the perfect words of the New Testament whereto nothing may be added and wherefrom nothing may be taken away by him that will lead a life agreeable to the Gospel Euseb Hist l. 5. c. 14. Thus Brethren I have for your sakes as well as others taken a fresh view of the State of this most Primitive Church to whose holy pattern through the Grace of God you have diligently laboured to conform your souls her Principles are yours her Government in good measure is yours if in any thing any of them be otherwise minded my hearts desire is that God would speedily reveal even the same unto you and then it is to be hoped that all well disposed will in time see themselves concerned to adhere to the truth of your Principles in the very Order wherein you maintain them Hear the Church OR AN EPISTLE TO All the Baptized Christians in England Exciting them to Stedfastness in their Holy Profession under their various Tryals and great Afflictions The Second PART BRETHREN AS it hath pleased God to exercise you many years with various Tryals and Afflictions for your Faithfulness to the Christian Religion in respect of the Restoration of it to its ancient Purity both in the Form and Power of it wherein you have laboured hitherto and have not fainted but by the Grace of God have attained to some degree in that behalf above what hath as yet been attained by the generality of your Country-men for which you owe the greatest Thankfulness to Almighty God. And having as I verily believe laid a right Foundation for a true Church-State you are indispensibly obliged to go on unto perfection as the first Churches which were built upon the same Foundation were expresly required and exhorted Heb. 6. 1 2 3. In which Holy Profession being by the Grace of God one with you and also called to the Ministry and Office of a Messenger of your Churches which I mention because it is the most despised Office amongst all Christians as it seems to have been in the Apostles days 1. Cor. 4. 9. do hold it my Duty at this time to endeavour to strengthen you in what I may in your Holy Profession as also to call upon such as have been shaken in mind by the violence of those Temptations which have befallen them in common with their Brethren For as it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God as those undoubtedly shall who draw back from the Truth they have once embraced unto Perdition so I am very confident that for any to fall from the Truth as it is professed by the Baptized Churches is the most dangerous of all other they being indeed the nearest to the Truth in the Pristine Order and Simplicity of it of all sorts of Persons who own the Honorable Appellation of Christian For What sort of Christians can with any Confidence look upon or bring themselves close to the Rules of St. Pauls Catechism Heb. 6. 1 2. as the Antients used to call it except the Baptized Churches To say nothing of others can they of the present Roman Catholick-Church in any wise square themselves or justifie their present Church-State by the Rule of those Sacred Principles in the simplicity of them No these Principles of Christ's Doctrine will in no wise be concordant with the Catechism of the present Roman Church seeing a Doctor of their own hath told us that if the Scriptures must be our Rule c. they must all cross the Cudgels to the Anabaptists which is a plain giving up the Victory to the Baptized Churches unless a better Form of Doctrine can be assigned than this is which will never be Yea so pressing is this place from the true Institution of the Antient Christian Religion that the Rhemists seem to be under no small difficulty how to express themselves about it For thus they speak upon the Text Heb. 6. 1 2. We see hereby say they what the first grounds of Christian Institution or Catechism were in the Primitive Church and that there was ever a necessary Instruction and Belief of certain Points had by Word of mouth and Tradition before men came to the Scriptures which could not treat of things so particularly as was requisite for the teaching of all necessary Grounds Among these Points were the twelve Articles contained in the Apostles Creed The Doctrine of Penance before Baptism the Manner and Necessity of Baptism the Sacrament of Imposition of Hands after Baptism called Confirmation the Articles of the Resurrection Judgment and such like without which things first laid if one should be sent to pick his Faith out of the Scriptures there would be mad Rule quickly 1. It 's highly observable from hence that the first Grounds and Principles of our Churches which indeed are no other than what men read Heb. 6. 1 2. are openly acknowledged by our most Potent Opposites to be the same which were in the Primitive Church received for the first Grounds and Institutions of Christianity or Christian Institution and Catechism That in the Primitime Church these Grounds were held in the very Order now observed by the Baptized Churches particularly Repentance before Baptism and Imposition of Hands after Baptism Sure this is a full Testimony that the Institution of the Baptized Churches now wrongfully called Anabaptists and theirs only is truly Apostolical Whilst all the Paedobaptists in the World among whom the Papists have quite subverted this Order giving their supposed Baptism before Repentance and that unto Persons that are not capable of Repentance 2. They tell us there was a necessary Instruction and Belief of certain Points had by Word of Mouth and Tradition before men came to the Scripture Admit this to be so in respect of such parts of the Holy Scriptures as were then unwritten when the Apostles first preached the Gospel yet it is certainly false in respect of such Books of Scripture as were then in being for it 's evident that our Blessed Saviour propounded the Text of Scripture Luke 4. 17 18 19. and thence preached to the People and commanded his Hearers to search the Scriptures John 5. 29. He did not send his Hearers to Tradition as the Papists do The great Apostle of the Jews St. Peter even then when he was filled with the Holy Ghost Acts 2. 17. preached from and notably confirms his Doctrine by the Scriptures Act. 2. not by Tradition And Philip Acts 8. 35. began at the same Scripture which the Eunuch read and preached to him Jesus without making any use of Tradition Apollo being mighty in the Scripture not in Tradition convinced the Jews shewing not by Tradition but by the Scriptures that Jesus is the Christ So did the great Apostle of the Gentiles St. Paul Acts 28. 2â— Perswading men concerning Jesus out of the Law and the Prophets not out of Tradition from Morning to Evening and the best sort of St. Paul's Hearers searched the Scriptures daily not Tradition to see whether the
things spoken by him were so 3. Nor can the Papists tell us what one Point of Necessary Instruction or Belief was delivered by Word of Mouth which is not now contained in the Holy Scripture if otherwise let them assign some necessary Point of Faith or Instruction such as without which we cannot know and serve God truly and fully and be saved eternally which is not contained in the Holy Scriptures But as this will hardly be attempted so let me exhort you Brethren to beware of all manner of Principles and Doctrins which have any tendency to weaken or invalidate the Authority and Sufficiency of the Scriptures which the Apostle avers to be of that sufficiency even before all the Books of Sacred Scriptures were extant as to furnish the Man of God throughly to every good Work. And then certainly he who is in all Points of Faith and Instruction a good Christian according to the Doctrine contained in the Holy Scriptures will be out of the reach of any just reprehension though he know nothing of the unwritten Tradition so much pretended and admired by the Papists or others Being thus secured in your Principles from the very concession of your Enemies and by the Authority of the best and most Sacred Antiquity even the Holy Scriptures you have no cause to fear the most important difficulties wherewith possibly we may be tried in these days And that we may the better see how the case stands between the Baptists and the Papists with respect to the two great Ordinances of Christ to wit Holy Baptism and the Holy Table of our Lord Jesus Christ we will here take a View of the one and of the other in a distinct Column by it self the better to discern their Disparity The Manner of Baptism among the Baptized Believers commonly called Anabaptists Baptist The Manner of Baptism among the Papists commonly called Roman Catholicks taken out of the Roman Ritual by a Learned Hand translated into English Papist THE Messenger or Elder being attired in comely Raiment not much different from the rest of his Brethren first Preaches the Gospel to every Creature that is capable and willing to hear and when by hearing they have received Faith the Minister explains the Doctrine of Repentance from dead Works and of Faith towards God for the further Illumination of the Disciples understanding in the knowledge of the only true God and our Lord Jesus Christ that they may obtain Eternal Life The Minister does oopen the Doctrine of Repentance in three parts especially i. e. as it consists in a due sense or knowledge of the sinfulness of sin In true Sorrow for sin committed especially against Almighty God. The necessity of forsaking the Conversation of sin and to walk righteously soberly and godly in this present Life The Doctrine of Faith is explained concerning the Object in respect of the God-head the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost into whose Name the Party is to be baptized and especially concerning Christ crucified buried and risen a-again and therewith is shewed that in Baptism we are to die unto Sin to be buried with him in Baptism to rise to a Holy Life and so to put on the Lord Jesus Christ in Baptism as to be born of Water and of the Spirit through the Word The Minister does open to the Party to be Baptized the whole Doctrine of Baptisms First That of Water which is the Baptism of Repentance for the Remission of sins in respect of the Power by which it is commanded the extent of it to every repenting Sinner the end of it to be a Pledge of the washing away of sin and to give us admission into the Church of Christ to draw near to God in Prayer with full assurance having the Heart sprinkled from an evil Conscience by Faith in the Blood of Christ and our Bodies washed with pure Water even the Water of the Baptismal Covenant called the washing of Regeneration 2. That of the Holy Spirit the Promise of the Spirit being made to all that our Lord doth call and therewith doth explain the fourth Principle of Christ's Doctrine Laying on of Hands with Prayers as the Means appointed of God to obtain that Blessing even the Promise of the Spirit through Faith in the Word of Promise 3. The Baptism of Affliction is also opened that the Sufferings of Christ called by himself a Baptism may not be feared but patiently endured according to the Will of God. This is the Sum of the Doctrine of Baptism taught by the Baptized Churches The 5th and 6th Principles of Christ's Doctrine are likewise particularly opened concerning the Resurrection of the Dead and chiefly of Christ's being raised Bodily from the Dead as the most sure pledge that the Dead shall be raised Bodily and the eternal Judgment in which every man shall receive according to the deeds done in the Body whether good or bad To all which the Party to be Baptized declares his assent in the best manâ—er he can shewing also his sense of Sin and sorrow for it his purpose to live holily his Faith in Christ his Saviour the only Son of God and that it is his desire to be Baptized according to the Will of God. And then the Minister with the Congregation or persons present do make Prayer and Supplication to Almighty God to receive the returning sinner and to bless and sanctifie his own Ordinance to him And then the Party to be Baptized being cloathed with convenient Garments for decency he is had to the Water where calling upon the Name of the Lord he is dipped into the River or Water by the Minister in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost And as in every thing Christians are to give thanks so this whole Service is concluded with farther prayer and thanksgiving to this effect That as it has pleased God to call his Servant or Servants out of their sinful state and to bring them into the way of Truth so it would please him to enable them to persevere to the end to his Glory and their own Eternal Comfort Nor do we put any Vow Covenant or Promise upon any Person save only what the very Nature of the Baptismal Covenant it self does in its own evidence carry along with it it being our greatest care neither to add to nor to diminish ought from the holy Ordinances of Christ but to keep them as they were delivered at first to the Church of God 1 Cor. 11. 2. AFter many preparatory Prescriptions the Priest being dressed in a Purple Robe calls the Infant to be Baptized by his Name and saith What askest thou of the Church of God the God-fathers answer Faith. The Priest saith again What shalt thou get by Faith The God-father replies Eternal Life Then adds the Priest If therefore thou wilt enter into Life keep the Commandments Thou shalt love
question be about Christ and his Church there must we find them both or no where If any Man like not this Doctrine let him shew me if he can these lovely Objects without being beholden to the Scripture Some I have known to attempt this but with lamentable success being soon driven to a shameful silence and indeed the whole World must depart into utter silence as touching this great Mystery Christ and his Church unless the Word of God as it is delivered in the Holy Scriptures through Faith makes us wise in these great Concernments of Salvation 2 Tim. 3. 14. Let men alledge all the Authors in the World and all the Tradition that ever was if the Holy Scriptures must not be their own Evidence and so capable to command our Belief of them then for the same or rather more forcible Reasons then any Man can bring against the Scriptures all Authors and all Traditions shall be dumb and useless as to the production of the least iota of Divine Faith so that the Papists at the long-run must if they know how shew us their Church without Scripture or any Author and without Tradition also as I have formerly written unto you being provoked thereunto by seven Queries sent by a Learned Papist who in his last to me does undertake to deliver himself from this difficulty after this manner We may saith he prove the Church by the Holy Scripture and the Scripture by the Church and this by a Regressus Demonstrativus without a vicious Circle because we suppose them both sufficiently proved and prudently accepted for such by all the Motives of Credibility as Miracles Holiness c. by which Christ proved himself and his New Gospel But as for the Sense of the Scripture I have more than sufficiently demonstrated that the Scripture it self cannot bear witness for it but that this must be had from a Living Judge viz. the Church the Infallible Interpreter of Gods Word To this I answer briefly That is a vicious Circle out of which no man can lawfully deliver himself but must run in a Round without end and truly such is this Circular Argumentation of my Adversary he will prove his Church by the Scripture 2. He will prove the Scripture to be true by his Church and he will prove his Church true by the Scripture before the Scripture be proved true and he will prove the Scripture to be true after it hath proved his Church true This Meander is no way to be avoided that I can see but by suffering either the Scripture or the Church to be its own Evidence for his Demonstrative Regress makes his Case worse for by it they be both sufficiently proved before either of them be proved and both prudently accepted before either of them be accepted and which is most strange of all the rest these things are all done before the Scripture hath any sense known for of this he is the most of all confident that the Sense of the Scripture must be had from a living Judge viz. the Church the Infallible Interpreter of God's Word So that this is the Conclusion of the whole Matter The Scripture without Sense must prove the Roman Church and the Roman Church must then give the Sense of that Scripture which had no Sense before when it proved Her to be the Church here is indeed a Regressus but no such thing as a Demonstrativus Methinks wise men should consider that the Holy Scripture is its own Interpreter in a great if not the greatest part of it the New Testament being the best Interpreter of the Old Testament and of it self also in many places for Example It tells us in one place that the Heavens must receive Christ from the time of his Ascension till the times of refreshing shall come from the Presence of the Lord. Act. 3. 21. And hence we hold that no Christian must say that the real Body of of Christ which ascended to Heaven is upon the Earth till he shall be sent the second time for God shall send Jesus saith St. Peter because the Scripture tells us in another place That if Jesus were on Earth he should not be a Priest Heb. 8. 4. It is therefore as plain as plain can be that the Papists make void the Priesthood of Christ and contradict St. Peter himself when they tell the World that the real Body of Christ which ascended into Heaven is now really carnally corporally present upon the Earth that is upon their Altars and in the Hands and Mouths of their Priests and People as often as they celebrate Mass and consequently he is so far from being received into Heaven till the time of his second coming that he is according to their own Opinion received bodily upon Earth ten thousand times and in ten thousand places to his being once received bodily into Heaven Sure their Opinion is directly against the Scripture as sure as their Transubstantiation is directly against the best Sense and the best Reason with which Almighty God hath endowed the best of Men as has been clearly evidenced by many learned Discourses among which I would commend to your Perusal one lately published under the Title of A Discourse against Transubstantiation Printed this Year and sold by Mr. Aylmer at the Three Pigeons against the Royal Exchange Price Six Pence My Learned Adversary and indeed the Papists generally do urge us vehemently after this manner admitting that the Church is to follow the Rule of God's revealed Word in all her Definitions yet they hold it extreamly irrational that all that can read it should be his own Interpreter of it for so say they He will be his own Judge And as in a Nation where no Judge of the Law is appointed there can be no Justice but every man will be his own Judge so likewise unless there be a Supream Judge in Matters of Faith to wit the Church from whom no Appeal may be allowed there can be no end of Controversies c. This Objection is considerable to which I say 1. What my Adversary means by God's revealed Word I do not very well understand but I doubt he extends that Term farther than the Holy Scripture else I am sure enough the Church of Rome has no revealed Word of God to follow in very many of her Observations but to let this pass at present I answer to the Objection thus 2. It seems to be built upon many dangerous Suppositions such as these That we ought to rest upon the Sentence of a Priest for we must hear the Church out of his Mouth for the state of our Soul as on the Sentence of a Judge in a Civil Court for a matter of Debt c. and that we are no more bound to search the Scriptures for Eternal Life than to search the Statute-Book for our Temporal Life nay here I do them no wrong for they will permit us to read the Statute-Book but they forbid us to read the Holy Scripture It supposes
prevail against our Church in the Case of Baptism whether we consider the Subject Manner End and Use of Holy Baptism Whereas The only Witness which is pretended by my Learned Adversary for the first Century is Dionysius the Areopagite mentioned Acts. 17. 34. Who is said to speak thus in a Book entituled Eccles Hierarch cult The Custom of our Mother the Church in Baptizing Children is not to be contemned nor to be judged superfluous nor indeed to be credited if it were not an Apostolical Tradition Truly this Author speaks not like a Man that was satisfied in this Point of Infant Baptism and such is the faintness of his Evidence that methinks he should leave a suspicion upon every man that reads him that he did not know what to say nor whereof to affirm but leaving every man to think of the Words as he pleases we will hear what the Learned have said concerning this Book Eccles Hirarch First They put it down in the Catalogue of Forged Writings and Cajetan a Papist denys that Work to be written by Dionysius Their Reasons are 1. Because he never makes mention of St. Paul in that Book who was the happy Instrument by whom Dionysius was converted and yet he extolls Hierotheus as his Master 2. Because he writes of many Orders of Popes Priests and Monks of which the first Age had none 3. Eusebius and Jerome in their Catalogues never make mention of this Book And Gregory the Great doth say it was not written by Dionysius 4. Illiricus hath ten very considerable Reasons why this Book was written long after the Death of Dionysius one is this The Author talks often of the Distinction of the Quire and the Church whereas saith he the Christians had no such Churches an hundred years after Dionysiâ—s's time This Author therefore will never bear so great a weight as to prove Infant Baptism to have been either taught or practised by the Apostles Being thus found destitute of all Antiquity in the first Age let us hear what one of their own Chronographers tells us concerning both the beginning of Infant-Baptism and the want of any Evidence for Infant-Baptism in this Nation till more then three hundred years after Christ Robert Fabian a Papist in his Chron. part 5. c. 118. fol. 105. tells us the Faith had endured in Brittain from the time of Lucius the first Christian King in Britain near upon the season of four hundred years and odd and then in the next Chapter he gives account of Augustin the Monk coming into England and how he prevailed with some Bishops to observe his Orders And in Fol. 107. he saith But for all this there were of them that said that they might not leave the Custom which they so long had conâ—inued without the Assent of all such as used the same Then Austin gathered a Synod to the which came seven Bishops of Brittains with the wisest men of the famous Abby of Bangor But first they took Counsel of an Holy Man whether they should be obedient to Austin or not And he said if you find him humble and meek as to Christ's Disciple belongeth that then they should assent to him which meekness they should perceive in him if he at their coming into the Synod or Council arose against them When the said Bishops entred the said Synod Augustine sate still in the Chair and removed not wherefore they were wroth and disdained him and would not obey to his requests Then he said to them Since ye will not assent to my Hests generally assent to me especially in three things The first is That you keep Easter Day in due Form and Time as it is Ordained The Second That ye give Christendom to Children And the Third is That ye Preach unto the Anglish the Word of God as I afore-time have exhorted you and all the other Deale I will suffer you to amend and reform among your selves But they would not thereof From this Passage it is very evident that Infant-Baptism came not into this Nation till about four hundred years after the Gospel was first Received here and therefore the Papists must needs fail of Antiquity here and must if they will do us right give place to the Baptized Believers not only in the Case of Believers-Baptism but also in respect of the denial of Baptism to Infants seeing these seven Bishops and the wisest Men of Bangor withstood Augustine the Monk in that point then as we withstand the Papists in that point now And as we have suffered many hard things even to the burning of our Bodies in Smithfield for bearing witness to the Ancient and True Baptism of Christ even so it fared very ill with those that withstood Infant-Baptism c. in the Days of Austin for Fabian relates how they were many hundreds of them murdered and Mr. Fox seems to lay the Fault upon Austin I conclude with these two short Arguments 1. The present Church of Rome cannot possibly prove her self to be the true Church of Christ Ergo the present Church of Rome is not the true Church of Christ 2. The present Church of Rome hath no true Baptism Ergo She is no the true Church of Christ Let the Papists defend their present Church against these Arguments the Grounds whereof are delivered truly in the precedent Discourses without which all they can say will signifie little for what Power soever the Church hath it is little to them unless they make good proof that they are the true Church of Jesus Christ FINIS * It is said of the Roman Christians that the Light of Piety shined in their Minds when they heard Peter but they were not satisfied with once hearing neither satisfied with the Vnwritten Doctrine that was dâ—livered but earnestly besought St. Mark whose Gospel is now in ure that he would leave in Writing unto them the Doctrine which they had received by Preaching c. Euseb Hist l. 2. Chap. 15. We see that the Church of Rome esteemed the Gospel in Writing above the delivery of it in Preaching though they heard it from Peter himself Sure they are not the same now as then for Tradition from whom it's hard to say is more now to them than the Scripture And the Scripture nothing to them but as delivered and interpreted by Tradition * The Principles of the Doctrine of Christ Repentance Faith Doctrine of Baptisms Laying on of Hands Resurrection of the Dead Eternal Judgment Christ as received in the Power and Order of these Principles becomes a Foundation to his Church in which respect the Principles are here called the Foundation also Mark 16. 15. Rom. 10. 17. Joh. 17. 3. Acts 2. 38. Tit. 2. 12. Mat. 28. 19 20. 1 Cor. 2. 2. Rom. 6. 4. Joh. 3. 3 5. Eph. 5. 26. Mat. 28. 18. Mat. 28. 18. Act. 2. 28. Act. 22. 16. Rom. 12. 13. Heb. 10. 22. Acts 2. 38. Act. 8. Act. 19. Gal. 3. 14. Mat. 20. 22 23. 1 Cor. 15. Acts. 17. 31. 1 Cor. 5. 10. Acts. 2. 40. Mark 1. 5. Acts 8. 36 37. Mark 1. 15. John 3. 23. Acts 8. 38. Mat. 28. 19. Acts 20. 7. Gal. 3. 13. Heb. 10. 12 14. Mat. 26. 26. 1 Cor. 11. 23 24. John 6. 35. 1 Cor. 11. 26. 1 Cor. 11. 25. 1 Cor. 10. 14 15 16 17. Mat. 26. 30. Dr. Willet Synops Papis p. 561. Acts 2. 27. Heb. 7. 24. This Catechise is Printed with the approbation of William Hide D. D. President of the English Colledge at Doway The present Baptized Believers only do hold to the old Religion at least in the Point of Sacred Baptism
it self These were such things as seemed good to the Holy Ghost not that the Holy Ghost now revealed them but brought to remembrance what the Scriptures had said concerning them and partly by what before that time had been shewed unto St. Peter by a certain Vision of God's accepting the Gentiles though not cleansed according to Legal Purification And therefore till the Holy Ghost reverse those Decrees they are to oblige all Churches to keep them inviolable And in this point as indeed in all the rest the Baptized Churches in this Age do stand a witness against the disorder and disobedience of most of the Christian Nations in the World who make no Conscience of abstaining from Blood c. though they know the true Churches did Religiously observe these Decrees for several hundreds of years after Tertullian tells us The custom of Christians is to abstain from all Blood and things Strangled so that it is not lawful for them when they feed at their Tables to meddle with the Blood of any Beast It is further safely concluded from hence that all decrees of General Councils are so far obliging only as the things decreed are proved to be true and not because they are decreed in Council only for here St. Peter proves that Churches are free from the obligation of Legal Ceremonies because they wear a Burthen too heavy to be born 2. Because God had accepted them already without them And James the Angel of this Church proves or confirms the same by the Scriptures and these Arguments and Probations satisfied the Assembly And it 's certain the things prohibited by these decrees were always forbidden even to Noah and his perpetual Generations Gen. 9. 12 c. Nor does this Assembly excommunicate or anathematize all that shall doubt of the Necessity of their Determination but very sweetly tells the Brethren they shall do well to comply with their advice for they knew that every Church had Power to punish offenders and to them they seem to leave that Care and not to take the Power of any Church out of their Hands as the manner of some is Of the Case of Infants or whether they were admitted to Baptism in the Mother-Church In all that is said of the Plantation and growth of this famous Church or in that excellent Epistle which was a long time after written to them there is not one Word to be found of any one Infant being brought to Baptism and therefore we hold to the Negative of this Question and it is observable that though here Infant-Circumcision was absolutely excluded yet is there no Argument urged for it from their Baptism which had been very considerable had there been any such usage in this or the Gentile Churches And because it is granted now by many and these the most Learned too among whom the Papists that there is no Scripture for Infant-Baptism c. But that it stands upon the Authority of Ecclesiastical Tradition all that we shall say to that Plea in this place is to desire any Man to shew who delivered this thing to the Churches and by what Authority whether divine or human For seeing Tradition signifies a thing delivered it is fit the Person or Persons delivering such a thing should be known to be Persons lawfully impowered to deliver such a Tradition before we can with safety receive it But how then shall Infants be saved if Baptism belong not to them I answer out of the mouth of St. Peter Verse 11. By the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ they shall be saved And sure a man might as well ask how can Infants be saved without Faith and Repentance seeing it is said he that believeth not shall be damned and except ye repent ye shall all perish c. And what answer could any wise man make save this the grace of God sufficeth them having Christ's express word for it that to them belongs the Kingdom of Heaven and this he spake to unbaptized Infants too which is therefore so satisfactory that we need no other evidence If any man say the words which St. Peter spake in Council Acts 15. 11. are not meant of Infants and therefore not pertinent to my purpose I shall only desire him to consider that those words were spoken in opposition to this position That without Circumcision after the manner of Moses the Gentiles could not be saved Now we know it was after the manner of Moses to Circumcise Infants and therefore doubtless these false Teachers did question the salvation of Infants dying without Circumcision Therefore these words of St. Peter which teaches that by the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ both Jew and Gentile shall be saved have their clear extent to Infants as well as to any other persons whatsoever I shall here only refer the Reader to what we have farther written in a Treatise upon this Subject entituled The Controversie about Infant-Church-Member-ship and Baptism epitomized Of the Reverence due to Saints Angels and to the Blessed Virgin in particular according to the usage of this Mother-Church It was in this Church where the Holy Virgin Mother of our Lord had her Conversation and Society being with that select Company consisting of an hundred and twenty names Acts 1. 15. among whom this most blessed Woman is expresly named and by whose Presence this Mother-Church was honoured above all others And here is the last mention that is made of her in the holy Scriptures And this honourable mention of her by name and as the Mother of our Lord which doubtless calls for great Reverence in the hearts of all God's People is all the honour that the Word of God does here confer upon her This Church makes no Prayers to her nor to Christ in her name nor taught the succeeding Churches to do so yet surely she was the greatest Saint that ever was and if we have no ground from any direction nor President in the Scripture to perform such Devotion to Her we cannot with any shew of Reason or pretence of Truth do it to any other Creatrue Saint or Angel whatsoever And it is remarkable that though this Church had occasion to make express mention of David in their Prayers Acts 4. 25. yet do they not use his Intercession at all But this Honour they give to Jesus Christ that through his Name such things might be done as might confirm the Truth against all Opposers Nor does the Holy Ghost give any notice of the Worshipping of Angels Saints nor the Holy Virgin in particular in that Sacred Epistle which was sent to this Church after the death of Blessed Mary the Mother of Jesus so that this Mother-Church seems altogether unacquainted with such Devotions And much more may we assure our selves they paid no such Devotion to the Images of these or of any of them If any affirm the contrary we answer them in the words of Jerom Non Credimus quia non Legimus And with Apollinarius we dare add nothing to
and these things come not lawfully but because they walk in the business of Darkness Behold now in Peace my bitterness is most bitter It hath been before bitter in the Death of Martyrs afterwards more bitter in Controversie with Hereticks now it is most bitter in the manners of those of our own House We can neither chase them away they are so mighty and multiplied without Number the Sores and Plagues of the Church are entred into the inward parts and are incurable and therefore is her Bitterness most bitter And in Psal 90. 6 11. O Lord Jesus thou hast multiplied the People but not encreased their Joy all the Christians almost do seek their own Profit they have removed the Offices to shameful Gain and into Works of Darkness and the Health of Souls is not searched for but the Pleasure of Vices Therefore are they shorn Therefore do they frequent Churches and sing Psalms They contend most impudently daily by Process for Bishopricks Arch-Bishopricks c. There remaineth nothing but that the Man of Sin the Son of Perdition be revealed And on the Conversion of St. Paul. Alas O Lord God for these are the first which do persecute thee whom we do see to love the highest Places in thy Church and do hold the Principality and by Power and strength have taken the Arches of Sion and afterward freely have set all the City on fire Their Conversation is miserable the Subversion of thy People is pitiful And speaking to the Pope he saith This Mortal Corruption hath not begun in thy days but I pray God it may end in thy time In the mean time thou art apparelled and decked up very gorgeously If I durst speak thy Seat is rather a Pack of Devils then of Sheep Did St. Peter do so Did St. Paul mock after that sort Behold the murmuring and complaint of all Churches they do cry out that they are cut in pieces and dismembred There are very few or almost none that do not fear the streak or Wound Thus far Bernard Let not then the Papists contemn or despise us because of some Defects in respect of Unity neither let us despise them because of the Discords which have been or are among them Let us beware of the cause of those Calamities and strive only for the true Form and due Power of Godliness then shall the Spirit of Hatred which hath inserted it self amongst Christians be rooted out and then shall that great Badge of Christianity unfeigned Love even the Love of God shed abroad in our Hearts by the Holy Ghost possess the Room of all our bitter Contentions That thus it may be is the Prayer of Your Loving Brother Thomas Grantham Written in the Year 1685. Post-Script Concerning the Original Manuscripts of the Holy Scriptures BRETHREN BEcause our Learned Adversaries are wont to amuse weak Christians by telling them they knew not the Originals c. I thought fit to transcribe part of what I have formerly printed in Answer to this specious Objection In the Introduction of my Book of Primitive Christianity how vain and pernicious this Talk is about the Original will appear when you consider That no man living ever saw the very Papers in which the Prophets and Apostles did write the first Draughts of the Holy Scriptures and therefore none have the Originals but only Copies of Scripture And let not this offend any Man for It seems to have been the best for all Christians that after many Copies are taken and spread in many Nations these first Draughts should not continue long for had any now but so much Confidence as to say they have these very first Sheets of Paper to show how might they trouble the whole World with such a Report and how might they abuse the World and all the Churches in the World at pleasure as by adding or taking away and who should correct the Original Suppose the Roman Church had those Manuscripts in their Hands what Mists might they cast upon the Nations and who could come to the sight of them to discover any such abuse and the same may be said of any other potent Party But now the Originals being no where to be found but yet a multitude of Copies extant and the same translated by multitudes of Men into several Languages by this means all are forced to be more peaceable than perhaps they are willing to be since they have only Copies of the Divine Oracles and others have Copies as well as they so that they can none of them pretend to have ever seen the Original and therefore can they less quarrel about their Copies Thus hath God's Wisdom disposed herein better for his Church than She could have thought or desired And it is worth observation that scarce any of the Churches to whom St. Paul wrote had the Original sent to them except the Galatians but had only certain Copies written by divers Hands For Instance The Epistle to the Hebrews was written by Timothy as 't is said in the Post-Script The Epistle to the Romans was written by Tertius Four Persons wrote the first Epistle to the Corinthians Post-Script Two Brethren wrote the Second Epistle Post-Script Tichicus and Onesimus wrote that to Colossus All these Churches had only Copies and for ought appears never saw the Originals And what if some of these Copies did accidentally vary some Word or Tittle are the Sacred Epistles ever the worse so long as the Holy Doctrine therein contained was not injured Can we think that when the Holy Apostles preached that they had still the very self-same Phrases This were idle to imagine and yet they had the self-same Gospel to preach in every Place I speak not this as if I approved of altering the Holy Writings no not in the least iota yet if accidentally in Transcribing or Printing there should be some such Failure I do not think that by and by that Copy were to be rejected or the Authority of the Scriptures therefore to be called in question that men might set up themselves above it Some under pretence of being the Church and others pretending the Spirit whilst they both reject the Church and the Spirit as held forth in and speaking by the Holy Scriptures A plain Instance of this we have in the Papists and most Paedo-Baptists who whilst they seem to admire General Councils Fathers c. they regard not the Decrees of the best Councils and Fathers which were held by the Apostles and Elders and Brethren at Jerusalem who among other things forbid the eating of things strangled and Blood which the Church observed for several hundred of years after for indeed they were delivered to the Churches to be kept not to be broken Acts 16. 1 2. and yet without all Conscience of these Decrees they feed upon Blood c. And on the other side how ridgidly do they impose the Decrees of the Trent Councils in the Case of Transubstantiation though never heard of before it was there invented insomuch as
thing upon their own knowledg sight or hearing as the Apostles did 1 John 1. 2 Pet. 1. 16. for scarce so much as one hundred years and this their Testimony also being but of human Authority it remaineth of necessity that some Books of Record must be received upon the Authority of the Author in whose Name they speak and the Divine Evidence of the Matter contained in them and hence we argue the Sufficiency of the Scriptures own Authority to command our reception of them speaking to us in the Name of God and carrying in themselves Divine Evidences in respect of the matters therein contained Papist Query 3. Baptist Anti-query 3. How know you that your Copies and Translations of the Bible are the true Word of God since the Original Writings are not come to your Hands What Copies and Translations of the Scriptures have you that are more true than ours And where are the Original Manuscripts of the Prophets and Apostles Seeing it was not the Pleasure of the Divine Wisdom to preserve and present to all Nations the very first Pieces of Paper in which the Divine Oracles were written but rather to preserve many Copies and cause them to be spread throughout the World. And seeing no sort of Christians dare pretend to have Translated any of those Copies by an infallible Pen but only according to the best Skill they have acquired or learned in the Original Tongues It would better become all Learned Christians to bend their Minds to rectifie what they may any Imperfection or Mistake that may be in any of the Translations rather than by such Queries as this to open a Gap to Vnbelief and Irreligion And though much might be said by a captious Person against the English Translation of the Papists yet to prevent vain Jangling we refuse not to be tried in the Cases depending in these Queries and Anti-queries either by their Translation of the Bible or by that which is allowed by Authority And seeing no Papist is able to produce the prime Originals let them beware how they quarrel with our Copies lest some quarrel with theirs and â—so instead of Edification they bring forth nothing but vain Contention and show themselves ungrateful to God and mischievous to men For what man of any Modesty would upbraid another because he never saw the Original Writings when neither himself nor any man living ever saw them nor is ever like to see them Papist Query 4. Baptist Anti-query 4. Where we differ about the Sense of the Word by whom must we be tried The dead Letter cannot explain it self When we differ about the true Church or the Meaning of Authors be they Fathers or Councils by whom must we be tried These cannot speak for themselves more than the Scriptures And whether the Scriptures being compared together do not explain themselves Also whether this be not an opprobrious and ignominious Speech for you to call the Scripture a dead Letter And whether the true Lovers of the Scriptures ever vouchsafed them such ill and indeed improper Language Of all the Seven Queries this is the most difficult see what we have said to this Difficulty in our precedent Epistle Let the Papists prove themselves to be the true Church and the Contention about the Power of the Church to decide Differences which may arise about the Meaning of the Scriptures will with more ease be brought to a period In the mean time as we must every one give an account of our selves to God so it is the Duty of every Christian to labour to understand the Scriptures Mat. 24. 15. Pro. 22. 20 21. Papist Query 5. Baptist Anti-query 5. What clear Text have you out of the Scriptures for the Procession of the Holy Ghost from the Father and the Son Or for changing the Sabbath from Saturday to Sunday Or for prohibiting Poligamy or Infant-Baptism And whether there be not as clear Texts to prove unwritten Traditions Purgatory and the Real Presence Whether the Baptism of the true Church be not One And whether the one Baptism be not expresly found in the Scriptures and whether the Scriptures do not prohibit all Baptism of Water beside that one And whether the Papists have not confessed in many of their Books that Infant-Baptism is not found in nor grounded upon the Scripture And then whether it be not clear that all the Texts which speak of Baptism in Water do prohibit Infant-Baptism Also whether John 15. 26. 14. 26. 16. 7. be not clear Texts that the Holy Spirit proceedeth from the Father and the Son Also whether 1 Cor. 7. 1 2 3. do not as much prohibit one Man for having two Wives as one Woman for having two Husbands And whether it do not clearly prohibit the latter Also whether there be any thathold the First Day of the Week under the Notion of a Sabbath among the Baptized Churches and yet whether there be not clear proof for the Religious Observation of it Acts 20. 7. 1 Cor. 16. 2. Also whether it be not absurd for you to ask for clear Texts to prove unwritten things Also whether Purgatory and the Real Presence as you hold them are not plainly destructive to some Articles of the Christian Faith. For is not this the Faith of all sound Christians 1. That Almighty God does love no Creature in this World so much as the Creature Man nor does he take any Creature on Earth into that nearness of Vnion with himself as the Souls and Bodies of those that shall be saved 2. That the blessed Body of Christ after his Ascension into Glory admits of no Change either by Addition to his Substance of his Flesh and Blood or Diminution of any part thereof from either Now it is most certain that the Opinion of the Real Presence by Transubstantiation of Bread and Wine into the very Body and Blood of Christ God-Man doth evidently militate against these clear Truths with the greatest opposition as will appear by these Considerations following 1. Though the Love of God to Mankind especially to all that shall be saved is exceeding great yet it is certain he never died nor ever will SO take them into Union with himself AS to Transubstantiate their Bodies into the Divine Substance of Christ and so make their Flesh of the same Essence with himself as he is God Blessed for ever And therefore it is in no wise to be believed That God Almighty so loves the Creatures Bread and Wine as to turn or transubstantiate the very Substance of them into the very Substance of the only Son of God whom we believe to be of one Substance with the Father It is also further to be considered That though the two Natures in Christ i. e. the Divine and Human are united after an unspeakable manner yet no Christian does believe that God did transubstantiate the Substance of the Humane Nature into the Substance of the Divine Nature and that the Forms of Flesh and Blood only does remain How then is