a total Reformation of the doctrine and discipline of the Church of England then came in question the power of the Bishop of Rome the nature of his Primacy the Authority and Fallibility of General Councels the power of National and provincial Churches to reforme themselves during the interval of Councels or without dependance thereon whether the Scripture were the sole rule of faith how obligatory were Traditions the interest and influence of the Civil Magistrate in ruling Ecclesiastical Affairs these came next into agitation The usurpation of Infallibility and a pretended Sovereignty in matters of faith to be lodged in the Pope was neither the occasion of the Protestant separation nor a material part of the first controversies though perhaps some Italianated persons and Canonists might assert some such thing and since the growth of the Iesuites tenets of that nature have been much advanced thereby to justifie their Vow of blind obedience to the Papal commands The memory of the Councils of Basil and Constance was fresh in the minds of men and the superiority of a Council above the Pope a common and authorized tenet in that Church The personal infallibility and the supremacy of the Bishops of Rome had of old received too great a check in the cases of Vigilius and Honorius and in the declared sentences of the Councils of Pisa Constance Basil and of the Universities of Paris Loven Colen Vienna and Cracovia not to mention particular Writers to be the occasion of that rupture The Sorbone to this day continues its former judgment and even the present King of France hath asserted the liberties of the Gallick Church in that point See Arrest de la Cour de Parliament portant que les propositions contenues en la declaration de la Faculte de Theologie de Paris c. Da. 30. May. 1663. And Declaration du Roy pour l' Enregistrement des six propositions de la Faculte de Sorbonne c. A Paris 4. d' Aoust 1663. What the Popish Church now holds and requires amounts not to any such Authority as our Author asserts if you will believe Cardinal Perron before our Virtuoso Scribis de Romano Pontifice nolle te verba facere quum vel mediocriter in Historiâ Ecclesiasticâ versatis compertum sit primorum seculorum Patres Concilia Imperatores Christianos primas illi semper detulisse praecellentis dignitatis praerogativam in omnibus negotiis ad religionem aut Ecclesiam spectantibus atque hoc solum exigere Ecclesiam vestram pro articulo fidei credendum ab iis qui communioni suae se adjungunt If this Cardinal understand any thing the Romish Church demands no more of her Members then that they own the Pope's primacy not Supremacy or Infallibility nor have the the books of such as derogate from the excessive greatnesse of the Papal power been ever called in or censured in that Church or communion denied to the Assertors of the infallibility of Oral Tradition or of General Councils in opposition to the personal Infallibility of the Bishop of Rome It was and is still a common opinion amongst the Papists that the Pope may be an Heretick I learn'd it from Franciscus Victoria in his Relections Haereticus potest esse non solum Presbiter sed Pontifex etiam summus ergo caput Ecclesiae And Bellarmine himself doth not assert the Infallibility of the Pope no not though He be assisted with a provincial Council In libr. 2. de concil c. 5. fatetur hanc propositionem scilicet Concilia particularia à summo Pontifice confirmata in fide moribus errare possunt non esse fide Catholicâ tenendam ejus tamen contradictoriam temerariam erroneam pronunciat Nay the same Writer in his solemn Lectures at Rome teacheth that it is true the Pope maybe an Heretick But it is probable and godly to be thought that he cannot be an Heretick In the conference betwixt Dr. Raynolds and Hart I find this passage Raynolds The Pope may not onely erre in doctrine but also be an Heretick which I hope you will not say that Peter might Hart. Neither by my good will that the Pope may Raynolds But you must no remedy It is a ruled case Your Schoolmen and Canonists Ockam Hostiensis Turrecremata Zabarella Cusanus Antoninus Alphonsus Canus Sanders Bellarmine and others yea the Canon Law it self yea a Council a Roman Council confirm'd by the Pope
do grant it Hart. They grant that the Pope may be an Heretick perhaps by a supposal as many things may be which never were nor are nor shall be For you cannot prove that any Pope ever was an Heretick actually though possibly they may be whereof I will not strive This point of the fallibility of the Pope and his subjection to a Council is so notorious with every man that is acquainted with the more ancient and modern Writers so known to any one that hath either read the determinations of Bishop Davenant qu. 5. or the defense of the Dissuasive of Bishop Taylour pag. 40. or the Review of the Council of Trent written by a French Catholick from whom the Disswader borrowed his allegations or that hath so much as read over the History of the Council of Trent that I need not insist on it any longer Notwithstanding the earnestnesse of the Iesuits under Laynez in the Council of Trent yet neither was the Pope's superiority over a Council nor the Infallibility of the Bishops of Rome defined there directly as appears out of the Review of that Council lib. 4. c. 1. and out of the English History pag. 721 722. Neither is there to this day amongst the Papists any thing enacted or determined in that Church which obligeth a man under pain of Excommunication to hold any such thing as the personal Infallibility of the Bishops of Rome the contrary being daily maintained there by more than the Iansenists much lesse is there any Sovereignty in matters of Faith ascribed unto them at this day All books of the Papists are subjected to the judgment of the Church not to the Arbitrement of the Pope The fides Carbonaria or Colliers faith so famed amongst the Papists was not established upon the infallibility or sovereignty of the Bishops of Rome no he told the Devil that He believed as the Church believed and the Church as He. And how necessary soever they make the communion with the particular Church of Rome how great influence soever they ascribe to the Pope over Councils yet the Decrees of the Council of Trent run in the name of the Holy Synod not Pope and there it is determined sess 4. that none dare interpret Holy Scripturs against the sense which our Holy Mother the Church hath held or does hold If you enquire in-the doctrines of M r White D r Holden Serenus Cressy and such others as endeavour at present and that with great shew of wit and artifices to seduce the English to that Apostaticall Church there is not one of them that I knowe of who attributes any infallibility to the Pope or submitteth his faith to the Sovereigne decisions of the Bishop of Rome As for Serenus Cressy he very judiciously deserts the School-terme of Infallibility for that of the Churches Authority and saith that the exceptions and advantages which the Protestants have against the Roman Church proceed only from their mis-understanding of her necessary doctrines or at most that all the efficacy they have is onely against particular opinions inferences made by particular Catholique writers He shews that D r Stapleton asserts that the infallible voyce and determination of the Church is included in the decree of the Church speaking in a Generall Council representatively In which the Church is infallible with this restriction viz in delivering the substance of faith in publique doctrines and things necessary to salvation Other Catholiques and namely Panormitan teach that the decrees of Generall Council are not absolutely and necessarily to be acknowledged infallible till they be received by all particular Catholique Churches because till then they cannot properly be called the faith of the universall Church or of the body of all faithfull Christians to which body the promise of infallibility is made And this was the Doctrine of Thomas Waldensis and some other Scholmen c. An opinion this is which though not commonly received yet I do not saith S. C. find it deeply censured by any yea the Gallican Churches reckoned this among their chiefest priviledges and liberties that they were not obliged to the decisions of a Generall Council till the whole body of the Gallican Clergy had by a speciall agreement consented to them and so proposed them to the severall Churches there And to this last opinion doth S. C. incline and his book was approved at Paris as consonant to the Catholique faith He guides himselfe by the Authority of received Councils he acknowledges that to be onely necessarily accounted an Article of Catholique faith which is actually acknowledged and received by Catholiques and since contradictions cannot be actually assented unto it will follow that whatsoever decisions of Councils may seem to oppose such articles are not necessarily to be accounted Catholique doctrines and by consequence not obligatory He denies that Generall Councils can make new articles of faith they are witnesses of what hath been delivered not Sovereigns to determine of new truths either by way of addition to the former or in opposition thereunto Their Infallibility is limited to Tradition and spiritually assisted in the faithfull reporting of what hath been delivered what ever reports or decrees they make of another nature they are to be received with a different assent from what is Catholique faith There is a double obligation from decisions of Generall Councils the first an obligation of Christian beliefe in respect of doctrines delivered by Generall Councils as of universall Tradition the second onely of Canonicall obedience to orders and constitutions for practice by which men are not bound to believe those are inforced as from Divine authority but onely to submit unto them as acts of a lawfull Ecclesiasticall power however not to censure them as unjust much lesse to oppose and contradict them Much more doth the same Author adde which give little countenance to that state of the controversie which our Author forms unto us No Soveraigne dominion over our faith is by him ascribed to the Bishop of Rome or Nationall or Generall Counâ—ills and as to Infailibility which Mr Chillingworth had impugned he thus acquits himselfe I may in generall say of all his Objections that since they proceed only against the word Infallibility and that word extended to the utmost heighth and latitude that it possibly can beare Catholiques as such are not at all concerned in them seeing neither is that expression to be found in any received Council nor did ever the Church enlarge her authority to so vast a widenesse as Mr Chillingworth either conceived or at least for his particular advantage against his adversary thought good to make show as if he conceived so As to the subject wherein Infallibility or Authority is to be placed since Catholiques vary as to that point he sayes 't is evident thereby that they are not obliged to any one part of the Question only they are to agree in this Tridentine decision Ecclesiae est judicare de vero sensu Sacrae
pronunciat Hoc quidem res ipsa manifestissimè ostendit sive privata quaedam Ecclesia eò loci intelligitur appellatione Babylonis sive universae pars major eam priùs fuisse legitimam Ecclesiam cum qua pii piè communicarent postea verò quà m longiùs processit ejus depravatio jubentur pii exire communionem abrum pere ut facile fit vobis intelligere non omnem communionem cum iis qui de nomine Christi appellantur fidelibus esse expetendam sed illam demum quae sit salvâ doctrinae coelitus revelatae integritate Out of which words and they seem to be the words not of Casaubon or K. Iames but the Church of England if I am able to deduce any consequence I am sure this is one that it is not at any time lawful to hold with any Church a communion with her ènown defaults and impieties and that how desireable soever Unity be yet the regard thereto ought never to transport us so far as to mix the service of God with that of Belial that some circumstances do legitimate an holy war and that a bad agreement is not to be chosen before a contest and separation in the behalf of real Godlinesse I am sure I am by the tenor of that Letter justified if I dare not joyn with a Church service wherein Transubstantiation and the sacrifice of the Masse and prayers for the dead and to the Saints not to mention the mutilation of the Communion and Image-worships must be owned or hypocritically complyed with to the dishonour of God 1 Cor. 10.20 21 22. the detriment and offense of the weak Christians 1 Cor. 8.10 11 12. and the strengthning of the party communicated with in those errors and Blasphemies How far further I am warranted by that Letter and the practice of the primitive fathers to rescind a Communion not otherwise erroneous or faulty upon the account of errors Idolatry or conceived Blasphemy in the practice or speculative tenets of a Church or person what private men what a particular Bishop or national Church may do I shall not entermeddle with as having alledged enough in opposition to what our Virtuoso layes down I should proceed now to enquire whether that we may hold communion with the Bishops of Rome supposing that they challenge a Sovereign dominion over our faith But since there was no such thing pressed upon the English Church to occasion the first rupture the generality of Christendome being then and at the first calling of the Council of Trent inclined to the contrary tenet of the Pope's being inferiour to a Council General denying his Sovereignty and Dominion over the faith of the Church and his personal Infallibility being an opinion scarcely to be mentioned or insisted on much lesse authenticated in those dayes and since that now neither the one or other tenet can justly be charged upon that Church nor is a condition of their Communion at present since the Controversie would be large and intrigued with distinctions I leave the debating thereof as inutile and content my self with having sufficiently refuted our Virtuoso already in what hath been alledged though seemingly to another purpose Undoubtedly there is no conniving or complying with such a person for one that is to avoid the appearance of evill It is a dethroning of Christ whom God hath appointed to be the head of the Church and by him all the body furnished and knit together by joints and bands increaseth with the increasing of God It is the introducing of another Corner-stone and another foundation the creating of another fabrick then what is built upon Christ and the Apostles and Prophets at least it is a compliance with all such unchristian Monstrosities a silence that is equivalent to an Assent in such high cases I have learn'd it from Dr. Raynolds Seeing that to exercise this rule and dominion is a prerogative Royal and proper to the King of Kings to give it either in whole or in part cannot be a lesser offense than High Treason Fifthly that the Church of Rome according to its present establishment and under that constitution wherein the first Reformers found it may be denominated a Church Ancient and Famous and that upon these accounts for none other are mentioned possibly there doth belong a respect unto it or an obligation to communicate therewith The first part of the Proposition is false and notoriously contradicts the doctrine of the Thirty-nine Articles and Homilies of the Church of England For although it be granted that even those Articles the Homilies and our Writers and I my self do bestow vulgarly the appellation of a Church yet is that an impropriety of speech and not to be justified otherwise then by professing that when the name of Church is attributed to Rome and England the predication is equivocal since that the definition of a true Christian Church which makes up the Ninteenth Article cannot be accommodated to the Romanists viz The visible Church of Christ is a Congregation of faithful men in the which the pure word of God is preached and the Sacraments be duely ministred according to Christ's ordinance in all those things that of necessity are requisite to the same This Definition is asserted and enlarged upon in the second Homily for Whitsunday in these words The true Church is an universal congregation or fellowship of God's faithful and elect people built upon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets Jesus Christ being the head-corner stone And it hath alwaies three notes or marks by which it is known Pure and sound doctrine The Sacraments ministred according to Christ's holy institution and the right use of Ecclesiastical Discipline This description of the Church is agreeable both to the Scriptures of God and also to the doctrine of the Ancient Fathers so that none may justly find fault with it Now if you will compare this with the Church of Rome not as it was in the beginning but as it is presently and hath been for the space of Nine hundred years and odde you shall well perceive the state thereof to be so far wide from the nature of the true Church that Nothing can be more For neither are they built upon the foundation of the Apostles retaining the sound and pure Doctrine of Jesus Christ neither yet do they order the Sacraments or else the Ecclesiastical Keyes in such sort as he did first institute and ordain them but have so intermingled their own Traditions and inventions by chopping and changing by adding and plucking away that now they may seem converted in a new guise Christ commanded to his Church a Sacrament of his Body and Bloud they have changed it into a Sacrifice for the quick and the dead Christ did minister to his Apostles and the Apostles to other men indifferently under both kinds they have robbed the Lay-people of the Cup saying that for them one kind is sufficient Christ ordained no other Element to
the fabrick of the world Our Historian in this passage insinuates almost as much had he been amongst the first Promulgators of Christianity I cannot also conceive but that He condemnes all Sermons Expositions Homilies Ceremonies and all those rational contrivances by which the Church hath endeavoured gently to gain upon the Affections and Opinions of men in that he asserts that Religion should not stand in need of any devises of men Religion should in this be like the Temporal Laws of all Countries towards the obeying of which there is no need of Syllogismes or Distinctions nothing else is necessary but a bare promulgation a common apprehension and sense enough to understand the Grammatical meaning of ordinary words That there may be have been in some Countries Temporal Laws to the obeying which there is no need of Syllogismes or Distinctions I am ready to grant but to say it hath been so in all Countries is such an Assertion as becomes not an English-man nor one that understands the Civil Law or that even of the Iews No Lawes in a Government not Despotick ever were so contrived to all circumstances that to the obeying of them there would not need any Syllogismes or Distinctions In our Nation t is notorious nor is it so facile a thing to determine what is included in the extent of a Law what influence the preamble and title have upon the subsequent Act a Common Apprehension and sense enough to understand the Grammatical meaning of ordinary words will not carry a man through without Cowel's Dictionary Spelman's Glossary and many other Law books so as to understand the meaning of our Lawes and as to their being in force how many Arguments are there about that when the obligation of the Law ceaseth whether discontinuance or the ceasing of those motives which give being to a Statute or the introducing of a contrary Law without repealing the former expresly do abrogate any Statute An infinite of Controversies daily arising shew that Syllogismes and Distinctions are necessary to our Temporal Laws being understood and executed But perhaps our Virtuoso may propose a new regulation of Law and Gospell too but till that be effected I am sure his Assertion is false But if the case in Temporal Laws were such as t is represented as it is not but in Seignoral Monarchies yet were there great reason for men to be more solicitous about their Religion or Spiritual Lawes than about the Civil and Municipal That Scripture which subjects us to the Civil Magistrate for conscience sake Rom. 13.5 bids us first to seek the Kingdom of God and his righteousnesse Math. 6.33 and rather to fear him that can kill the body and soul than him that can onely kill the Body Matth. 10.28 Luc. 12.4 5. If the person whose Majesty is offended be greater if the penalties be more horrid upon the violation of the true Religion than upon transgression of the Civil and Municipal Laws men are to be excused for being more solicitous inquisitive and disputatively searching into the will of God to see what enterferes with and what is conformable to the will of the Magistrate where their Commands are repugnant it is better to obey God than Man Act. 4.19 As much as God is above any ordinance of man and an Essential underived Majesty above secondary and communicated power 1 Pet. 2.13 as much as the soul and its welfare is above the body so different ought to be our concernes about these two obligations For what is a man profited if he shall gain the whole world and loose his own soul or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul Matth. 16.26 He that a sinner hath to do with is a jealous God and a consuming fire It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God Heb. 10.31 He must be worshipped in spirit and in truth John 4.23 24. Therefore a Christian must with Syllogismes Distinctions Humility and Prayer soberly search into his heart and examine that he erre not in the Object of his Religion or the manner of his worship and obedience or in the frame of spirit which is requisite to them that worship the true God He must be satisfied about the lawfulnes of each action a bare Imperial command though promulgated will not ingender in him a pious plerophory who knows that such Edicts have no direct and immediate influence upon the conscience that they are not in themselves a sufficient Rule of action for then the Command of an earthly Sovereign were alwaies to be obeyed actively and a disobedience to the decrees of Ieroboam Manasseh and Nebuchadnezzar were criminal though we do submit our selves to every ordinance of man for the Lords sake whether it be to King as supreme or unto inferiour Governours 1 Peter 2.13 Whosoever resisteth the power resisteth the ordinance of God and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation But this hinders not a Christian from disputing piously the commands of his Superiour and paying him an Obedience meerly passive where he cannot act without sinning against God No Christian was ever obliged to think every Decree of his Iudg to be just or every penalty inflicted righteously but since a Christian's concern is not much in this world either as to life or goods since his stay on Earth is but a deprival of greater and more stable happiness since whatever any Humane Law can bereave him of a thousand casualties may take from him since he is forbid to set his heart on things below to turn the other cheek being buffeted on the one and to give up his coat after his cloak is taken away from him he is very indifferent in the transactions of this world neque Cassianus neque Nigrianus He is of a passive temper his Eye is alwayes fixed on his Lord that compliance which he permits and enjoyns he readily payes and in other cases patiently submits but still considers still acts or suffers out of a principle of faith and holynesse without which it is impossible to please God without which every performance is sinful Hebr. 11.6 Rom. 14.23 True Religion is not onely directed to God and the Father but seeks an interest in Christ Iesus who pronounceth I am the way the truth and the life no man commeth unto the father but by me Iohn 14.6 Through him we have accesse by one spirit unto the Father Ephes. 2.18 A general knowledg of a Deity will not satisfie God where a man is not sollicitous about further discoveries or where accessional improvements may be attained we ought not to acquiesce in the first rudiments not alwayes to be Babes and pursue milk in stead of stronger meat 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Meditate upon these things give thy self wholly to them that thy profiting may appear to all 1 Tim. 4.15 No more will a general intention to serve God content Him if his worship be not celebrated in a right manner Since the Gospell t is impiety to