say relating to that Vision As 1. That it is very probably believed by most learned men that SS Perpetua and Faelicitas were Montanists among whom there were many visions which the rest of the World gave no credit to but this I shall not dispute But 2. I averr that it is very disputable both from the vision it self and from the quotations in St. Austin whether Dinocrates were baptiz'd or no. I know your †Chap. 23. p. 84. Adversary says he was baptized and St. Austin would fain have it so but there is no convincing proof that he was so and the silence of the Writer of that Passion seems to imply that he was not so Now then I urge you with this Dilemma either Dinocrates was baptiz'd or not if he were not baptiz'd as it is very probable because his Father was a very violent Heathen and so in all likelihood would not suffer his Son being so young to be baptiz'd then you have nothing to do with him in Purgatory for tho you have allotted an appartment there for the unbaptiz'd Children of Christian Parents yet you allow no place there to the unbaptiz'd Children of Heathen Parents who with their Pagan Progenitors are condemn'd to Hell unless we must reckon this story with those other of St. Thecla's bringing the Soul of Falconilla out of Hell or St. Gregory's praying thence the Emperour Trajan which later story the * 〈◊〉 Munster praef ad Evang. S. Matth. Heb. p. 103 4 Jews who themselves allow of a sort of Purgatory make sport of but if he he were baptiz'd as I profess I cannot believe tho St. Austin says so then it seems very hard that a Child of seven years old when few Children are capable of understanding enough to chuse to be wicked should be sent to Purgatory for sins which he knew not of for if that be true which St. Austin says that his Father probably carryed him to the Heathen Temples as we will suppose it to be this was the Father's sin and not the Child's and so I cannot see why Dinocrates should be punisht And to confirm my conjecture that he was not baptiz'd I am apt to think that in the Vision the Water * Pass s Perp p. 15. Ed. Oxon. which Perpetua saw her Brother endeavouring to drink of but could not come at was an Emblem of the Waters of Baptism which he seem'd to endeavour after and at last Perpetua her self says * Io. p. 5. that she her self was a Catechumen when she was apprehended and that at that time she had two Brethren both Catechumens now if we reckon Dinocrates for one of those two Brethren of hers or allow him to be dead some time before as I rather conjecture I am strongly inclined to believe that while the Father was an obstinate Pagan the Sister and the other Brothers only Catechumens that this younger Son who was but seven years old when he died was not baptiz'd before he went out of the World now if he were not baptiz'd the Fathers tell you there was no hopes of Salvation for him for to omit St. Austin and the African Fathers I will only instance in two remarkable passages the one for the Western Church out of * De Dog Eccl. c. 74. Gennadius Nullum Catechumenum c. That no Catechumen tho he die in a state of good works which is more than St. Austin says of Dinocrates for he accuses him of Idolatry can attain to Eternal life unless he be a Martyr And for the Eastern Church out of St. Chrysostom †To. 4. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Ep. ad Phi. p. 20. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mourn over those who leave the world without Baptism they deserve your sighs and lamentations they are out of the Kingdom of God among the unrighteous and the condemn'd And now if all your former Arguments will not make us Converts you tell us * Refl p. ult that if a man assent to these Articles as you have stated them he shall have admittance into your Church and probably so for we know you deal very gently with your new Converts till you have secured them but who knows how much further he must go when he is under new Oaths of Obedience to that Church who makes her unwritten Traditions which no man knows till she reveals them to be as much the Rule of Faith and Manners as the Holy Scriptures and consequently binds all her followers to an Implicit Faith to believe whatever she shall reveal And I remember that Mr. Cambden * Annal. an 1560. records a report that once there were more easie terms of Reconciliation proposed by the Pope's Nuncio viz. the allowance of the Sacrament in both kinds and the confirmation of the English Lyturgy and probably many other things so the Papal Supremacy were acknowledged but we are very well satisfied that St. Peter had no more Authority than the rest of the Apostles and that every Bishop by Divine Right is a Successor of the Apostles and consequently hath equal power in the Church of Christ that the making more Sacraments than we are sure Christ instituted is an encroachment upon his Right and that the establishment of your five additional Sacraments is such an encroachment that the Jewish Canon of the Old Testament the Jews till our blessed Saviour's time being the only True Church of God with the uncontroverted Books of the New are the only divinely inspired Oracles and a sufficient Rule of Faith and Manners without the help of the Apocrypha or of unwritten Traditions that General Councils are not infallible much less the Pope either singly or with the Colledge of Cardinals that giving the Communion in one kind is robbing the people of what our Saviour gave them a right to and that Prayers in an unknown Tongue are a contradiction to St. Paul with many other such points which it is now needless to mention for which reason the Members of the Church of England think fit to continue where they are where they enjoy all the forementioned blessings with many others which must necessarily be forfeited when they embrace the Romish Communion Thus have I curforily taken notice of your Reflections in whatever material points you have thought fit to speak to except that very weighty and most material point of the power of Deposing Princes the thorow consideration of which was the first cause of my present undertaking Now you encounter your Adversaries Golath-Argument as you seen in scorn to call it as Card. Bellarmine in the Praeface to his Answer to Barclay says that writing in defence of Princes Barclay came out like Goliah to defie all the Armies of Israel with this distinction * Refl p. 9. that in all Councils there are some Articles of Faith which all Catholicks receive and some Constitutions and Decrees relating to Discipline and Government which are not absolutely obligatory so that I perceive that in some sort
as have received the most holy Body of thy Son c. 3. To instance in no more the Prayer for the Dead in this Canon doth not relate to Purgatory for the Priest says Memento Domini c. Remember O Lord thy Servants and thy Handmaids and then names the Persons whom he is to pray for who have gone before us with the mark of Faith and sleep in the sleep of Peace Which are plain demonstrations that those Prayers were made before those new Doctrines and Practices were the Belief and Customs of your Church or else there are Errours in the Mass which the Council under an Anathema forbids any man to affirm 2. The Council declares †Sess 23. cap 4. Episcopos in Apostolorum locum successisse That Bishops are the Successors of the Apostles and if so then there being an equality among the Apostles so there is also among Bishops and where then is the Pope's Supereminent Power as Successor to St. Peter and how is he above his fellow-Bishops if they all succeed the Apostles to use St. Cyprian's Phrase Pari consordio potestatis honoris In an equal right to power and honour 3. The Council * Sess 4. commands the interpretation of Scripture according to the unanimous consent of the Fathers and if so we are well assured that the Controversies between us will be easily decided on the side of the Church of England for to the Fathers we are ready to appeal And now after all this suffer me to assure you that though I love your generous dealing in the affixing your Anathema's at the end of your †Popery Mis-repres p. 117 118. Book wherein you deal much more candidly than many of your Brethren yet I cannot but mind you that you have left your self and others by reason of the generality of your Expressions liberty to explain your meaning and therefore I have added some Anathema's agreeable to your own notions of things if I understand you aright to which I should be glad to find that you sincerely say Amen and it is as lawful for me who am but a private person in the English Church as it is for you to do so in the name of the Church of Rome And withal I do engage to make good that all these Opinions which I propose to be condemn'd are maintain'd by some Writers of the Church of Rome 1. He who pays true and proper Religious Worship to Images let him be Anathema Amen 2. Whosoever confides in the Intercession of Saints and Angels as much as in that of Jesus Christ for Salvation let him be Anathema Amen 3. Whosoever believes the blessed Virgin to have as much power in Heaven as her Son and prays to her to command him and begs from her pardon of Sins and the assurance of Salvation let him be Anathema Amen 4. He who does not believe that the Merits of Jesus Christ are the onely meritorious cause of our Salvation let him be Anathema Amen 5. He who believes that a Papal Indulgence doth remit Sins or deliver from eternal Death let him be Anathema Amen 6. He who believes that the performance of Ecclesiastical Penances makes satisfaction for eternal Punishment due to his Sins let him be Anathema Amen 7. He who speaks irreverently of Holy Scripture and calls it Aesop 's Fables a Nose of Wax and unsens'd Characters c. let him be Anathema Amen 8. He who believes that the Church hath power in a General Council or otherwise to make additions to the Christian Faith let him be Anathema Amen 9. He who believes the Pope to have any personal Infallibility either è Cathedra or in Conclave let him be Anathema Amen 10. He who asserts that the Pope or any other hath any power to depose Princes to dispence with their Subjects Allegiance and to authorize them to take up Arms against them either upon the account of Heresie or for any other cause let him be Anathema Amen 11. He who asserts that the Pope or any other hath any power to dispense with any Moral Law of God and to give men a License to Murther Forswear Lye or Equivocate let him be Anathema Amen 12. He who believes any thing contrary to the Word of God to Reason and Antiquity let him be Anathema Amen 13. He who says that men are not bound to the obligation of the Ten Commandments and among them of what we call the Second you a part of the First under pain of eternal Damnation let him be Anathema Amen 14. He who thinks that Faith is not to be kept with Hereticks and that Mental Reservation may be used with men of another Perswasion let him be Anathema Amen 15. He who thinks that Attrition is enough to fit a man for Absolution let him be Anathema Amen 16. He who thinks that any thing besides a sincere and true Repentance can bring a man to Heaven let him be Anathema Amen 17. He who believes that the modern Miracles of the Blessed Virgin c. are to be credited as he credits the Miracles of our Blessed Saviour and his Apostles recorded in Scripture let him be Anathema Amen 18. He who thinks Ignorance to be the Mother of Devotion and wilfully hides the Holy Scriptures from the sight and knowledge of the People let him be Anathema Amen 19. He who says a man ought to obey his Superiours whether Civil or Ecclesiastical in things that are sinful let him be Anathema Amen 20. He who maintains any other Doctrines than what were establish'd by Christ and his Apostles and believ'd in the Primitive Church let him be Anathema Amen These I give you as a Specimen and when these are condemn'd I shall think my self much more inclinable to be reconciled than now I am And because you are a private Person and whatever you say is but one Doctor 's Opinion and because your Writers differ where your Infallibility is fixt whether in a General Council or the Pope and if in the Pope whether in his fingle Person or in Conclave you will oblige the World if you use your interest to get these Doctrines Condemn'd by the Pope ex Cathedra and so you will bind the Jesuits and others who believe the Personal Infallibility and by the Conclave of Cardinals for this will bind others of your Communion and by a Council of all the Prelates of your Church and this will bind you the French Church and all others that call themselves Roman Catholicks for unless this be done we are still where we were And I shall tell you that the regaining so considerable a part of the Protestants as the Church of England is out of a state of Schism and Heresie as you are pleased in your great Charity to call it is a Reason weighty enough to summon such a Council and to do what is required towards an Accommodation and till this is done all that you say else is but the sprinkling of a little Holy Water and gratis
that Canon and Can. 26. the words are plain quae ab eo per Dei gratiam misericordiam Jesu Christi meritum c. And if so the Controversie seems to me easily decided for if it be of grace how is it then of works where is the merit Your Answer to the Goliah Argument of your Adversary as you are pleased to call it I remit to be consider'd towards the end of these Remarks because it ought to be spoken to more largely and by it self and proceed to take notice that * Refl p. 11. you blame your Adversary for taking the sense of your Church from some expressions in your old Missals and Rituals tho I am apt to think that the Church of England will be contented to be judged by her Liturgy and Rituals in the like case but perhaps you are not disgusted at the use of your Missals but at the use of old Missals and I am persuaded that you have reason so to be because the subtilty of the modern Church hath made it self appear in your present Missals and Breviaries as well as in your Edition of the Vulgar Translation of the Bible and in other Treatises For instance in the old Roman Breviary printed at Venice An. 1482. and at Paris An. 1543. Jun. 28. lect 2. noct 2. S. Leonis the words run thus In eo Concilio damnati sunt Cyrus Sergius Honorius Pyrrhus Paulus c. in that Synod Cyrus and Sergius Honorius c were condemned but in the new Breviary the name of Honorius is left out which had it been left there would have reflected too much on the Papal Infallibility and inform'd the World that even Popes themselves have fallen into Heresie while in the same Office they take care to keep up the memory that that Pope Leo 2. fregit superbiam Ravennatum brought the Archbishop of Ravenna to acknowledge the Roman Supremacy which before that time that See did not A second Instance may be this In all the antient Missals in Cathedra S. Petri Antioch Feb. 22. as also in the old Diumale printed at Antwerp 1553. the Prayer is read in these words Deus qui B. Petro Apostolo collatis clavibus regni coelestis animas ligandi atque solvendi pontificium dedisti i. e. O God who having given thy blessed Apostle St. Peter the Keys of thy heavenly Kingdom gavest him Episcopal power of binding and loosing Souls but they have now left out the word Animas i. e. Souls for with that limitation the Pope's power was only Priestly to use the Keys in binding and loosing men's Souls but without that limitation every man is at liberty to believe that St. Peter's Keys may be imployed in temporal affairs also in binding Kings and setting up a Pontifical Monarchy to which I shall add one Instance more that whereas in the Sacramentarium of St. Gregory the Prayer for St. Leo runs thus Annue nobis Domine c. Grant O Lord that this Oblation may be advantageous to the Soul of thy Servant Leo now the words are altered into Annue c. Grant Lord that by the intercession of thy Servant Leo this Oblation may be profitable to us the first being an Instance of the Antients Prayers for the Dead for Saints as well as others the latter an endeavour to countenance Prayers to Saints by asserting their intercession And whereas to requite us for quoting your Missals * Ibid. you object to us all the expressions of Prayer Preaching and Devotion in our Church the parallel doth not hold unless you mean our authoriz'd Liturgy in whose collects we are ready to vindicate whatever is asserted Nor is it fair to say that an Atheist may make himself sport with Scripture if he may be allowed to separate an infinite number of expressions there i. e. as I understand you to make use of broken sentences for if an Atheist uses Scripture in the sense to which the coherence leads him he can never make Christianity ridiculous much less as ridiculous as Turcism and for the passages quoted out of your Missals they are quoted in the sense in which they are meant and if you deny this you may right your self by shewing the contrary Nor do you do well with the Church of England to say * Refl p. 11. she allows the Psalms in Meeter I dare be confident to averr that the Singing Psalms as they are usally called were never commanded by our Church to be used and are no part of our service as our Rubric's will inform you where there is not the lest mention of them though we acknowledge the custom was brought in through the connivance of our Governors who at that time were intent upon matters of greater moment nor do we say that the sense of the Church will help out the non-sense or ill expressions of any of those Rhymes which is a subtle insinuation but withal we say that since custom hath brought in the use no Priest of our Communion that I know of is so weak I am sure no one ought to be so but he knows how to choose out of that great number some few Psalms that are pertinently enough translated and incentive of Devotion by singing of which neither God is dishonor'd nor the Congregation engaged to any thing that is either evil or ridiculous which Apology cannot be made for any of your Missals which your Priests were obliged to use without any power left them to choose what Collects or Antiphona's c. they pleased And now you will allow me to smile when †Refl p. 12. you say that if we conclude a Papist guilty of Idolatry because he bows down kneels c. to an Image we may as well say that Abigail was guilty of constructive Idolatry when she fell on her face before David and so are Subjects when they kneel to their Prince and the Lincolns-Inn-Field Beggars when they kneel for an Alms to those who pass by For these instances do not reach the case that we are talking of for if Abigail should have kneel'd before the Picture of David or a Subject before the Picture of his Prince or a Beggar before a Gentleman's Picture and begg'd with earnestness and seeming devotion any blessing there is no sober man but would believe that they were either very mad or very foolish but if they thought them sober and in their right sense as we do believe your people at Church to be they cannot be acquitted of Idolatry if so be the honour be Religious as you acknowledge your veneration of Images is more than civil honour so that by these instances you seem to run into the errour of those * Alens Aq. Bonav c. apud Bellar. to 2. lib. 2. c 20. § 2. Opinio Schoolmen that the same honour let it be Latria hyperdulia or dulia is due to the Image that is due to the person represented and if any Law be to be judg'd of by the common practice