with all other sound Protestants in Christendom In other things there have been are and will be diversities of opinions and differences to the worlds end They should first pluck out the beam of their own eyes for we can truly charge them with greater differences As namely with that sharp and bloody contention between the Franciscans and the Dominicans and with the late bitter contention between the Jesuites and the secular Priests wherein the Priests did write as bitterly against the Jesuites and namely against Parsons as ever did any Protestant nay there was never any Protestant writer that did lay such foul and odious crimes to their charg as the Priests did And herein they verified the old proverb When thieves fâ—ll by the ears true men come to have their goods For one dissention that is among us they have at least ten among themselves D. Willet in his fourth Pillar of Papistry hath set down at large First the contradictions and divers opinions of old Papists and new Secondly The contradictions of the Jesuites amongst themselves Thirdly that their stoutest Champion Bellarmine is at variance with himself shamefully forgetting himself saying and unsaying now of one opinion by and by of another And no marvel Oportet enim mendacem esse memorem A lyer had need to have a good memory Fourthly he sheweth the repugnances inconveniences and inconsequent opinions which Popish Religion hath in it self And thus you see how they charge us with that wherein themselves are most faulty DIALOGUE 16. C. Are there none among us that maintain any strange and new opinions contrary to the grounds of Religion M. If there be any such our Church doth not approve of them but rather censure and punish them C. There be some that profess the former grounds of Religion as we do and yet say that there is no true Church among us and therefore will not joyn with us in prayers hearing the Word and in the use of the Sacraments but separate themselves from us what say you of such M. I say that they are possessed with the spirit of pride and singularity and that in so doing they do even deny these Articles of Faith the Catholick Church and the Communion of Saints and are such as the Apostle speaks of Rom. 16.17 Heb. 10.25 39. Master Perkins in his first Vol. pag. 409. calls them a schismatical and undiscreet company and saith that they are full of pride thinking themselves to be full when they are empty to have all knowledg when they are ignorant and have need to be catechised Another saith thus of them The error of those men is full of evil yea of blasphemy who do in such manner make a departure from this Church as if Christ were quite banished from hence and that there could be no hope of salvation to those that abide here And further he saith that if they cannot find Christ here they shall find him no where The errors of these men you may see in a little Treatise set forth by M. Barnard called The Separatists Schism C. I pray shew me some example that they ought not to separate themselves from us and that they do sin in so doing M. In the Church of Corinth the incestuous man was not punished fornication was lightly regarded yea there were some that even denied the Resurrection yet S. Paul doth account and call them the Church and Saints he doth not perswade any to make a separation but doth plainly rebuke them and sheweth how they should punish the evil doer I speak not this to excuse any gross sin that reigneth amongst us for I wish that the same might be severely punished but to shew that where the Word is truly preached and the Sacraments rightly administred as in our Church they are none ought for any cause to separate themselves And that such as do it do sin grievously I will shew you by a familiar example A mother conceiveth and bringeth forth a son and that with great travel and pain She traineth him up to mans estate and that not without great care and labor This son at length espying some spot and blemish or some infirmity in his mother forsaketh her and will not acknowledg her to be his mother what would you now think of him C. Surely I should think such a one to be a very wicked and unnatural son M. Even such are they who for some seeming faults in our Church deny it to be a true Church and do separate themselves from it whereas this Church hath conceived them brought them forth and nourished them For if ever they were truly begotten unto Christ and born a new it hath been by our Church and our Ministery by which likewise they have been trained up and brought to that knowledge which they have C. There are many amongst us that make great profession of Religion but I can see no good works come from them nay they are not only barren in good works but also live in some one gross sin or other Are these the true Church and true Catholicks M. Though they live in the Church yet they are not of the Church they are but Hypocrites and shall if they repent not have the reward of Hypocrites yea it shall be easier in the Day of Judgment for many Papists then for them because by their barren and fruitless yea wicked life they have caused the Name of God his Gospel and the true Professors thereof to be evil spoken of Let all therefore that will be accounted the true Church and true Christians he careful to adorn the Doctrine of God our Saviour in all things and that by a godly conversation and by doing of good works C. The name of God be blessed for this our conference whereby I find my self much edified There remaineth yet one thing more which I will demand of you and that is How I may come to know and be assured that I am indeed a member of the true Church and that I shall certainly be saved M. Be diligent to hear the Word of God preached Read the Scriptures Receive often the Sacrament Acquaint your self throughly with the aforesaid grounds of Religion Joyn hereunto earnest and hearty prayer Set apart some time for these things specially be careful to spend the Sabbath herein And to all these things joyn an holy conversation indevouring above all things to have always a clear conscience toward God and toward men In doing this you shall at length come to that full assurance whereof S. Paul speaketh namely that you are the Child of God and that nothing shall be able to separate you from the love of God which is in Christ Rom. 8.38 Babylon is fallen it is fallen Rev. 14.8 Praise honour glory and power be unto him that sitteth upon the Throne and unto the Lamb for evermore Amen Revel 5.13 FINIS Courteous Reader THese Books following are Printed for and sold by William Miller at the Gilded-Acorn in S. Paul's Church-yard where also you may be furnished with most sorts of bound or Stitched Books as Acts of Parliament Proclamations Speeches Declarations Letters Orders Ordinances Remonstrances Commissions Articles As also Books of Divinity Catechisms Church government Sermons on all Occasions and most sorts of Histories Poetry Plays and such like c. Books in Folio ASsemblies Annotations Bakers Chronicle Gesners History of Beasts and Serpents Heylin's Cosmography Josephus History of the Jews Juvenal with Cuts by Sir Robert Stapylton Ambroses works Cradocks Harmony Churchil Divi Britannici Elson on Colossians Knowledge and Practice quar Principles oct Richards Vines Treatise of the Institution Right Administration and Receiving of the Lords Supper in two Sermons oct Quarto Gunters works Barbers Sermon Isa 9.6 J. B. Sermon Survey of Man Job 14.10 Dod on the Lords Prayer Medice Cura Teipsum or the Apothecaries plea against Doctor Christopher Meret William Lord Bishop of Gloucester Entituled a plain and full Exposition of the Catechism of the Church of England Edward Lord Bishop of Norwich Entituled a Sermon preached before the Peers at Westminster the 7. Nov. being a day of solemn Humiliation for the continuing Pestilence Nat. Hardy Dr. Entituled Justice Triumphing c. a Sermon preached the 5. of Novem. Entituled The pilgrims wish a Sermon preached at the Funeral of Mrs. Anne Dudson Entituled A loud Call to great Mourning a Sermon preached on the 30. Jan. 1661. before the Parliament Entituled Lamentation Mourning and Wo a Sermon preached the Lords day after the dismal Fire in the City of London Entituled The Royal Common-wealths Man c. a Sermon preached at the Funeral of Sir Thomas Adams Entit Totum Hominis c. a Sermon preached the 15. March at the Assizes in York Marriage of Arts a play Faithful Shepherdess a play Horatius a play Polyencles a play Combate of love and friendship a play Spanish Gipsie a play Fettiplace the souls narrow search for sin oct English Dictionary or Expositor the twelfth Edition Revised and enlarged by S. C. duod Compleat Bone-setter oct Templum Musicum or the Musical Synop oct The famous game of Chess-play oct Shelton's Tachygraphia Lat. oct Clarks Looking-glass for persecutors oct Printed for F. Coles and William Miller FINIS
Blessed Virgin your confidence your refuge and your only hope but the holy Scripture not only commands you to trust in God but it forbids you to trust in the Creatures Jer. 17. Cursed be man that trusteth in man and maketh flesh his Arm but blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord and whose hope the Lord is Fifthly You confess that it is by the goodness and mercy of that God you are saved so far you are right But you believe also that you are saved by the merit of your Works and if you have none good of your own you buy some of other of folks which Priests make you believe they have store of And counsel you as many as have money to buy But doth not the Apostle say That every one shall give an account of himself to God Again Every one shall give an account what he hath done in the body whether it be good or evil And the Apostle expresly Rom. 11. If it be by grace then it is no more of works Ephes 2. We are saved by grace through faith and not of our selves it is the gift of God and not of Works lest any man should boast Sixthly You would be no Christians if you did not believe that Jesus Christ was made of Woman in respect of his Humane Nature and like unto his Brethren in all things sin only excepted And that in respect of his Divine Nature he is the express Image of the Father Very God of Very God But you believe and adore another Christ who is made of bread and is not at all either God or Man having not the least resemblance of either nature though by his resurrection from the dead his glory is much Augmented Yet it hath not destroyed the verity of his humane Nature nor made his body invisible or impalpable After the Consecration of your Priests I neither see or touch any thing but bread I cannot see or touch the natural body of Christ is it possible any man living should perswade me by any Arguments in the World in this particular contrary to my five senses Behold my hands and my feet Handle me and see for a Spirit hath not Flesh and Bones as you see me have and where there is not Flesh and Bones to be seen and felt there cannot be a Corporal presence Behold then oh you Papists to what a Religion you invite and call us even to the Idolatrous practice of the Heathen World to pray unto our fellow Creatures to Worship Images and fall down to the Stock of a tree I say to the worshipping of the consecrated Host which is a more stupid Idolatry then the worst of the Heathens were ever guilty of you invite us to a Religion that takes from us half the Sacrament of the Lords Supper Notwithstanding the Institution of Christ in express words and the constant practice of the Primitive Church to the contraty You practise the heathen persecution of taking away our Bibles and would involve every Layman in being a Traditor the next step in the account of the Primitive Church to Apostacy from the Christian Faith You tempt us to a Religion that contrary to the command of trying all things and holding fast that which is good and paying to God a reasonable service enjoyns an implicite faith and blind obedience To a Religion that instead of the guidance of the Word of God sets up an Infallible Judge and Arbitrator of all Doctrines the Pope of Rome Who instead of the Faith once delivered to the Saints adds new Articles of Faith And instead of that our propitiation made by Christ and the condition thereof Faith and Repentance sets remission of sins upon quite other Terms and proposes the gift of God to be purchased with money For instance Sacrilege is valued at seven Groats Incest at five Simony at seven Perjury six Murther five And so on for every sin if you have but money you need not fear a pardon though you never Repent or forsake your sins But let me instance a little further In the seventh place you confess with us that Jesus Christ is ascended into heaven and there sits at the right hand of God but you pretend to believe that he is also on Earth and in a Million of places at once That he is on Altars and in Pyxes in the hands or in the stomach of the Priests and of all those that do Communicate But the holy Ghost tells us not only that Jesus Christ in respect of his Humane Nature is ascended into Heaven but that the Heavens must contain him until the time of the restitution of all things Act. 3. and that he shall then descend in the same manner as he ascended Act. 1. This glorious Saviour not only saith I go to my Father but to shew us that he withdrew his body out of the world so absolutely that it should be no more there in any manner whatsoever he saith I leave the world and go unto the Father John 16. The poor you have always with you but me you have not always John 12. And he gives express caution against the false Imagination of his Corporal Presence If they say Christ is here or he is there believe it not Behold he is in the desart go not forth behold he is in the secret chambers believe it not Matth. 24. Again in the eighth place you give Jesus Christ the Honor to call him the Saviour and Redeemer of the World But then do you not affront him to Communicate these glorious Titles to meer Creatures do not the devoutest persons in your Religion call the Blessed Virgin the Redeemer and Saviour of the World and Bell. in his fourth chapter of his Book of Indulgences saith expresly that the Saints are in some sort our Redeemers But the Gospel tells us Not only that Jesus Christ is our Saviour but it tells us plainly that there is no salvation in any other and that there is no name under heaven given amongst men whereby we must be saved Act. 4. Ninethly In appearance you exalt the sacrifice which Christ hath offered on the Cross But in effect you annihilate it and tacitely accuse it of Insufficiency for you have invented another which is that of the Mass But the Apostle doth not only say That Jesus Christ offered up himself to God That he hath purchased Eternal Redemption for us And that by one oblation he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified But he teacheth expresly that he offered not himself often for then must he have often suffered from the foundation of the World And as it is appointed for men once to die and after that to judgment so Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many And that where there is remission of sin there is no more offering for sin and that without shedding of blood there is no remission Heb. 9.10 With one hand you Papists lay hold on the merits of Christ but with the other you lay hold on
their own nature are mortal And concerning this venial sin it was not known among the Fathers for Seven hundred years after Christ And thus you see what gross things they both teach and practise contrary to the Commandments of God whereby it plainly appeareth that Popery cannot be of God for thus I reason Whatsoever Religion doth teach things contrary to the Commandments of God is not of God but Popery doth so and therefore it is not of God and so by good consequence Papists cannot be good Catholicks DIALOGUE 13. C. Hitherto you have shewed that the Papists teach many things contrary to the Creed the Sacraments and the ten Commandments now tell me I pray you whether they teach any thing contrary to the Lords Prayer M. They do likewise teach and practise many things contrary thereunto I will but only name some of them The Lords Prayer teacheth us to call upon God only They teach and practise prayer to Saints In the first Petition we pray for the hallowing of Gods Name They give unto Saints departed that which is proper to God and so dishonor Gods Name In the second Petition we pray for the erecting of Gods Kingdom of Grace in our hearts and also for the means thereof namely the preaching and hearing of Gods Word They hinder the coming of Gods Kingdom in rejecting the Word of God and in persecuting such as will preach hear and read it Contrary to the third Petition is their Doctrine of Free-will Contrary to the fifth Petition is their Doctrine of satisfaction for sin In the sixth Petition we pray for strength to withstand Satan and his temptations They teach people to drive away the Devil with holy water and such like childish toys These and other such like things they teach and practise contrary to the Lords Prayer DIALOGUE 14. C. If Popery be so contrary to the grounds of Religion then we may not joyn with them in their profession M. It is true indeed we must therefore do as the Lord bade Jeremy Chap. 15 19. Let them return to thee but return not thou to them We may joyn with them in respect of Civil Society but not in respect of Religion and yet even then we are to take heed lest we be corrupted by them for he that toucheth Pitch shall be defiled therewith Some think that our Religion and the Religion of the present Church of Rome are all one for substance and that they may be united but they are grosly deceived for an union of these two Religions can never be made more then the union of light and darkness and that because the Church of Rome as hath at large been shewed hath struck at the very foundation C. If Popery be so contrary to the very grounds of Religion then what is the cause that so many yea of the more wise and learned sort do embrace and cleave to it M. One special cause of it is that because men will not receive the love of the Truth therefore God will send them strong delusion that they should believe a lie 2 Thes 2.10 11. A second cause is ignorance of the Scriptures and of the grounds of Religion for if men would well acquaint themselves herewith they should easily see the grossness of Popery A third cause is that Popery is very agreeable and pleasing to mans corrupt nature As for example to be justified by our good works to have Images to Worship God in to live in Ignorance to have pardons for our sins to serve God in outward Ceremonies as in choice of meat difference of days c. These are things very agreeable and pleasing to our corrupt nature and therefore one especial cause why so many embrace Popery A fourth cause is the tyranny of the Church of Rome whose chief means to uphold her Religion is fire and sword for were it not for this many thousands in a few years would utterly renounce Popery A fifth cause why so many especially of the Learned do embrace it is pomp and profit that is ambition and covetousness This was that which made the Scribes and Pharisees even against their own knowledg to withstand Christ and his Gospel And this makes many learned Papists to do the like They know no doubt that in some things they err as it doth appear by the words of Stephen Gardiner on his death bed The Bishop of Chichister seeing him to be in a desperate case comforteth him with the hope of remission of sins by the merits of Christ Gardiner hereunto answereth thus What will you open that gap now you may speak it to me and to such as are in my case but if you teach it to the people then farewell all meaning our authority pomp and profit by absolutions Masses c. These are the special causes why so many embrace Popery C. There is one thing more that I would gladly know concerning the Papists and that is whether a Papist may be saved seeing that Popery is so contrary to the grounds of Religion M. You are then to mark what a Papist is A Papist as the Rhemists on Act. 11. Sect. 4. do describe him is one that cleaveth to the Pope in Religion and is obedient to him in all things Every one now that is under the jurisdiction of the Pope is not to be counted a Papist for there are some even in Italy Spain c. that hold the Grounds of Religion do sigh and grone under the Romish yoke and desire to be freed from it yea would rejoyce to see it Again there may be some that for want of knowledge and the means thereof are entangled with some points of Popery but yet they hold the foundation which is Christ Jesus and look to be saved by his merits and not by their own or any others Such we account not Papists but the true Church and children of God But by Papists we mean such as cleave fast to the Pope in Religion are in all things obedient to him will not be reclaimed from their errors refuse to hear the Word of God to read the Scriptures or any other good books Of such we may boldly say that if they thus continue to the end they cannot be saved DIALOGUE 15. C. I do now plainly see that Papists are no good Catholicks because they are neither of found faith nor good life but tell me I pray you who indeed are the true Church and the true Catholicks M. All that do truly and sincerely embrace profess and practise the afoâ—esaid grounds of Religion in what countrey soever they live C. Is the Church of England the true Church M. Yes for it hath the special marks of the true Church namely the Word of God sincerely and soundly preached and the Sacraments rightly administred C. The Papists say that there are diversities of opinions among us that we cannot agree among our selves and that therefore we are not the true Church M. In all substantial points of Religion we agree both amongst our selves and also