Reformed Church of England to Romanism again which God forbid where was your Religion before 86 or before such a time Would they not answer at Rome and in England also only kept under and obscured by Hereticks And Christianity though not so visible yet was purer when its Professors dwelt in Mountains and Dens places of Obscurity and Privacy in the Reigns of Nero Decius and Dioclesian than when some Kings were called its Nursing Fathers and took possession of the seven Halls as when it groaned under Arianism in the days of Constantius and Valens 2. When some peremptorily require from us the Aera of all the Popish Errors may it not be as pertinently demanded when the Acephali began which was such a ridiculous Linsy-Wolsey Heresie as to be a Compound of these Contraries Nestorianism and Eutychianism and yet gave great trouble to the Church for many years for Baronius and Bellarmin ingenuously acknowledge that they know neither the Heresiarch or the Epocha of the Heresie nor when Filioque was inserted by the Latin Church into the Creed and if they know not the Aera of their Truths how can it be rationally expected that we should design the precise times when all their Errors began since it s in the Night Season that the Adversary Sows his Tares in the Field of the Church 3. It may be demanded what more pertinency amongst Disputers is in that old Thred-bare Question Where was your Church or Religion before Luther than in this amongst Husbandmen Where was the Corn before it was Weeded For if our Forefathers under the Papacy embraced the true Faith we have it still the Faith not being removed but the Corruption 4. Since the Church of England obligeth none to believe any thing as necessary to Salvation but what is plainly proved from holy Scripture and intirely holds the Apostolick Nicene and Athanasian Creeds and obeys more Canons of the first general Councils than those of Rome do and approves that Exposition of Scripture which hath the consent of the Fathers of the four first Centuries Yea holds all that the Church of Rome held necessary for Salvation for five or six hundred years together so that a Romanist may turn Protestant without adding any Article to his Faith but a Protestant cannot turn Romanist without the addition of many new ones or novel Inventions which have neither Foundation in Scripture nor genuin Antiquity May it not then be most rationally concluded that the Protestant way is the surest and safest because both sides agree therein and that their Church was long before Papacy appeared in the World 5. Since its impossible to produce any genuin Work of any of the Fathers who lived within Four Hundred Years after Christ that positively asserts the practice or the lawfulness of Prayer in an unknown Tongue of taking away the Cup from the People or with-holding the Scriptures from the Laicks or Adoring Images or having them in Churches the Pope's Infallibility or Supremacy Indulgences in the Sense of Pope Leo the Tenth the Doctrine of Merit in the Sense of the Council of Trent that there are neither more nor less than Seven Sacraments the necessity of the right Intention of the Priest for the Validity of a Sacrament Transubstantiation the Limbo of unbaptized Infants Private Masses the Popes deposing Power c. may it not more pertinently be demanded of the Romanists Where was Popery before Boniface the Third than they can enquire of the Protestants Where was your Church before Luther 6. Since its impossible to find any of the Primitive Fathers or any Christian Writer a thousand years after Christ and more who believed all the Twelve new Articles of Faith which P. Pius the Fourth hath added to the Apostolick Creed may it not be pertinently demanded of the Romanists Where was your Faith to be found intirely before the Council of Trent And is not the Modern Papacy younger by many years than Martin Luther himself 7. Since not one of the Twelve new Articles of the Creed of P. Pius the Fourth is to be found in any ancient Creed or Confession of Faith generally allowed in the Christian Church whence it is evident that they are Innovations destitute of Primitive Authority may we not more pertinently demand of them Where was Papacy when those Confessions were framed than they can enquire of us Where was your Church before Luther 8. Since every true Reformation necessarily pre-supposeth Corruptions and Errors to have been before it what Advantage can the Romanists have in charging our Reformation with Novelty For if a real Reformation be made the thing justifies it self and a Reformation must begin sometime and when ever it begins it is certainly new Besides it ought to be considered that this Objection of Novelty lyes against all Reformation whatsoever tho never so necessary and tho things be never so much amiss So that tho our Reformation was as late as Luther our Religion is as antient as Christianity it self for when the Additions which the Church of Rome hath made to the antient Christian Faith and their Innovations in Practise are par'd off that which remains of their Religion is ours and this they cannot deny to be every tittle of it the antient Christianity And what other Answer I pray could the Iews have given to the like Question if it had been put to them by the Antient Idolaters of the World Where was your Religion before Abraham or Moses Or what other Answer could the Primitive Christians have given to those Pagans who pretended Venerable Antiquity and Universality for their Polytheisme but the very same in substance which we now give to the Church of Rome And if any be so fond as to brand the Protestant Religion with Novelty because of some negative Articles in opposition to the Corruptions of the Roman Church which by accident are become a part of our Faith occasioned by their Errors they may as well tax the Primitive Church with Novelty because the renouncing of the Doctrines of Arianism at the Council of Nice of Macedonianism at the Council of Constantinople of Nestorianism at Ephesus and of Eutychianism at Calcedon came a part of the Catholick Religion after the rise of those Heresies 9. But to shut up this Point if to Pray without Understanding to obey without Reason and to believe against Sense be the surest Evidences of the Antiquity of a Church then I pray where is that Protestant to be found who is so contentious for Priority as not to yield upon these accounts the Precedency to the Church of Rome above all Christian Societies in the World SECT XIX Of the Infallibility of the Pope with his Councils Qu. 1. IF the Pope or Church of Rome be infallible wherefore are they so uncharitable to the World at least to their own Incorporation as not to give an infallible Comment on Scripture but suffers her Doctors to write as fallible Comments and in many things as contrary to each other as any
Primitive Fathers that they all condemned the making of any kind of Image as unlawful much more the placing of them in Churches and most of all the adoring of them 4. Since in the Ierusalem Talmud there is no mention of the Idolatry of Christians tho frequently of that of the Heathen because it was written about Two Hundred Years after Christ But in the Babylonish Talmud which was compiled about Five Hundred Years after Christ's Nativity there is scarce a Page therein wherein they do not inveigh against the Idolatry of Christians and terms their Churches Beth-havora-zada the Houses of Idolatry May we not in consideration of the infinite Malice of the Iews against the Christian Religion most rationally conclude tho it be from a Negative Argument that the placing of Images in Churches began not any where during the Two First Centuries and if we believe both Secular and Ecclesiastical History not till about the End of the Fifth Century tho they were worshiped no where by publick Authority till after the Days of Gregory the Great not to speak of that Canon of the Council of Elliberis and that Epistle of Epiphanius translated by St. Hierom which positively holds forth that in the Fourth Century it was judged simply unlawful to have any Image in a Church whether painted or graven 5. May not Garlick and Onyons the Egyptian Deities be justly accounted Gods right worshipful when compared with the Nails the Thorns the Chips and Shreds and many other Objects of the Roman Adoration 6. Since the Governing Part of the Roman Church teacheth and enjoyneth the People to worship Images with an inferiour kind of Adoration as the Council of Trent phraseth it is it not in some sense charitably done by them not to let them know the Second Commandment by expunging it out of their Chatechisms that the People may not become guilty of sinning against so plain a Law 7. Since the Romish School-men have devised many Distinctions of Religious Worship no where to be found in Sacred Scripture to obviate the Imputation of Idolatry to the Adorers of Images Saints and Angels c. such as Latria Dulia Hyperdulia a Relative and Terminative Worship a Mediate and Immediate a Direct and Indirect a Supreme and Subordinate a Sovereign and Subaltern a Transitive and Final a Proper and Analogical c. May it not justly be demanded if any sober Person can rationally imagine that ignorant Laicks are sufficiently warned by these Beacons to shun the Rocks of Idolatry when their greatest Clerks controvert among themselves about the proper import of those Terms and the due Application of them as is most evident from the contrary Sentiments of Aquinas and Bellarmine Vasquez and Perron concerning them 8. Since Miracles are especially necessary to convince Unbelievers and that many Miracles were Recorded before the Reformation but few or none after it Is it not an Argument sufficient to make a wary Man believe that there were few real Miracles at any time since the settlement of Christianity And that only the Superstitious Credulity of former Ages was apt to be abused with such Pretences well-meaning Ignorance being easily wheedled thereby into a Golden Dream of great Advantages redounding from the Adoration of Images c. in regard that there is far more need of them since the Reformation when so many dis-believe the Roman Religion than was before when all the Nations of the West appeared to be at the Devotion thereof SECT V. The Invocation of Saints and Angels Qu. 1. WHen Romanists pray to Saints departed to pray for them it may be pertinently inquired that these Saints do either hear their Prayers and become acquainted with their Desires or they do not If they do hear all those Prayers that are put up to them at the same time by innumerable persons through all the World what 's this but to ascribe to them that Omnipresence and Omniscience which is peculiar to God alone especially if it be considered that their Devotions are not only Verbal but also Mental Voce vel mente supplicare being decreed by the Council of Trent yea it is necessarily implyed in every Prayer that is made to them that they not only hear it but also know the disposition of the heart from whence it proceeds otherwise the Hypocritical Supplicant must be supposed as likely to obtain their favours as the sincerest Votary if they do not hear their Prayers then it s very absurd and ridiculous and a great abuse of that reason God hath given Men for other ends than to trifle with to pray to them As for that imaginary Glass of the Trinity it may be further demanded if the glorified see all things therein or but some if all then they must share in God's incommunicable Property which is to be the searcher of the Heart if but some what assurance have we that they see those things whereof we stand most in need so that we cannot pray in Faith. 2. Since the learned Men of the Roman Church such as Bellarmin Valentia Horstius and many others conclude their Books with Praise to God the blessed Virgin and Jesus Christ may it not be pertinently demanded if they give her not only an equal part with God in their Praises but by placing her before Christ seem to give somewhat of preheminence above him 3. Since it s acknowledged by the most part of the Popish Schoolmen that the Invocation of Saints and Angels was not enjoyned in the Old Testament because of the Limbo wherein these Fathers were before Christ's Resurrection so that not being admitted to the Beatifical Vision they could not hear those Prayers upon Earth It may be pertinently demanded 1. What should have restrained the Worship of the Angels at that time who since their Creation enjoyed that blessed Vision they being represented in the Old Testament as the constant Attendants and Retinue of God and the great Ministers of his Providence and therefore they were as capable of Divine Worship in the time of the Law as they are now and it may be a little more for the Law it self was given by the Ministry of Angels and their Appearances were more frequent and familiar and the World seemed to be more under the government of Angels then than it is now since Christ is made the Head of the Church and exalted above all Principalities and Powers 2. What Evasion can they find who are of Opinion that the glorified Saints at all times did know the Petitions put up to them from Earth not by the Beatifical Vision but by special Divine Revelation 3. Since the generality of the Fathers of the three first Centuries were of Opinion that the glorified Saints shall not enjoy the Beatifical Vision till the day of Judgment it may be pertinently enquired if these Fathers practised or believed the necessity or expediency of Saint-Invocation no fewer than Eighteen of the Fathers being of this Opinion by the Romanists own confession 4. What is more in
Qu. 1. WHen Nectarius with his Church of Constantinople discharged for ever the Office of Penitentiaries because of a scandalous Deacon can it rationally be presumed that this Office was ever reputed by them a Sacrament but rather at the best an Expedient to prepare men for it for we are bound in Charity to think that neither the Bishop nor that Church would have ever consented to the Abolition of a Sacrament for the sake of such a Scandal as happened in the mis-management of it or if they had done so much less can it be imagined that the greatest part of the Christian Church would have concurred with them in it Moreover since the ancient Church had no Form of Absolution but only the admitting Penitents to the Communion where then shall the Form of that pretended Sacrament be found among the Ancients 2. If the Absolution of a Roman Priest hath the power to convert Attrition that is such a consternation of mind as fell upon Iudas when he went and hanged himself into the Grace of Contrition as divers Popish Casuists aver had it not been an unspeakable happiness to that Betrayer of the best Master that ever was to have rencountred in the way of striving such a Priest when he was seeking after some Instrument to become Felo de se. SECT XV. Of the Sacrament of Marriage with the Clergies restraint therefrom Qu. 1. IF Marriage be a Sacrament and confer Grace as Baptism and the Eucharist wherefore do they restrain their Consecrated Persons from that supernatural Quality since it s only an Ecclesiastical Restraint they pretend unto 2. Since God hath sufficiently declared his Approbation of the Marriage of the Clergy in that the whole World hath been twice by his Appointment Peopled by Two married Priests viz. Adam and Noah and that he tyed the Priesthood under the Law to a Race of married People and that the Scripture hath told us Marriage is honourable in all and placeth it among the Qualifications of a Bishop That he be the Husband of one Wife having faithful Children not to speak of that Canon of the Council of Gangra nor of the Discourse of Paphnutius in the Council of Nice nor of Spiridion S. Hilary Eucherius Lugdunensis and many other Primitive Bishops who were married beside the Apostle S. Peter may it not be pertinently enquired if the Church of Rome borrowed their Doctrine of the unlawfulness of the Marriage of Priests from the Manichees who allowed Marriage to their Hearers as the Church of Rome doth to Laicks but forbad it to their Elect as that Church doth to her Priests 3. Had not Aeneas Sylvius afterwards P. Pius the 2d good reason to write that in consideration of the vile Abuses of the Celibacy of the Clergy whatever reasons the Clergy had at first to restrain them from Marriage now for much better Reasons they ought to be restored to that which God hath made the Privilege of all men who cannot contain SECT XVI Of the Sacrament of Extreme Vnction Quest. SUppose the Administration of Extreme Unction to dying persons as a Sacrament had been the Doctrine and Practice of the Catholick Church in all Ages though for a Thousand years after Christ we find no such thing how can the Practice of the Roman Church be reconciled to the Doctrine of S. Iames or S. Mark for these are their Scripture-pretences who manifestly shew us that the design of that Anointing was the recovery of the Patient the gift of miraculous Healing not being ceased in the days of S. Iames whereas the Romanists do not practise that Ceremony till all hope of Recovery is past SECT XVII Of Tradition Qu. 1. OF those who magnifie the Tradition of the Church so highly as to imagin that the very Credit of the Scripture depends thereon or that it gives the Scripture its Authority which is as much as to say that Man gives Authority to Gods Word it may be demanded What if the Church should have concealed or taught otherwise of those Writings than as of the undoubted Oracles of God would she not have erred damnably in her Tradition 2. Since Tradition in the Roman Church is taken in to supply the Imaginary defect of Scripture and the Authority thereof to supply the defect of Tradition doth it not hence follow that neither Scripture nor Tradition signifie any thing without the Churches Authority And consequently it must needs be the Rule of their Faith that is They believe themselves 3. Since the Doctrine of the Millenaries was unanimously received as an Apostolick Tradition in the 2d and 3d Centuries of the Church meerly upon the Authority and Antiquity of Papias who lived presently after the Apostles and yet by St. Hierom and many of this present Age looked upon as an Imposture and if both Irenaeus for his asserting that our Saviour suffered about the Fiftieth year of his Age and Clem. Alexandrinus that he died for the Sins of the World about the Thirtieth year of his Age are judged exceedingly mistaken and not without good ground notwithstanding they both pretended an Apostolick Tradition as having conversed with Apostolick Men Irenaeus having written An. 180. and Clemens 190. And in fine since in that famous contention about Easter which miserably afflicted the Church in the days of P. Victor Bishop of Rome by dividing the Eastern Christians from the Western one pretending Oral Tradition from S. Iohn and S. Philip and the other from S. Peter and S. Paul may it not be pertinently demanded What stress can be laid upon a pretence of Apostolick Tradition sixteen hundred years after Christ suppose it were now become Universal but especially when it is but the particluar Tradition of a particular Church 4. What greater certainty can be given of the uncertainty of Oral Tradition as it is contradistinguished from the Scripture than this consideration that of all Christ said and no doubt he spoke much in point of Morality which is not expressed in the Gospels nothing is found in any Authentick Record save the Scriptures except that one expression preserved by S. Hierom Be thou never merry unless thou see thy Brother living in Charity for which notable expression we have the sole Authority of S. Hierom 5. Since its evident from the penult of S. Iohn's Gospel at the end as also the close of the last Chapter That our Saviour did many great things which are not recorded in Holy Scripture is it not a great Evidence of the great incertainty of Oral Tradition that none of all those Miracles not found in Scripture are conveyed to us by any warrantable Record the Legends which contain some of those pretended Miracles being rejected as Fabulous by the best Criticks of the Roman Church SECT XVIII Of that Thred-bare question Where was your Church before Luther Qu. 1. OF those who are still harping on that Thred-bare Question Where was your Church before Luther May it not as pertinently be demanded Should a Revolt happen from the