who proceed sincerly and that all which contradict you are misled and blinded by Passion or the like Phil. I don't say all who contradict me are so misled Eu. They may then contradict you and not be misled Phil. Herein our Charity is greater than yours for as we arrogate not to our selves Infallibility so consequently we condemn not all that are of a contrary perswasion to our selves but allow Salvation to any who reading the Holy Scripture shall believe so much so far and in that sense they humbly conceive it ought to have Eu. So that if to day I understood the Bible in one sense to morrow in another using always equal Diligence and Sincerity I shall always be in the right Phil. I say not that you will always be in the right but that you will not be accountable to GOD for any Errour as long as you judge according to Conscience Eu. But what if I govern my Conscience by a false Principle what if Almighty GOD has laid upon all Christians an obligation of submitting their private Judgment to the Universal determination of the Church Phil. What if the Sky should fall There is nothing so evident as that every Man of a sincere will and sound judgment using due endeavour will clearly see in Scripture whatsoever is necessary for him to believe or do that he may obtain eternal life Eu. Notwithstanding this your Evidence of Scripture many for ought we can discern of equal Probity Learning and Diligence have delivered contradictory Doctrines from the same Text of Holy Writ Phil. Not in material Points or in the Fundamentals or Essentials of Faith. Eu. Sir I can make it appear that there is no one Point of Faith which has not been deny'd by such as have constantly pretended to follow the Guidance of Holy Scripture Apollinaris taught That our Saviour had no Soul distinct from his Divinity Manichaeus That there were from all Eternity two Principles or Deities The Anti-trinitarians Oppugned the Mystery of the Blessed Trinity the Origenists and Millenaries deny'd Everlasting Life and Death Eutyches affirm'd There were not two Natures in CHRIST Nestorius That the Divine and Humane Nature were not truly united but only in a moral or eminential manner the Arians made the second Person inferiour to the first and a Creature All these I hope are material Points of Faith yet were they all opugned by Men who for any thing can be made out to the contrary Read and Study'd the Holy Scriptures with as much Sincerity Diligence Learning and Piety as any of the late Reformers I desire therefore to know whether these Men were part of the true Chatholick Church Phil. If it could be credibly made out that they proceeded with Sincerity and Piety I should be unwilling to exclude them the Church Eu. The contrary can't be prov'd against them without begging the Question If you say they wanted Sincerity Learning Piety Diligence c. they will disown the Charge and return it upon your self Give me therefore one convincing Reason why I may not believe them as well as you Phil. So you believe according to conscience I shall not judge nor condemn you Eu. At least what you just now asserted is false viz. that one who acts Sincerly cannot err in things necessary to Salvation by reason of the Clearness and Evidence they have from Holy Scripture Phil. I won't be possitive concerning those that liv'd in former Ages of whom we have but a dubious and slender knowledge at least 't is manifest by the experience of the present Times that the Scripture is clear in all things necessary to Salvation and of this all Protestants are agreed Eu. There are then among Protestants no Hereticks and Unbelievers Phil. Not amongst true ones Eu. Amongst those who carefully diligently and sincerely read the Scripture Phill. No. Eu. How comes it then to pass that Luther calls the a Hereticos seriò censemus alienos ab Ecclesiâ Dei. 1. con Sacr. Zwinglians and Sacramentarians who deny'd the Real Presence Hereticks poyson'd by the Devil seperate from the Church of CHRIST b Aurif vit de Heret possest repossest through possest and over and again possest with the Devil Diabolatos perdiabolatos transdiabolatos superdiabolatos and that he says I protest before GOD and the World that I Epist ad Harmogin To 7. Wit. fol. 380. agree not with them the Sacramentarians which is our Religion of England nor ever will while the World standeth but will have my hands clear from the blood of those Sheep which these Hereticks drive from CHRIST deceive and kill Munster and Carolostadius two great Pillars of the Reformation he calls furious Devils Calvin on the contrary speaking of the Lutherans says d Ult. adm Jo Cav ad Joac Westp c. That they neither care for the Judgement of GOD nor Angels that they are men indu'd with a Devillish Pride a Doggish wickedness and blind Drunkenness that they are nothing but Mad Barkers Giants Cyclops c. e In libell edit in exil Heshusius pronounces of Melancthon and the Wittembergians that they are entirely out of the Church f In Epist ad Nob. Pol. Beza proclaims of the Anabaptists that they are Blasphemers of Almighty GOD and held three GODS The Basilienses declare of Carolostadius that he was the Plague of the Church and was kill'd by the Devil g In Collat. Doct. Aris Melanc Stancharus of Melancton that he was an Arian and the Anti-christ of the North and Distuber of all Christianism h Vid. Cyechorit passim in suis libris Castalio speaking of the Calvinist calls them Proud Furious Haughty Hereticks saying that Geneva is Babylon the Ministers Sorcerers Conjurers Sons of Sodom and Gomorha Here Sir I desire to ask one Question viz. whether or no you receive into the number of common Christianity and Catholick Union those who in the Judgment of the prime Lights of the Gospel and the first chosen by GOD to Reform the North are Hereticks possest and repossest by the Devil Devils in humane shape without the fear of GOD Blasphemers Arians Antichrists Corrupters of common Christianity Furious Haughty Giants Conjurers Sorcerers Soddomites and Gomorrhaeans It seems to me you must because all these Men were true Protestants and true Protestants you say make the true Church They were true Protestants because they all adhear'd to the Holy Scripture in such sense as they themselves understood it refusing all other Judges and protesting against all other Power on Earth which should pretend to oblige a Christian to submit his own Judgment of Scripture to a contrary Interpretation of the Church if the Church should seem to him not to teach conformably to that sense of Scripture which he should verily believe to be true Phil. I have already told you that I 'll Judge no Man if they us'd the Diligence Sincerity Piety and Learning we require 't is certain they could not err damnably Eu. They
best of Governments left by Christ in his Church wherein every sound man should have Power to cancel the Decisions of the highest Courts and a full liberty of disobeying and opposing the Sentence of the Supream Judges in Law unless it should agree with his own private sense of the same Law. For if in matters of Faith the object whereof is remote from our senses and Essentially obscure to us in this Life every sound Sheep is left Judge over his Pastor and the whole Church what more reasonable than in a Question of meum tuum which we feel with our hands and see with our eyes and which is the ground of all Law and Government every sound man should be his own Judge and Arraign Judge and Condemn his Ruler Governour Prince King or Emperour if in his private Opinion he Judges they proceed not according to Law as he understands it This sequel is so natural and inevitable in our Protestant Principles that it has effectually in all Countreys where-ever Protestancy has spread it self Armed the Subjects against their Temporal Lords as it first had done against the Spiritual and nothing was so ordinary as to see them March to the Field with a Bible under their arms and a Text of Sripture in their Banner to fight the Battle of the Lord against the Princes of the Earth and hence perhaps it was that wise Prince King Iames the First presaging as it were the Fate of his Royal Son said of the Members of Parliament then sitting That they were an Assembly of 300 Kings That all the late Wars of Germany against the Emperour and Lawful Soveraigns happen'd upon their change of Religion is witness beside many others Dretserus A Protestant writer in part 2. Nullenarii 6. pag. 661. Of Basil Geneva Zuitzerland Sweedland Holland see Crispin Chitreus Flor. Rai c. 4 Paradox A true Protestant must grant that our Saviour was much over-seen in the method he took of Converting the World by Teachers and Preachers and laying a reiterated Command upon all men of believing them since really no man is bound to pin his Faith upon anothers sleeve Now the Efficacious way would have been to Command his Life and Actions to be writ in all Languages and compil'd with the Old Testament to be sent into every part of the World for all things necessary to Salvation being clear and evident in Holy Scripture and no body being oblig'd to believe more than the comprehends and as it were sees to be true out of the said Holy Scripture all by this means would or at least might have presently discover'd the nullity of their own false Religions and consequently imbrace common Christianity that is believe so much of Christ and his Doctrine as each one should draw under the Scheme of his own Reason nothing else being necessary to Salvation in our Protestant Principles 5 Paradox Should a Gentleman make the delivery of his Estate saying Sir I deliver unto you a full and free Possession of this Inheritance to dispose of at Discretion in quality of true Owner and Lord but if you touch it against my will or dispose of it in whole or in part otherwise than I shall judge expedient expect to be treated with all the Violence Severity can invent Would not this be a most impertinent and self-destroying Settlement questionless it would Yet this is the procedure of the Church of England Here take says she to all sound Members of the whole Christian Church this Holy Bible Read and Interpret it freely you can't but find out the Truth therein contain'd nor are you oblig'd to submit to any Authority under Heaven against your own Dictamen But if you presume to judge of matters therein contain'd contrary to my Sentiment thereof though you are as able and as free to judge as my self know that no Severity of the Law shall be spar'd in Chastizing you Is not this an admirable Liberty An unparallel'd Charity Millions who never were in themselves or their Ancestors Members of her Communion must be oblig'd against Conscience to come over to her and no body must presume to question her Authority because ipsa dicit and she shall inveigh against Roman Catholicks most violently for requiring that she return to the Union of the Church whose Member she had own'd her self for upwards of a thousand years Is not this a Paradox of Paradox's I must believe she had just reason to separate from the Church of Rome though if I read Scripture till Dooms-day I can find no ground for it I must blindfoldly believe no Subject in the Kingdom has just reason to remain out of her Communion That is I must believe no body but an English Protestant can be a sound Member of the Christian Church or a fit Judge in Controversy And that the Scripture has not for these thousand years been clear to any at all and at present is only so to an English Protestant Which if granted as granted it must be it evidently follows that our English Protestant is the most Uncharitable and Unconscionable Christian in the World. 6. Paradox The true Protestant believes that a Roman Catholick Prays to a Crucifix as well as to Christ himself and attributes as See Advice to the Pulpits the Repres Misrepres much satisfaction to it as to the Blood of his Redeemer That the Roman Catholick Saints were Canonized for Treasons detestable Villanies as a reward of strife and every evil Work That to be false and deceitful is meritorious and worthy of Eternal Life That with Money one may compound with Heaven for unforsaken sins and be absolved without being at all sorry for them That Indulgences serve instead of sanctification and good life Confession to carry on the Plots and projects of the Priests with a hundred such detestable Abominations True Protestant Ministers have laid out the Catholick Tenets under these foul colours for above these hundred years while the whole Body of Roman Catholicks and every Member of them disown condemn and execrate every point thereof in particular Now is it not a mysterious Paradox that a Minister of the Church of England should better understand our Catholick Tenets than the Council of Trent and the whole Body of the Catholick Clergy I do most solemnly protest See the Catechism of the Coun. of Trent in the presence of Almighty God that were these Doctrines and the like taught in the Roman Catholick Church as Protestants say they are I would not remain one hour in her Communion yet the Vulgar must believe it so and why Because it is for the Interest of the Protestant Clergy that the People should live in Apprehension and Horrour of Popery whether by false or true Reports it was always alike to the Protestant Teachers 7 Paradox Although it be evident that King Henry the Eighth never thought of laying the first stone of the Reformation pretended till he was refused by his Holiness the liberty of putting away his
A Full and Clear EXPOSITION OF THE PROTESTANT Rule of Faith With An Excellent DIALOGUE Laying forth the large Extent of True Protestant Charity against the Uncharitable Papists I Having made it a prime part of my Study these several years to seek into the Principles of Religion and upon account that I judged the saving of my Soul the greatest concern I had to deal in this World I was resolved maugre all the Principles of Education Interest or Passion there to fix where I truly was convinced between God and my own Soul that the surest footing was and securest way to Salvation Which to my unspeakable comfort being satisfy'd that I have found I can't conceal the desire I have of directing others to endeavour the same that they may partake of the like happiness which I my self enjoy To accomplish this the more compendiously I conceive nothing more efficacious than to search as I have done into the different grounds of each Church The Roman Catholicks tho' they allow any sober Person may read with leave the Holy Scriptures yet they permit none to interpret the same in points of Faith unless they take along with them the Judgment of the whole Church either diffusive or assembled by her Representatives in a General Council Lawfully call'd under their chief head his Holiness of Rome and to such Definitions alone do they believe themselves bound to subscribe Now our Protestant Churches deal more liberally and allow every sound Member a power of reading Holy Scripture and judging of Controversies in Faith according to the measure of light imparted so that no body is Bound to submit either to Fathers or Councils unless he judge they speak conformably to his private sense of Scripture Now having lately touched upon this point in my Answer to Dr. Tennison's Remarks and having fram'd an argument of no small force to invalidate the Protestant Rule of Faith as by him delivered to which the Dr. in his fifteen Sheets has not returned one Syllable I thought it might prove very beneficial to the Publick if that point were throughly handled the whole weight of all Controversy turning upon this Hinge viz. whether there be any Power upon Earth to which all Men are bound to submit in matters of Faith as the Catholicks teach or whether every sound Man be left free to judge for himself as the Protestants assert Methinks I see the Protestant Reader in a Zealous fret for having bought the Paper of an Author against whom he has conceived a notable prejudice borrowed from the Writings of Dr. Tennison which he has been pleased to inter-line with many very Injurious and Scandalous reflections upon Me and My Religion nothing provoked thereto as appears from the modest account I gave of the Conference nor do my Remarks contain any more than a Vindication void of Passion to which Truth and Justice did oblige me And although the Dr. continue in his fifteen Sheets called Pulton Considered his Reviling Defaming and Bantering Stile yet ever willing to yield to the Dr. in this the Answer I will shorly publish thereto as it shall be very short so it shall contain nothing that may disedify the Reader The Dr. having assign'd the Holy Scriptures as understood by every sound Iudgment for the Rule of Faith and consequently having given to every such Person authority to Judge of Controversies in Faith at least as far as concerns his own salvation I fram'd the following Discourse the Dr. has not been pleased to return an Answer tho' it was the chief Querie put to him We must allow if to any a soundness of Judgement to Luther Calvin Carolostadius Zwinglius Beza Castalio c. who were the principal Heads of the Reformed Churches and consequently receiv'd more of the Divine Influence us'd more industry in acquiring Authentick Copies comparing of Texts Imploring the Divine Assistance than any of their Followers To begin therefore with Luther Zwinglius says of him That he was a foul Corrupter and horrible Falsifier of God's Word One who followed the Marcionists and Arians that raz'd out such places of Holy Writ as were against him Thou dost says he to Luther corrupt the word of God Thou art seen to be a manifest and common Corrupter and Perverter of the Holy Scriptures How much are we asham'd of thee who have hitherto esteem'd thee With how great reason Zwinglius objected this to him those are Judges who have noted above a thousand places chang'd by him in the New Testament alone Vide Bell. Ser. de Pentec and that he set forth the Gospels seven times every Edition very much differing from the precedent Now I desire to know whether and when Martin Luther had the assistance of the H. Ghost Luther on the other side affirms of the Zwinglian Translators That they are Fools Asses Anti-christs Deceivers and of an Ass-like understanding Beza says of the Basilian Translation That it is in many places Wicked and altogether differing from the mind of the Holy Ghost Of Beza's Translation Castalio observes That to note all his Errours would require a great Volume Beza again pronounces of Gastalio's Edition that It is False Foolish Unskillful Bold Blasphemous Vitious Ridiculous Cursed Erronious Wicked Perverse In the first English Bible set forth in the Reign of Henry VIII by Tindal the chief Apostle of the pretended Reformation Bishop Tunstal has noted no less than two thousand Corruptions in the Translation of the New Testament alone Give me leave here to argue as follows I have a Soul to save which is the Concern of Concerns and which being once lost is irrecoverably lost and for all Eternity never to be redeem'd from an Abyss of inexplicable Wo. For the saving of this most precious Soul I ask of our pretended Reformers What I am to do Take this Scripture say the Zwinglians and here you shall find the word of Life Hearken not to them says Luther they are Fools Anti-christs Deceivers I turn to Luther Take heed says Zwinglius He is a Marcionist an Arian a manifest and common Corruper and Perverter of the Holy Scriptures I leave them both and go to Beza He offers me a Volume which he calls the Word of GOD when Castalio crying out bids me beware and tells me 't is a Volume of Errours Beza defends himself by defaming Castalio as False Bold Blasphemous Cursed Erronious Allarm'd at the clashing of this Cadmean Race of Reformers I leave Germany and come into England a Wise and Polite Nation which having consider'd at a distance these mutual Dissentions of our Heavenly gifted Gospellers takes doubtless better measures Tindal her prime Apostle offers me the Book of Life when Tunstal warns me of two thousand Corruptions in the lesser half of it I hang in suspence The Parliament declares it to be a Crafty False and Relig. Gover. p. 306. 318. untrue Translation Yet Cranmer is allowed to present me it again little chang'd besides the Marginal Notes and Preface
down to me a false sense of Holy Scripture yet I must by no means question but that now at last an English Parliament has hit upon the right You may as rationally oblige a Man his eyes being wide open not to see at mid-day but I must believe or away to Prison and undergo the severe Penalties of the Law This goes hard I would fain Conform if it stood with my Conscience Let us therefore try for once whether I can't in Prudence and Christian Sincerity secure my Soul by a Conformity to so advantagious a Judgment I find therefore in Henry VIII's time an English Parliament crying down the Pope and placing his Majesty of England in his room and yet I see the same Men persecute as Hereticks those who in other Points joyn'd with the Transmarin Innovators In Edward VI's days I find the same Men declare that Doctrine to be most damnable Heresy which themselves had all along during the Reign of Henry VIII profess'd as Catholick Queen Mary being seated on the Throne I find them Recanting and Condemning themselves and censuring all the Points of Protestancy as Wicked and Heretical and within six years after I see them again pass the same Censure on the Roman Catholick Doctrine to which they had so lately and solemnly been reconcil'd Now give me leave Christian Reader to ask you can I with a safe Conscience leave a Church whose General Councils Lawfully Assembled and approv'd by which I govern my self have not in 1600 years produc'd as I can find any one contradiction in matters of Faith to depend upon Parliamentary Creeds four times wholly inverted in sixteen years Can I in Prudence and Conscience renounce the former to embrace the latter Give me but one pregnant Reason for this and I engage to become your Proselite If you tell me one Parliament was guided by Passion another by Interest but that 't was Queen Elizabeths Parliament which consisted of Men according to the Spirit of GOD Is not this again a manifest begging of the Question Where does the Bible for at present as a good Protestant I admit of no other Rule where I say does the Bible tell me that the Parliament of Queen Elizabeth should be guided by the Holy Spirit and not that of King Henry VIII c. If you shall return to your old Evasion that you are sure on 't because you find that Parliament agree with your own Judgment those who liv'd in King Henry's days will on the same ground of pure Scripture tell me quite another story How then can I be satisfied which of your Judgments is true You will answer me I must judge for my self What therefore if according to my sense of Holy Scripture I judge in my Conscience as in the presence of Almighty GOD I truly do that King Henry VIII's Parliament was Schismatical Queen Elizabeth's Heretical and this as indeed it falls out after a serious long calm dis-interess'd Examen am I still a True Protestant You must grant me to be one because I follow the Protestant Rule which is as you say Holy Scripture as every one after the use of due means does in his own proper judgment understand it What can be more ridiculous than this I am a True Protestant at least in my Principles tho' by those very Principles I judge the Protestant Church to be Schismatical and Heretical The Great Extent of Protestant Charity Or a Dialogue between Eudoxius and Philautus concerning the Protestant Rule of Faith shewing it to be an in-let not only to all Heresy but even to Turcism Judaism and Atheism it self Eudoxius I Shall not Sir I hope offend you by proposing you a few Doubts concerning your Protestant Rule of Faith which is holy Scripture as understood by every sound judgment Philautus So far from it Sir that on the contrary you will very much oblige me Eu. Reading lately Sir the Works publish'd by the first Lights of your pretended Reformation who all give us the same Rule of Faith I discover'd in them a wonderful Spirit of Contradiction and found that they not only differ'd the one from the other in matters of Faith but that the same Men dissented from themselves now teaching one Doctrine then another Phil. When you shall have prov'd your Assertion I will return you a satisfactory Answer Eu. Luther in his Book De Potestate Papae teaches that there are seven Sacraments De Captivitate Babylonica that there are only three ad Waldenses only two and again de Captivitate Babylonica that according to Holy Scripture there is but one In his Sermon of the Eucharist he tells us that in the Sacrament of the Altar there is neither Bread nor Wine but only the Species or appearance of them yet in his Book against the King of England he asserts That he is wicked and a Blasphemer who says The Bread is changed into the substance of CHRIST's Body Concerning the Popes Power he affirms in his Book de Potestate Papae That if it were not Jure Divino and from GOD it could never have subsisted so long and yet in his Treatise de Captivitate Babylonica he often repeats That he is certain the Power of the Pope is the Kingdom of Babylon In Disputatione Lipsiensi he says I do not only believe but certainly know that there is a Purgatory and yet de Abrogandâ Missâ he tells us 'T is more secure to deny Purgatory I have Sir to the number of threescore such Contradictions out of this one Author the first and greatest Light of the Reformation and near as many out of Calvin Beza c. Now I desire to know how I may be assur'd which part of the Contradiction is conformable to Divine Revelation which otherwise Phil. Of contradictory Doctrines you may safely hold that to be true which after a serious and due examin appears to you agreeable to holy Scripture Eu. But what if another be convinc'd of the opposite Phil. He is bound to believe as he comprehends it however different his belief may be from yours Eu. And shall each of us be assured he has Divine Faith relating to such a Mystery tho' we evidently contradict one another Phil. I do not say you shall each of you have Divine Faith concerning that particular point in which you differ but that each of you may safely hold that side of the Contradiction which he verily believes to be true provided you both proceed with sincerity and are neither of you blinded with Passion For the Article may perhaps be of such a Nature that there will be no necessity for either of you to believe it with Divine Faith. Eu. What then say you of a Quaker who grounding himself on his own sense of Holy Scripture believes Baptism as impertinent and superstitious as you do the use of Holy Water Phil. I say the Quaker so believing proceeds not with Sincerity and without Passion Eu. How will you make it appear that you are the only Men
will all not only say but swear also that they have omitted no endeavours of Diligence or Pious means They are all in their own conceits sure they are in the right and that those who differ from them are deluded blinded with Passion byas'd by Interest or the like Give me Sir an Infallible Rule whereby I may know which of them have the Spirit of Truth which the contrary Phil. I tell you once again let GOD Judge them I meddle with none of them 't is not my Affair I am certain I am in the right Eu. Under favour Sir I think this a Demonstration that every Protestant Church is at the same time according to your own Principles both in the true Church and out of the true Church and consequently neither in nor out which is a meer Chimera I thus prove my Assertion Every Protestant Church is a true Church because her Members of sound judgment are fit Judges in Controversies of Faith by Scripture which alone they follow and which is clear in all things necessary to Salvation Every Protestant Church is also a false Church because those Churches which are by Members of sound judgement governing themselves by Scripture judg'd Heretical Blasphemers Anti-christian and Diabolical must needs be false Churches But as I have shewn above there is no particular Protestant Church which has not by some other particular Protestant Church been so call'd represented and believ'd therefore every Protestant Church is false Thus is every Protestant Church both true and false and consequently Church and no Church which as I said before is a meer Chimera Phil. Hold Sir not so fast I have let you ramble long enough 't is now time to take you up You have Sir I perceive forgot what I told you in the beginning of our Discourse that the Point concerning which the difference is may perhaps be of such a Nature that there is no necessity of believing it with Divine Faith that is it may perhaps be none of the Essentials or Fundamentals of Faith. Eu. There may therefore be Heretical Blasphemous Anti-christian and Diabolical Doctrines taught by sound Christians remaining in the Communion of the H. Catholick Church because all these Characters are consistent with the Fundamentals of Christianity oblige me therefore so far as to give me aList of these all-saving Fundamentals Phil. That Sir is not so easy as you imagin for by reason of Mens different Capacities and Apprehension that may be necessary to one Person which is not so to another so that to require such a List of me is to bid me shape a Coat for the Moon which she being never at a stay but always either increasing or decreasing is utterly impossible This only you may rely on as a certain truth that nothing can be a Fundamental or Essential Point of Faith which is not clearly deliver'd in Holy Writ Nor can there be any greater Evidence of a Points being clearly taught in Scripture than that Learned and Pious Men after a diligent search and the use of due means differ not about it Eu. I see then Sir by this your Doctrine that a Man may without endangering his Salvation deny all these Articles I have hitherto been taught to be the principal Points of Christianity Phil. Sir what you may have been taught I know not but since you press me so close give me leave to tell you with the Learned Mr. Chillingworth that if you mean by Fundamental what is necessary to be explicitly believed by every one for the obtaining of Eternal Life there is perhaps nothing so but that there is a GOD and that JESUS CHRIST came to save finners and that whoever holding this Foundation shall be ready to submit his Belief to all that he shall find reveal'd in Scripture taken in such sense as he himself shall after the use of due means Judge to be true can never err damnably nor consequently cease to be a Member of that Church out of which there is no Salvation Eu. I must confess Sir that your Charity is of a very vast extent For by this your Doctrine all those who were by the Fathers in the Primitive Church and the first General Councils condemned as notorious Hereticks ought not to be excluded the Pale of the Church But pray Sir what would you say to one who having read the Holy Scripture with all possible Diligence and consider'd not only the many Contradictory Opinions held by Men pretending to no other Rule but also the possitive Assertion of Protestants that all visible Churches for a thousand years have been Erroneous and False and that all the Signs Prodigies and Miracles wrought by pretended Catholicks as you are pleas'd to call us were nothing but Imposters and Cheats that there was no true Holiness in all our Saints nor any Faith to be given to our Fathers How far Sir I say would your Charity extend to one who after a thorow Consideration of all this should with the Turks remain perswaded that as Moses's Law was abolisht by the coming of our Lord and Saviour JESUS CHRIST so the Christian Law was to have an end at the coming of Mahomet who was according to their Doctrine a Prophet sent by God to that purpose and as far exceeded CHRIST as CHRIST did Moses and being thus perswaded should follow the Example of Adam Neuserus a most Learned Protestant and chief Pastor of Heidelberg Osiand Cant. p. 16. who became a Mahometan and was Circumcis'd at Constantinople with many of his Flock Phil. Since I am Sir as I have already told you to judge of my Neighbour with Charity I find no reason why I may not allow Salvation to such a Man acting sincerely especially seeing he holds the Foundation that there is a GOD and that IESVS CHRIST came to save sinners Eu. I see then Sir that he was not altogether mistaken who affirm'd Protestancy and Turcism to be very near of kin What would you think of another who believing the Alcoran to be as indeed it is nothing but the Dreams of a Blasphemous Impostor and hearing your Opinion of the Miracles wrought during the last ten Ages should from thence and from the many seeming Contradictions not easily reconcil'd between the Old Testament and the New between Gospel and Gospel really in his Conscience believe all Christianity to be a Cheat and the Four Evangelists Four Impostors and should therefore as befel the Learned Protestant Allemannus judge it his safest course to embrace Judaism This Man is of a sound Judgment reads Scripture examins diligently and Schlusselberg de Theol. Cal. fol. 9. sincerely according to his Judgment of Scripture believes all Christians either Cheats or Fools animated by your example who believe the same of the last Ten Ages Phil. If this case be possible I see not how I can in Charity pronounce such a Man condemn'd to Eternal Torments Eu Once more Sir what would you say of another that should after all private diligence
possible in reading of Scripture grounding himself on your Assertion of the last Ten Ages having produc'd nothing but Impostors and considering that all the Arguments you bring against Miracles in the Roman Church may equally be alledg'd against those of Moses and our Saviour should remain convinc'd that the Creation of the World the Wonders of Exodus and all the other surprizing Stories related in Holy Writ are meer Fables and consequently that Religion is only a pure invention of States-men Politickly devised to keep Mankind in aw and in fine question the very Being of a Deity Phil. Sir I have often told you Iudge no Man. Eu. So that Heretieal Blasphemous Anti-christian Diabolical Turkish Iewish Heathenish Atheistical Doctrines undergo no censure from a true Protestant than the which what can be granted more destructive to Christianity Unheard of PARADOXES following from the Protestant Rule of Faith. 1 Paradox WHen Luther's Conscience checkt him in the terms he expresseth a Lut. to Ger. fol. 9 to 2. Wittem 1562. alibi How often did my trembling heart beat within me and reprehending me object against me that most strong Argument art thou only wife Do so many Worlds Err Were so many Ages Ignorant What if thou Errest and drawest so many into Errour with thee to be damn'd Eternally And again b Luth. to 5. Wittem in Galat. fol. 290. in Coll. Mensal fol 273. Dost thou O sole Man and of no account take upon thee so great matters What if thou being but one offendest If God permit such so many and all to Err why may he not permit thee to Err. c Luth. to 7. Wittem an 1558. to 6. Ger. fol. 26. aliis in Locis Hitherto appertain those strong Arguments the Church the Fathers the Concils the Customs the Multitudes and Greatness of Wise Men who have taught the opposite Doctrine to mine d In col mensal 158. in prof in to Ger. f. 9. That I had never begun this business e That my Writings were burnt and bury'd in Eternal Oblivion A true Protestant believes that Luther did Prudently and Piously stifle all these remorses of his Conscience and that he was endu'd with the Spirit of God when he said f Tom. 5. Wittem an 1554. fol. 290. in Ep. ad Gal. c. Be it that the Church Austin and other Doctors also Peter and Paul yea that an Angel from Heaven teach otherwise yet is my Doctrine such as setteth forth God's only Glory Peter the chief of the Apostles did live and teach besides the word of God. Now dear Christian what Judgment can be more rash injurious and contrary to Christian Charity than to assert that so many Holy and Learned Doctors as have been and are confessed Papists and even the whole visible Church for the space of at least a thousand years could either ignorantly mistake or would wilfully forsake the true sense of God's word so clearly shining in Scripture as every petty Protestant doth pretend what so repugnant to Christian modesty and simplicity as for a Man to prefer his own private Opinion to the Decissions of General Councils Torrents of Fathers Clouds of Witnesses and the Universal Tradition of so many Ages 2 Paradox A true Protestant believes that Almighty God having a Loc. com Class 4. pag. 50. a design to Reform his Church made use of Luther haunted by the Devil from a Child to avoid whose molestations he became Religious and was quiet till he threw off his Habit and held Sacrilegious commerse with a Nun when again the Devil return'd really not imaginarily to him Of Calvin b Sclussel Hier. Bols an 1577. Defence of the censur fol. 81. 8. who besides the keeping a Gentleman of La-anna's Wife was sentenc'd at Noyon in France to be publickly branded in the Shoulder for sins not to be named as was Registred by Mr. Bertilier Secretary of the Council of Geneva under a sworn Notaries hand c Ibid. fol. 86. 87 c. Of Beza who liv'd in wickedness with Andebertus a Boy with Candida a Harlot who ran away with a Taylors Wife that dwelt in Calenderstreet in Paris and kept another Woman called Claudia whose Child he kill'd to cover the sin Of d See the Stat. an 28. Henic 7. 1536. Cranmer who two several times at least Marry'd King Henry the Eighth and as often declared the said Marriage Null e Dr. Heyl. Fox c. Besides his own marrying against his Oath when a Fellow at Cambridge and afterwards f Schi Angl. p. 216. when Bishop carried his Wench along with him in his Episcopal Visitations Of Poynet who went to Law with a Butcher for his Wife having then another Wife living Of g Bale of hemself Cent. 5. 245. Bale who was inspir'd to take a sweet-heart called Doll All of them men without Mission either Ordinary as not being sent by any Lawful Power upon Earth or Extraordinary that is particularly Delegated from Heaven as not having all of them together as Erasmus well objected power of Miracles even so far as to cure a Lame Horse And that they had neither command over Devils Gift of Tongues Spirit of Prophesy or any Supernatural Grace whatever Yet these men are believed by a true Protestant to have been Vessels of Election chosen by Almighty God to Reform the World men endu'd with a Divine Spirit and that Austin Apostle of our Countrey Boniface sent hence with Twelve Companions to the Conversion of Germany Willebrord sent with as many to the Conversion of Brabant Freez-land Izeland c. Monks of exquisite Learning Irreproachable Behaviour Unspotted Innocency Saint-like Conversation Gifted from above with all supernatural Graces Power of Miracles and most of which sealed their irreprehensible lives with a Glorious Martyrdom were Impostors or at least imposed upon Deceivers or deceived to have believ'd and taught a Doctrine to be Reformed by Martin Luther Calvin c. that Bucer Peter Martin c. having sacreligiously broken their tripple Vow made to God and coming into England with their debauched Nuns brought along with them the purity of the Primitive Church And that their Contemporary Xaverius leaving all his great Pretentions in Europe and sailing into the remotest parts of the East to Preach the Faith Gifted from Heaven with Power of curing all Diseases raising the dead casting out Devils endued with a high spirit of Prophesy Gift of Tongues and whom God prospered so far that he Converted from Paganism 12 Kingdoms by his Preaching and still savours by preserving his Innocent Unspotted and Chaste Body uncorrupt at Goa A true Protestant I say believes Bucer sent by God Xaverius by the spirit of Falshood If so let Protestants object no more that Catholicks require we deny our senses since they exact that we lay aside our Reason 3 Paradox A true Protestant believes that that Government would be the best Constituted in the World as being a perfect model of the