as the Scriptures give no testimony of it so neither reason nor any thing else can prove his Holiness to be Infallible because he is not and there is no need that either he or any other Bishop should be so because God hath fully and clearly propounded to us in the Scriptures all things necessary to Salvation as I have already Prov'd and for that part of them that is obscure we are certain we may be Saved without the knowledg of it otherwise the Merciful God that loves us and desires our Salvation would have made it plain to us Now to bring this Discourse home to the great Point in hand if Eternal Happiness and Salvation be the kind offer or Proposal of God and this cannot be had but upon certain Terms or Conditions which must be determin'd and reveal'd by him determin'd because that is his Right and none but he hath Authority to do it reveal'd because unless he declare upon what Terms he will save them Mankind can never know them nor consequently obtain the proposed happiness and those Terms or Conditions be fully and intirely plainly and intelligibly deliver'd in the Scriptures then that and none but that is the true Church in which Salvation may certainly be had that adheres or cleaves to the Scriptures and follows them as the great and only Rule of Faith and Manners of all things that is necessary to Salvation This is the only sure Mark of the true Church that may be rely'd upon without this all other Signs are false Fires and deceitful Lights that mislead their unwary followers but he that chuses his Church by its Profession of the Christian Faith and Doctrine contained in the Scriptures is safe and in such a Society where nothing is wanting to Salvation but if he leaves that he may wander up and down the World in vain seeking Rest but finding none All then that will be necessary to make good my Assertion in both the parts of it that there is a certainty of Salvation in the Church of England and at most but a Possibility of it in the Church of Rome is briefly to shew the agreement of ours and the Repugnancy of theirs to the Scriptures That Church which affirms that the Holy Scriptures Comprehend all things necessary to Salvation and that nothing but what is contained in them is to be press'd or requir'd as such and receives them as its sole or intire Rule agrees fully and perfectly with them but our Church affirms those and doth this therefore it adheres or keeps close to the Scriptures Holy Scripture it saith containeth all things necessary Article the 6. to Salvation so that whatsoever is not read therein nor may be proved thereby is not to be required of any Man that it should be believed as an Article of the Faith or be thought requisite or necessary to Salvation Unto a Christian it declares there can be nothing either more necessary or profitable than the knowledg of Holy Scripture forasmuch as in it is Homily the 1. contained Gods true word setting forth his Glory and also Mans Duty and there is no Truth nor Doctrine necessary for our Justification and Everlasting Salvation but what is or may be drawn out of that Fountain and Well of Truth In Holy Scripture is fully contained what we ought to do and what to eschew what to believe what to Love and what to look for at Gods hands at length This is as full a Declaration of the perfection sufficiency of the Scriptures as can be made and that our Church receives them as the sole or intire Rule of Faith is so Evident that the Church of Rome confesseth it by making it an Accusation or Objection against it though this be to upbraid it with that which is its Glory I mean its strict adherence to the Scriptures and if they did not confess it it might be unanswerably proved by comparing the Doctrine of our Church with those Sacred Writings which whosoever doth will find a most perfect Union or agreement between them that it observes and follows and adheres to them in all things as if the same good Spirit that Inspir'd the Holy Prophets and Apostles to Pen them did in a more than ordinary manner guide and direct our Reformers to the same Faith or Sum of things to be believed the same Rule of Life or Paths of Piety and Holiness the same Object and way of Worship the same Sacraments and all other things which they propound to Mankind either as the Terms and Conditions upon which God will save them or Dr. Potter Answer to Charity mistaken pa. 13. Page 14. as helps and means to inable them to perform those Conditions So that no Church as a Learned and excellent Person speaks doth afford more Plentifully the means of Grace nor more abound with all helps and advantages of Piety than this of ours The word of God is diligently Preach'd amongst us the Sacraments of Christ Reverently Administred Abuses in both are removed the two Extremes of Religion Superstition and Prophaneness are avoided The Ignorant are Instructed the Disorderly admonish'd Comforts are applyed to the Afflicted Terrours to the Impenitent Censures and Punishments to the Obstinate In our Liturgy Policy and Ceremonies in the Government of our Prelates in the Diligence of Inferiour Pastours in the whole Face of our Doctrine and Discipline we have a most near and fair Resemblance of Reverend Antiquity All tending to the gaining of Souls to Christ and to guide them in the way of Peace As great Assurance Assurance then as any Christian hath that the Scriptures are true so full and absolute a certainty is there of Salvation in our Church because it teaches and requires all those things and no other that the Scriptures teach and require as necessary to Salvation and to the Performers of which they promise Eternal Life and Happiness and therefore if the Scriptures say true as all Christians acknowledg they do there can be no doubt or question at all of being saved in the Church of England unless Men will either not believe and Live as it teacheth and Commands them or if they do it will not persevere or continue in so believing and Living to the end of their Lives And therefore that none who are Members of this most Holy and Excellent Church may deprive themselves of so great a good as that Immortal Happiness is by their Evil and Unsuitable Living I shall conclude this Discourse with that admirable Exhortation which their Mother the Church gives them to obey or keep the Commandments of God their Father which is this Wherefore as ye have any Zeal to the Right and Pure Honouring of God as you have any Regard to Homily of Good Works Part. 3. p. 35. your own Souls and to the Life that is to come which is both without Pain and without End apply your selves chiefly above all things to Read and hear Gods word mark diligently therein what his
Primitive times Besides the Holy Scriptures or written word of God as I remarked before call upon us to search and study and meditate in them nay to believe and obey or Live according to them and Promise Eternal Happiness and Salvation to all that do these things but they make no mention of the word of God not written do not Command any to enquire or search after or trouble their Heads about any such thing as the Unwritten word of God 'T is true indeed St. Paul praises the Obedient Members of the Church of Corinth that kept 1 Cor. 11. 2. the Traditions or Ordinances which he deliver'd to them But these were no part of the word of God either written or not written but things in their own nature Indifferent That the Men should Pray in publick with their Heads uncover'd and the Women with their Heads cover'd Verses 4th and 5th He gives this charge also to Timothy hold fast the form of sound words which thou hast heard of 2 Tim. 1. 13. me in Faith and Love which is in Christ Jesus Which form of sound words was either the Creed which the Apostles agreed upon as a summary of the Chief things that were to be believed and profess'd by all Christians or else the whole Doctrine of Christ containing all things to be done as well as believed to Salvation which if not then were before the Apostles left the World intirely written for the Instruction of all that should Imbrace the Christian Religion But doth not Christ tell his Apostles I have yet many things to say unto you but ye cannot bear them now By which saith the St. John 16. 12. Church of Rome it appears That Christ spoke many things that were not written and it is not credible that the Apostles would not deliver these by word of mouth to the Church To which a Reverend Bishop of ours gives this Satisfactory Answer that Christ doth not say Bishop Davenane de judice norma fidei page 18. Multa habeo quae non potestis in posterum scribere I have many things to say unto you which you cannot hereafter write but which you cannot now bear Postea autem Spiritu sancto illuminati portare ea potuerunt praedicare mundo ac demum scriptis toti Ecclesiae Commendare but afterwards being inlightned by the Holy Ghost they could both bear them themselves and Preach them to the World and at last in their writings Commend and Transmit them to the whole Church But let us grant saith he that these things were such as are not written yet who is so impudent and rash as to dare to specifie or assign what those things were This is such Transcendent Presumption that none but the Church of Rome dares venture on which takes the boldness to Father all her Dreams Fables and Errours upon God calling them his Traditional or Unwritten word As for those words of St. John which they insist so much upon There are also many other things which Jesus did the which if they should be Chap. 21. 25. written every one I suppose that even the World it self could not contain the Books that should be written These neither prove the necessity nor Authority of their Traditional or Unwritten word of God Fatemue enim multa esse quae fecit Jesus quae tamen ab Evangelistis scripta non fuerunt for we Page 18. confess saith that Learned Authour that there were many things which Jesus did that are not written by the Evangelists but these many things were not Doctrines necessary to Salvation but Miracles or sayings which we may be ignorant of without any detriment to Religion or Salvation so St. John himself tells us And many other Signs truly did Jesus in the Chap. 20. 30. 31. presence of his Disciples which are not written in this Book but these are written that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ the Son of God and that believing ye might have Life through his Name Which utterly destroys the necessity of their Unwritten word of God for if what is written be enough to perswade Men to believe in Christ and that believing be sufficient to save or bring them to Eternal life that do it then no more can be necessary but St. John affirms both these therefore the Romish Traditional or Unwritten word of God is at best a needless or superfluous thing Besides it is and must be with all thinking Men a mighty Objection against this Unwritten word of God as they call it that the Church of Rome hath the sole Custody or keeping of it the Primitive Church after the Canon of the Scriptures was compleated says nothing at all of it for all the Fathers cry up and maintain the Perfection and Sufficiency of the written word of God and all the Reformed Churches adhere to this in Opposition to that Unwritten Word How then came Rome by it Is God so partial such a Respecter of Persons as to Communicate it to that Church and not to others Or is it a Cheat or Artifice of the nequam ingeniosi the witty or Crafty Deceivers to help at a dead lift This is the very Truth Many of their Doctrines and Practices they plainly perceiv'd did openly clash with and contradict the Holy Scriptures or written word of God and therefore there was no way to defend them to acquit their Church from Errour and Impiety but to cry up Tradition and make it of equal Authority with the Scriptures But this will not do it for doth God use to contradict himself There are that say he hath two Wills the one secret the other reveal'd and that the one is contrary to the other which is neither better nor worse than downright Blasphemy the Church of Rome with equal Blasphemy affirms that God hath two Laws or Words the one contained in the Scriptures the other transmitted by Oral Tradition and they plead this in Defence of those Doctrines which are contrary to that being beaten from the Scriptures and having no shelter or protection for their Errours there they Fly for refuge to Tradition as if that could bear them out or support their Cause and so they make the infinitely Wise and Righteous God contradict himself which he must needs do if he hath declared his will to Mankind two several ways that is by Scritpure and Oral Tradition and this affirms things which that deny's and gainsays They had rather if they could do it prove the points in controversy by the Scriptures as the most satisfactory and convincing proof but not being able to do that they are constrained either to confess their Errours or to pretend Tradition to vouch and countenance them That they will not do because it is against their Worldly Interest inconsistent with their Honour and Profit This they had better not do because the Cheat is so Evident that none but weak Persons will be gull'd and deluded by it for we know that must
the Kingdom of Heaven which must in Reason signifie something more than other Christians have otherwise they that are not would be as Blessed as they that are Persecuted nay more Happy because they would without being Miserable in this obtain Crowns as Glorious and Rewards as great as they in the other World the Apostle also Affirms It is a Faithful saying if we be 2 Tim. 2. 11 12. Dead with him we shall also Live with him if we Suffer we shall also Reign with him if we Deny him he also will Deny us And if they that Suffer with or for shall Reign with him and they that deny him to escape Suffering shall be disown'd or deny'd by him every Man that believes he Reigns in Heaven and considers what a Blessed Desirable thing it is to Reign be Glorifi'd there with him instead of being Affrighted at it will think it most Prudent and Reasonable to deny himself take up his Cross and follow him to part with every thing that is Dear to Suffer every thing that is Dreadful to him here when he cannot keep the one nor avoid the other without Sin that he may obtain such a transcendent Reward and so admirable or illustrious an Exaltation This will Teach him to Reckon with St. Paul That the Sufferings of this present time are not Worthy to be compared Rom. 6. 18. with the Glory that shall be Revealed in him the present Suffering or Affliction as he tells us elsewhere being Light and but for a Moment but the Glory Great and Durable a far more Exceeding and Eternal weight of Glory And as the Holy Scriptures make such High and Noble Offers to all that Suffer for Christ so 't is certain the Primitive Church which was the best Expounder of Scripture thought the Martyrs had a greater Reward than other Pious Christians an Additional Coronet over and above the great Crown of Righteousness and accordingly St. Cyprian speaks of two Epist Martyribus Confes Christ ad finem Crowns the one white as the Gracious Recompence of good Works of their pure and unspotted Lives the other purple as the Glorious Reward of their Dying for the Faith of Christ But however that is the Apostle puts it out of doubt that there are Degrees of Glory and Different Rewards in Heaven There is one Glory of 1 Cor 15 41. 42. the Sun and another Glory of the Moon and another Glory of the Stars for one Star differeth from another Star in Glory so also is the Resurrection of the Dead And if there be different Rewards after this Life it is Reasonable to believe the Blessed Martyrs have the most sparkling Crowns and the biggest Recompence in the Glorious Regions above because they gave the highest Testimony of their Love and Zeal for Christ by Dying for him 'T is not then so Miserable and Despicable a thing as the Excluders think it to take up the Cross and follow Jesus to suffer all manner of Injuries Oppressions Miseries nay Death it self for his Sake because he hath Promis'd great Rewards to them that do it and having all Power both in Heaven and Earth he must needs be able to accomplish or make good that Promise 'T is true indeed no Man ought to part with his Life or Estate when he can keep them Innocently He Suffers as a Fool that doth it when there is no Danger of Sinning if he Suffer not But to use any Unjust or Sinful Arts to free our selves from Suffering such as the Project of Exclusion is must needs be highly Impious and Unchristian For Gods Sake let us keep to the same Laws of Christ do the thing that is Right and leave the rest to his Watchful and Gracious Providence then if we Suffer our Innocence will be our Comfort and Support and we shall have the Blessed hope of passing by Death to the Rich and most Happy Inheritance provided for us in Heaven Let us Labour to be good to lead the Pure and Pious Lives our Religion requires of us and then we can have no Just Cause to Tremble or be Affraid to Dye The Living saith Solomon know that they must Dye and that they can by no Art or Means avoid it And seeing we must do it can we ever Dye more Honourably Bravely and Christianly than for owning the Holy Faith and Religion of our Dear Redeemer who gave himself to Death the most bitter and shameful Death of the Cross for us So that we have his Example to invite the Noble Army of Martyrs to animate or encourage and the great Rewards they are possess'd of to ingage us patiently to bear the Cross when our Lord is pleased to send it 'T is certain that as the Laws now are no Man can be deprived either of his Life or Estate meerly for professing the Reform'd Religion therefore whilst they continue we are as safe and secure as we can desire to be So that till they are changed no Man can Suffer for that and it will be a very difficult undertaking to change them because the Laws in Favour of our Religion cannot be Abolish'd or taken Off but by consent of Parliament and it will be no easie thing for a Popish Prince if at any time such an one comes to the Crown to get a Parliament that will do it because the Knights and Burgesses that serve in Parliament without whose consent according to our present Constitution no Laws can be either Made or Abolish'd are not chose by the Prince but by the People who are so far from Electing Papists that they are too prone to Chuse Men of the other Dangerous extreme and so Ruin us that way But if either the Prince should by his writ Summon or the People so forget themselves as to Elect any Papists yet when they are so Call'd and Elected they cannot Sit as the Laws now are till they have openly and in the most solemn manner Renounced their Religion which no Men of any Honour or Conscience will do If it be said they may have Dispensations from his Holiness to take any Oaths and make any Declarations to Capacitate them to Sit in Parliament I Demand of them that say so why the Popish Lords who left the House upon that Act did not make use of that Expedient to evade the Law there is no question but they might have had Dispensations to do it and therefore their leaving the House satisfies me that they thought no Dispensations could Warrant or make it Lawful for them so to Renounce and Abjure their Religion We are as safe then already as Laws can make us and they that are so busie to get new ones trouble themselves to no purpose for if those we have at present cannot secure our Religion no other can do it Whilst the Laws then continue as they are and for my part I do not apprehend how they can be changed we cannot Suffer but if these that are a Safe-guard and Defence to
so many and great expressions of his Goodness proved himself a Father and a Friend to or Lover of mankind takes no notice or care of them is to say the falsest and most unreasonable of all things because it is either to deny Wisdom Power and Goodness or to make them Superfluous or of no use at all And if he protect or take care of any 't is most reasonable to suppose the just and pious persons are those he extends that favour to because they do in some measure resemble him and are the only Persons he delights in for The Eyes of the Lord saith the Prophet are over the Righteous and his Ears are open to their Prayers that is he loves and favours them highly hears them graciously and therefore guards or defends them carefully This is so certain that it is a very hard if not impossible thing to find any Nation or People professing his Truth and obeying his Laws whilst they continue in that profession and obedience so forsaken by God as to be given up to the will of their Enemies to be Ruin'd that is and destroy'd by them Their Zeal for his Glory their Reverence for his Laws their Piety and Holiness must decline and degenerate before he will cast them off particular persons though of great Innocence and Vertues may and do frequently suffer in this World but then their Crowns are brighter and their Reward greater for it in that which is to come but as for Societies of pious and good People if they be not rewarded upon Earth they cannot be rewarded at all their present Peace Safety and Prosperity being all the recompence they can receive from God as a Nation And it is a truth attested by the observation and experience of all the World that Judgments seldom if ever come Calamity and Ruin rarely fall upon a People till their great and general contempt of his Laws provokes the Almighty to inflict them Let it be our earnest care and endeavour therefore to become a righteous Nation and an holy People make it appear that we truly love our Religion by leading the pure and blameless Lives it requires of us then we shall be as safe and happy as we can possibly be in this World for the tender Providence of God will watch over and preserve our King and Us either make our Enemies to be at Peace with or deprive them of all Power to hurt us then the Truth shall flourish in this our Earth and our excellent Religion take such deep root in the Nation that no power nor policy either of Devils or Men shall be able to hurt or destroy it These as they are innocent so they are sure preservatives which every Man may and ought to make use of And besides these we have excellent Laws which are a mighty safe-guard and defence both to the King and the Establish'd Religion so that we want nothing for our security having the gracious Providence of God to guard and protect us if we commend our selves to it by devout Prayer and holy Living and such Laws to be a preservative to us that it is a vain thing to attempt either to mend or multiply them because if these cannot secure us none can All that can be done more is to remove the Subsect 7. Scandals or whatever may give his Royal Highness supposing him to be a Papist any cause to be offended at our Church for though it be not just to blame that for the Errours and Misdemeanours of them that either are or pretend to be of it because it gives no countenance nor encouragement to them yet seeing our adversaries take every occasion to asperse it 't is both prudent and necessary to take out of the way whatever may have any colour or appearance of a just objection against it create in him an ill Opinion either of Us or the Religion we profess These may be reduced to Three Heads The lamentable Schisms or Divisions that are amongst us The open Prophaneness and Wickedness into which the Nation is lapsed The great Injustice and Indignities that have been offer'd to the Duke himself First The lamentable Schisms or Divisions amongst us there being no where more sharp and bitter contentions more implacable feuds and quarrels such numerous and peevish Sects as amongst us that profess the most Pure and Primitive Christianity for by the just judgment of God our Adversaries say ever since we departed from the Catholick Church so they call the Roman like the Dove that went out of the Ark we can find no rest for the Soles of our Feet cannot agree amongst our selves nor follow that Peace without which and holiness the Apostle affirms no Man shall see the Lord but divide and subdivide separate or run from one another and are become a very Babel or Confusion This they object against and think a mighty reproach to us nay take it for a sure Prognostick of the approaching fall and ruin of our Church because our Lord affirms that an House or Kingdom divided against it self cannot stand which they use as an Artifice to draw People from us To this I answer that it is true indeed our Schisms or Divisions are great and deplorable that we are broken into Sects and Factions are a distracted and divided Nation But then the Question is how we came to be so and what the causes are from which they spring That the guilt of them doth not ly upon our Church is certain because it gives no just provocation to any to Separate from the Communion of it it teaches no False nor Erroneous Doctrines makes no new Articles of Faith nor any other Conditions of Salvation but those propounded and requir'd as such in Scripture It sets up no forbidden Way of Worship presumes not to inlarge the Essentials of it or to make any thing a part of Gods Worship which he hath not injoyn'd as such 'T is true indeed our Church determins the modes and circumstances of it because all Churches do it and they are not determin'd in Scripture and are so necessary to be determin'd that unless it be done the Essentials or Moral part of Gods Worship cannot be perform'd and because the leaving them Arbitrary would produce endless disorders and confusions But then these Ceremonies are not culpable as to their number unlawful in themselves as contrary to the word of God sinful in their use as being made means of grace or having any holiness ascribed to them or so highly esteemed as to be thought necessary to recommend or render the worship it self acceptable or pleasing to God nor made of perpetual obligation but are declared to be mutable Constitutions or such as may be changed or varyed as occasion serves nay quite abolish'd or taken away upon just causes by the same Authority that Instituted or Ordained them The Government also of our Church by the Right Reverend Bishops is that which is Commended in Scripture was Instituted by Christ Setled by his Apostles
upon it then they call his Piety in question say he is not Orthodox in Religion but a friend or favourer of the corrupt Church and Popishly affected because they know this will open the Mouths and inrage the minds of all the Zealots against him and consequently expose him to the greatest Dangers So that the transcendent worth value and greatness of this Right appears from the mighty esteem and admiration that Men have for it that which all the ambitious envy the owners for vehemently desire themselves will run all Hazards expose themselves to all Dangers for venture their Lives nay their Souls to obtain must needs be a great thing such is a Crown on Earth which evil Men prefer before one in Heaven and good men think hath nothing which exceeds it but that Consider also the peculiarity and separation of this Right how few there are amongst all Mankind that have any just Claim or Title to the Royal Dignity it is not like the lower honours dispens'd to any great number of Men but impropriate or reserved to a few Persons and Families the commonness of other things abates their value and lessens our esteem of them but a Crown is so great a rarity that it is justly accounted the most Glorious thing upon Earth and therefore it is the highest Injustice to to rob a Prince of such a Jewel It would be remembred also who is the Donour of this Right and we may say of it as our Lord did of St. John's Baptism Is it from Heaven or of Men doth God give Crown 's or the People If they be not in his Donation Daniel was much mistaken who affirms That the most high ruleth in the Kingdom of Men and giveth it to whomsoever he will and all the holy Writers Chap. 4. 25. Err strangely who call all Kings Gods Anoynted and Ministers the Sons of God and the Children of the most high and say he sets them on the Throne and that they Reign by him receive their Power and Authority that is Immediately from him that he removeth and setteth up Kings and is wonderful amongst them they tell us also that Saul and David and Solomon were chosen by him to be Kings over and Govern his People and that the Prophets had Commission from him to go and Anoynt such an one King and Ahija spake in the name of God when he said to Jeroboam I will give the Kingdom unto thee Nor doth the Gospel make any change in this great affair for our Lord himself own'd Pilat's power to be from above and St. Paul affirms not only Government it self to be Gods Ordinance but that the Powers that be the Kings and Princes that then Governed the World to be ordained of God that is as the Learned Grotius observes Authoritatem suam a Deo accipere In Rom. 3. 13. 〈◊〉 non minus quam si Reges illi per prophetas Uncti essent to receive their Authority from God no less then if those Kings had been Anoynted by Prophets were equally that is Constituted or Ordained by him as if God had bid a Prophet go and Anoynt them And if they were so then they are and must be so now Nor doth St. Peter contradict his fellow Apostle when he calls upon the Christians to whom he writ To submit themselves to every Ordinance of Man for by submitting to every humane Creature or Ordinance he means saith Grotius the being Subject Ordinationi isti quae inter homines in terris agentes locum habet habere debet to In 1 Pet. 2. 13. that ordinance of God which hath and ought to have place amongst Men that live upon the Earth not which Men have set up but which God hath placed amongst them and the sense of the Apostle is plainly this Submit your selves my Bretheren to every Prince or Ruler whom God hath set over that Kingdom or Province wherein you live you are not and therefore do not think your selves excused from paying all Loyalty and Subjection to such a Prince because he is an Heathen and you are Christians for that God whom you serve hath given him his Authority his Power is from him and therefore you must Submit to him for his sake If this be not the Apostles meaning his argument doth not inforce the Submission he requires for what sense is it to say Submit your selves to every Ruler that Men have set up whether he be Supream or Inferiour a King or a Vice-roy for the Lords sake it should be rather for the Peoples sake that you may please and gratifie them that they may not be angry or offended at you as despisers of that form of Government which they have Ordained or set up but his urging them to Submit for the Lords sake must infer as a Dr. Faulkner Christian Loyalty page 412. learned person observes that those Men who Govern the World do not act only by an humane Right since if Government were not by Gods Authority and Constitution obedience to it could not bear a respect to God himself And as the Holy Scriptures affirm Kingly Government to be Instituted by God so this is the sense of Antiquity as is proved by that Author to whom I refer the Reader and shall only transcribe Christian Loyalty chap. 2d Sect. 5. page 419. out of him those words of Paulus Orosius That all Power and Government is of God is that which they who have not read the Scriptures do think and they who have read them do know And if God be the Donour of Crowns if he gives the Royal Dignity to and takes it from whom he pleaseth we ought to submit to his wise disposal and be content that he should order this great Affair as he thinks fit For when he will have a Prince to Reign it is not in the Power of Men to hinder it though the People struggle and oppose it all they can and come to that Resolution We will not have this Man Rule over us though they make Laws enter into Leagues and Associations bind themselves by Oaths and Ingagements to oppose and keep him from it yet when they have done all they can he shall Ascend the Royal Throne and Injoy the Crown which Heaven hath design'd for him And on the other side when God will not have a Prince Reign all his Friends Counsels Endeavours how numerous Powerful Politick diligent soever shall not profit or avail him any thing the great Disposer of Crowns and Kingdoms opposeth his Exaltation and therefore he must be content with a lower Station In this Case there needs no Bill of Exclusion upon Earth to bar his claim because there is one passed in Heaven that cannot be repeal'd The Duke then hath an undoubted Right to succeed the King and being so great a Right a Right to that which is admir'd and accounted by all Mankind the Richest Jewel and most Glorious thing upon Earth and hath the God of Heaven for the Donour of it
that he cannot Err in the doing of it is to say that which all the World can never Prove for how doth it appear that God hath Constituted or Commission'd him to be the Sole Expounder of Scripture more than any other Bishop or Doctor of the Church Doth not our Lord say to all the Apostles nay to the seventy Disciples He that heareth you heareth me Did not he speak to them all when he said Go ye into all the World and Preach the Gospel to every Creature How then came his Holyness to have the Monopoly or Sole power of Interpreting Scripture Did it descend to him from St. Peter that cannot be because he never claim'd never pretended to it never had it Solely himself and the Successor cannot without Usurpation chalenge a greater Power nor plead a larger Commission than he had whom he pretends to Succeed 'T is certain that all the Apostles received an equal Authority and the same Commission from Christ and therefore all Bishops now being the undoubted Successors of the Apostles have an equal Power and Right to Interpret Scripture and there is by Divine Right no difference at all between them what is is either by Humane Constitution or by Usurpation and Incroachment And if he connot shew a Patent from God to prove him to be the only Authoritative Interpreter of his Laws how will he make good the other proud Word which he prefixes before it That he is the only and Infallible Expounder of Scripture He knows very well that a great and the wisest part of the World deny his Infallibility and Laugh at him for pretending to it How then will he convince them that he hath it by Reason no no! that gives no Testimony to such a gross and palpable Absurdity Reason says to be a Man and to be Exempt from all Possibility of Errour are Inconsistent Will he prove it by Scripture some Texts are brought from thence for fashion sake to colour the business as those that contain the promise of our Lord to his Apostles to send them the Holy Ghost to guide or St. John 16. 13. lead them into all Truth but this promise either proves too little or too much to do the feat for either it is a Peculiar promise belonging to the Apostles only who needed an Extraordinary Assistance from Christ that they might Transmit his Doctrine full and intire to Succeeding Ages and then was Personal and Expired with them and so doth not concern his Holyness for though the Holy Ghost guided them into all Truth yet he either not having the Holy Ghost or Refusing to follow his guidances may run into all Errour Or if it was not a Personal or Peculiar promise belonging to the Apostles only but Equally to their Successors then it proves more than he would have it That all the Bishops in the World are Infallible for the promise was made not to St. Peter only but to all the Apostles and therefore what nonsense and Ridiculous Partiallity is it to Restrain a general promise made to the whole Colledg of Apostles to the Successours of one of them for if they that Succeed St. Peter be Fully and Perfectly lead into all Truth then the Successors of all the Apostles are so and consequently all the Bishops in the World are Infallible and then his Holiness will have but a bad Market for his Expositions of Scripture for few People will be at the trouble to go to Rome for them because they may have them from their own Bishops Well but doth not our Lord say to St. Peter Thou art Peter and upon this Rock I will Build my Church and the Gates St. Mat. 16. 18. of Hell shall not Prevail against it These are certainly the Words of Christ but they confer no peculiar Priviledg or Prerogative upon St. Peter nothing but what was equally given to all the Apostles for the Rock Signifies either his Confession Thou art Christ the Son of the living God which is the Rock the great and Vers 16. Fundamental Article of the Christian Faith upon which the Church is Built or if it concern his Person that he should be an Excellent Instrument as the other Apostles were and therefore are also called Foundation Stones to bring in Converts and Disciples unto Christ and to raise or Build him up a Church in the World which the Gates of Hell all the Power and Policy of the Devil should never be able Totally to ruin or destroy These Words then speak nothing for the pretended Infallibility And indeed the greatest Champions for it are so far from thinking it fully proved in Scripture that they are not agreed about it To fix it in the Popes Person they dare not because the many and gross Errours of his Life would confute and shame them and therefore as a Man they confess he can and may and doth Err To ascribe it to his Chair either to his Office or Dignity as Bishop or to him as Bishop of Rome and Successor to St. Peter in that Patriarchal See is silly for if he could Err before he can do so still because his being made Bishop doth not change his Nature but his Office and being the same Man why may he not be the same falliable or erring Man he was before The place he is Bishop of can make no Difference in the case because no reason can be given why the Bishop of Rome should be more Exempt from Errour than the Bishop of Munster To place the Infallibility in the Pope and a general Council is as unreasonable because if they can Err apart they may united and they confess that a general Council may Err if it be not Confirmed by the Pope and t is plain they think the Pope without it may Err or else t is idle to add a general Council to him but the uniting or putting two Erring parties together cannot make them Infallible To say that a General Council Confirm'd by the Pope cannot Err is unanswerably confuted by this argument of a great and excellent person The Pope never Confirms a Council till it be finish'd Arch-Bishop Laud against Fisher pa. 274. when it is finish'd before the Popes Confirmation be put to it either it hath Erred or not Erred if it hath Erred he ought not to confirm it or if he do it is a voyd Act because no power can make Errour or falsehood to be Truth if it hath not Erred then it was True before he Confirmed it and so his Confirmation signifies nothing And not withstanding all the stir they make about the Popes Infallibility they do not believe it themselves for the School-Men and Writers of Controversies as that Author observes put the case whether the Pope coming to be an Heritick Pa. 269. may not be Deposed and the Common Law as he adds says expresly That he may be Deposed for Heresie now if he can fall into Heresie and may be Deposed for it then he cannot be Infallible And
him which if he please to do you will never more provoke or injure but love honour and treat him as the Son and Brother of a King and Heir apparent to these three Kingdoms This is all the reparation you can make the best satisfaction you can give him for your past offence and if you do this there is no doubt but he will forgive you Princes resemble their glorious Founder both in their Power to punish and their proneness to forgive the injuries and indignities that are committed against them and as Repentance renders him Merciful and Propitious turns away his Displeasure so it excites their Compassion and pacifies their Wrath but as God will not so they have no obligation to Pardon those that against all Reason and Religion Sin against them and when they have done it refuse to Repent That you have done the first highly injured his Royal Highness is as evident as any thing can be Be sure then to make your Repentance as publick as your crime hath been and do not doubt but it will be effectual to obtain your pardon The Duke can and will forgive you upon your hearty sorrow for and humble confession of your offence and you reproach and injure him more if you think he hath or will shew no mercy than you have done by your past misbehaviour towards him though your Sin against him be high and hainous yet do not say with Cain it is greater than can be forgiven for this apprehension I believe prompted the Zealots of your Party whom their guilt made desperate to conspire his Death according to the known Maxim of the wicked Politicians who say That bad Actions must be seconded with worse and lesser injuries pursued with greater the injurious person not thinking himself safe till he hath taken from the injur'd all possibility of revenge What barbarous nay devilish methods are these without any povocation or cause at all to wrong an Innocent Prince and then for fear they should at one time or other be called to account for it seek to secure themselves by doing him a greater First against all the Rules of Justice the Dictates of right Reason and the Laws of Religion attempt to rob him of his Birth-right and when that wicked imagination did not prosper or take effect instead of Repenting of it consult or agree together to take away his Life because the dead cannot revenge the injuries that are done them But is there then no God that judgeth in the Earth Or if there be doth not he behold ungodliness and wrong that he may take the matter into his hand punish the accursed Authors of them with dreadful inflictions here or if for reasons unknown to us he forbear them now with the most horrible damnation hereafter Such men as these are so far from making the high and noble Precepts of Christ the measures of their Actions that they fall short of the lower Justice Mercy and Integrity of the Heathens nay proceed according to the wild Villanous and Atheistical Principles of the Leviathan and instead of reproving their detestable practices by producing the words of Christ or any of his Apostles I may bespeak them in those of that wise and honest Heathen Diphilus the Comoedian 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 look to it you that think there is no God! there is there is If any man do ill as you have done a great evil let him think time is gain for he shall certainly suffer for what he hath done amiss The punishment of such men lingers is defer'd for a time but it will be sure to come and that the heavier at last and by its greatness make amends for the slowness of its approach And therefore that neither the horrour of your Offence nor your fears of Punishment make you desperate and push you on to such dreadful crimes as they prompted the Conspirators to take the first opportunity to reconcile your selves to his Royal Highness by confessing the injuries you have done him and begging his pardon for them but then you must not only confess but renounce and forsake them meddle no more I mean with the Succession but cast your Bill out of Doors as a monstrous and abominable Brat conceiv'd by Fear nurs'd by Faction born to do mischief and bring forth Treasons Murders and all manner of Miseries Be you its Judges to pass Sentence and see Execution done upon it for nothing can be more just than to cast that into the fire which tended so apparently to put the Kingdom into a Combustion Be careful to undeceive the People too whom by your mighty Zeal for and resolute Adherence to it you have drawn to an high esteem and admiration of your Projects of Exclusion and thereby prepared for Tumults Seditions and all manner of violent and unlawful Practises Your Votes are of such Authority with all the factious and discontented people that they think them if not equal to Holy Scripture yet the best Commentary upon it and will follow your Marginal Notes rather than the sacred Text Consider then what a dangerous thing it is to instil bad Principles into the People who are of themselves too prone to run into Errours and Extravagancies and therefore instead of Goads to excite they need Bridles to restrain them from them That they who are apt to think justice or honesty a superfluous or needless vertue now under the Gospel and perswade themselves that Christ fulfil'd all Righteousness on purpose to free those that believe in him from the practice of it will be Confirm'd in their pernicious Errour when they see iniquity establish'd by Law and a most unjust thing done for the Defence and Security of Reformed Christianity Nay which is more horrid some will think that which Men call Religion no Divine Institution but meer Humane Invention because if it come from God the professors of it may safely commend or commit it to his Protection his Care and Keeping it being most reasonable to suppose that he loves his own Institutions and is concern'd in honour to preserve them from the attempts of those that seek to destroy them But when Men are so busy and forward to support and secure their Religion by unjust and evil Arts think it so weak and helpless a thing that it is not able to shift for it self to maintain or keep its ground without the assistance of sinful and unlawful succours This tempts the suspicious to think it a meer humane invention for if it be of God it needs no sin to uphold it and they who do evil in defence of it incur his wrath as Uzzah did who put forth his hand to stay the tottering Ark which he apprehended to be falling Nothing of divine institution can possibly fall or perish so long as the Almighty Author of it is pleas'd to uphold and protect it but when he withdraws his support and it is his pleasure that it fall all the power and policy of Men cannot keep it up though
and hath Continued in the Catholick Church without any opposition till Aerius first and the Disciples of Calvin since resisted and where they had power cast it out I appeal then to all the wise and sober World whether the Schisms and Divisions amongst us be not causeless and unprovoked there being no just offence given nothing done by our Church to fright or drive the People from the Communion of it or prompt them to set up several Meetings And if the Divisions we are afflicted with cannot be truly charged upon the Church where must the Blamely or who shall father the base and mischievous Brat They that lay it at the Jesuits door charge them to be both the beginners and continuers of the Schisms amongst us have reason for what they say because the Zealots of that Church think every thing lawful that tends to the good and advantage of the Catholick Cause And nothing can be more serviceable to that than our Divisions and Quarrels divide and rule is a Maxim approved by all the Wicked Politicians If they can but set those they would master at strife and variance they conclude they will thereby so weaken and consume one another as to become an easy prey to them Such Divisions Produce deadly feuds and quarrels implacable hatreds and animosities and are the Causes of cruel Wars for Differences in Religion are for the most part managed with such heat and passion that the contenders proceed from words to blows from disputing to fighting for their beloved Opinions or if they forbear that for a time yet in any exigences of State or Publick dangers they will not afford one another that mutual help and assistance which are necessary for their preservation but one party will look on and see the other subdued if not lend their helping hands to destroy them But the more united any people are the better able they must needs be to defend themselves against a common Enemy but being broken into Sects and Factions their strength is Little and not Sufficient to repel the assaults of their Enemies Cyrus as Herodotus relates intending to Conquer Scythia came to a great River that stop'd his march for as it ran in one channel or current it would have Endanger'd his Army Swallowed them up if they had ventured to ford it whereupon he made use of this Stratagem to cut or divide it into many parts rivulets and sluces which so weaken'd its force that they passed over without any danger at all This seems to be the Policy of the Jesuits in dividing us for if all our people kept within their proper Channel our Church the attempts of Rome would signify nothing but like a mighty torrent we should easily bear down all opposition be strong enough to defend ourselves against them but the Sects and Factions they have caused amongst us weaken and give them great advantages against us For hereby many are Scandaliz'd and turn Papists because they think the Contentions we are ingaged in will be sure to ruin us at last and therefore imagin themselves safer in St. Peters boat than in a ship so leaky and full of breaches as our Church is By this means also great numbers are frighted from Religion in general become Atheists concluding that to be a meer Fable about which there are so many and such endless quarrels and bickerings and which the professors of after so long time and so much consideration are not will never be agreed about and it is indifferent to them that believe all Religion a cheat which gets uppermost for they that are really of none can and will seem to be of any Church or Perswasion they can either get or save by if either their safety or profit require it they can creep as devoutly to a Crucifix as they can kneel to God Almighty Lastly by drawing multitudes of People from it the Jesuits have great hopes of gaining their so much desired and so long endeavour'd point The destruction of our Church for we see how Zealous and Industrious the Dissenters have been and are to ruin or pluck it down which shews them to be set on by the Jesuits and their Agents to do their work for them though perhaps they know not do not consider whose servants they are for if our Church be destroy'd Popery will certainly rise out of the ruins of it there being nothing to make head against it when that is gone this is the great Bulwork or Fort Royal which if they can take either by undermining Treachery or open Force the day is theirs So that they who charge our Divisions upon the Jesuits as the Authors of them have reason to justify that charge and the truth of it is so fully proved by the excellent Dean of St. Pauls in the Preface to his unreasonableness of Separation to which I refer the Reader that nothing needs Page 1â— be added to it And being the first Sowers of these Tares the Causers and Fomenters of our Divisions when they broak in upon our Church presently after the Reformation and which they have with their utmost care and diligence propagated and continued ever since with what face can they Upbraid us with or make them an Objection against it for them to set us together by the Ears and then blame us that we do not agree to be the Incendiaries and stir up Strife amongst us from Age to Age from Generation to Generation and then reproach us with our Contentions is worse than Heathen Malice and Knavery this is as barbarous as if a Man should set his Neighbours House on fire and then blame him for letting it burn We had lived in great Peace and Concord and there had been no Schisms amongst us if they had not help'd to disturb the one and promoted the other and our Wounds would be presently closed we should return to our Ancient Unity and live in the happiest Peace if They and their chief Agents the leading Schismaticks that imbroyl and divide us were as upon all accounts they deserve to be Excluded or Driven out of the Nation 'T is certain that not only all Protestants but the Papists themselves at the beginning of Queen Elizabeth's Reign came to our Churches and if Pius Quintus had not forbidden the Romish party to Communicate with they had not Separated from us and his Emissaries the Priests and Jesuites did under colour of setting up a more Pure and Spiritual way of Worship seduce many Protestants from the Church and cause woful broyls and dissentions which put that prudent and excellent Queen upon such methods as did effectually suppress and quiet them and it is most Unreasonable and right Jesuitical practice for them to father their base and wicked off-spring upon us to cause divisions amongst us and then reproach us with them Besides they that thus accuse and upbraid us with ours have many differences amongst themselves those of their Religious Orders are notorious and managed with great heat and earnestness