all Christians agree and let me have your Warrant that I am bound to believe neither the Trinity nor Incarnation nor any thing wherein all Christians do not agree Now if you tell me I am obliged to stand to the Determination of one particular Church or some and not all tell me which and why that or those more than others What Church for Example were particular Persons bound to follow Two hundred years ago before the Reformation Our Author at first put the Question Whether all things necessary to Salvation are contained in Scripture And upon this he argues If they be then they are either clearly contained in it so that there is no need of an Interpreter for the meaning of them or not If the Addresser could have gained the first Point That all necessaries are not contained in Scripture then the Case lay fair before him and it would follow as he supposes that there must be some external and speaking Authority from whence those Necessaries not contained in Scripture are to be received and where they are to be fought This is a Case he puts to the Question If not where must I seek them But there he leaves it Indeed it was a tender Point because of late they would have us believe that they have Scripture for what they differ from us in and then to talk of Necessaries not to be found in Scripture and to instance in those Necessaries would be to give up that Cause which they have so much laboured to support in that way and to tell the World that the Church of Rome is the Treasurer of all those Necessaries is a Doctrine not so suitable to the Genius of the present Age as it was to others heretofore But if that would not be yielded That all Necessaries are not contained in Scripture he then puts in with a Second That they are not so Clearly contained in it as not to need an Interpreter and if this be yielded he would in his own opinion save his Cause for then he concludes there must be some Guide and Interpreter and it will be necessary to know who and where the Interpreter is Now if we may guess what kind of Interpreter or Guide it is that he would have it 's one that is necessary for all to believe and whose Interpretation all are obliged to receive a Guide that is a Judg and whose Judgment is absolute final and conclusive into which all is to be resolved and from which there is no appeal that is to teach all Necessaries to Salvation not contained in Scripture and to interpret the meaning of those that are without which we cannot know whether there be a Trinity or our Saviour was Incarnate and upon whose determination all the Articles of our Faith do depend for their declaration Here the Case is immutably fixed says our Author I must believe it 's necessary to believe I am obliged to believe and am bound to follow as he puts the Case But now we that are for Ministerial Guides and Interpreters that are appointed by God for the teaching his Church and whose Office it is to teach them so as they may understand and judg for themselves know nothing of such a Guide as he would introduce upon us and we have reason to be cautious when we find both the Apostle declaring against it 2 Cor. 1.24 Not for that we have dominion over your Faith but are helpers and our Saviour warning us against such an Imposition Matth. 23.8 9 10. Call no man master on earth for one is your master It 's his Prerogative alone to challenge such an absolute submission from us and it 's a gross Usurpation in any other to claim and assume it So that we may leave our Author to find out Who and where the Interpreter is for we own no such Guide or Interpreter as he would impose upon us whether he means by it any particular Church or any part or Society of that Church or indeed any humane Authority whatsoever And when he or his Partizans think it worth the while to undertake the proof of it and shall as clearly prove it as the Trinity and Incarnation are from Scripture we that profess the latter and are as sincerely desirous of finding out the Truth as he can be do promise him to own the former and for this Reason and that they may have a fair occasion offered to try their skill upon it I shall put the Case a little forward I am sensible our Author would take it in good part to have it granted that all things necessary to Salvation are not contained in Scripture and to have it brought to his first Question If so where must I seek them Or that They are not clear enough in Scripture without an Interpreter that at least the next Question may be brought on Who and where the Interpreter is And therefore to gratifie him as much as I can I shall for the present suppose that all things necessary are not in Scripture and then in his order and words I ask What those necessaries to Salvation are that are not contained in Scripture and where each of them may be found Now he that supposes this must proceed upon the Principles of the Church of Rome since no Church besides that I know of is of this mind And whither may we expect to be directed so soon as to the Creed of Pope Pius IV. which contains the chief of those Doctrines they differ from other Churches in and which are made as necessary to be received and believed as the Articles of the Nicene Creed being by that Pope's Authority in consequence of the Order of the Council of Trent incorporated into one and the same Profession of Faith. By which means they are forced upon one of these two Difficulties either to prove their new-coined Articles by Scripture as well as those of the Nicene Creed or to show that the Articles of the Nicene Creed are no more to be proved from Scripture without Tradition and the Churches Explication than those of Pope Pius The former they are never able to do and all their attempts that way have proved vain and unsuccessful and therefore they have taken several ways for the latter sometimes detracting from the Sufficiency or Perspicuity of Scripture at other times exalting Tradition and Church-Authority to an equality with it For since all these Points are made by this means equally necessary to Salvation and since it 's as necessary to believe on pain of Damnation That the Church of Rome is the Mother and Mistress of all Churches and that the Body and Blood of Christ are truly really and substantially together with his Soul and Divinity in the Sacrament and the whole Substance of the Bread is turned into the Body and the whole Substance of the Wine into his Blood c. Since it 's as necessary to believe this as the Being of a God the Trinity and Incarnation of our Blessed Saviour and that they
John Item in S. John ' s Gospel signifies a strict Identity which notwithstanding I conceive ought to be if all Necessaries to Salvation be clearly contained in Scripture Now if the Belief of a Trinity be not necessary to Salvation I desire it may be clearly owned in these or the like words 'T is not necessary for Salvation to believe Three Persons and one God notwithstanding the Creed of S. Athanasius and Definition of the first Council of Nice when the Church was in her Purity not the least corrupted The sum of our Author's Argument is this That the Doctrine of the Trinity is not clearly contained in Scripture because Unity in some places signifies not a Unity of Essence but of Will which way of arguing supposes that if a word be taken in two or more different senses then the Scripture doth not clearly contain the things contained in those words As for Example the word Door is sometimes taken in Scripture in a proper sense sometimes in a Metaphorical and being thus differently taken we cannot according to him certainly know when it is to be understood Properly and when Metaphorically and must be at a perfect loss to understand whether when our Saviour is called a Door John 10.7 it 's not meant properly and when St. Peter is said to stand at the Door John 18.16 it 's not meant Metaphorically Or to come nearer to our Author the Body of Christ is sometimes taken for a Natural sometimes for a Mystical Body and therefore we cannot be certainly assured whether when Joseph begg'd the Body of Jesus it 's not to be understood of the Mystical Body and that when the Apostles and Prophets c. were given for the edifying the Body of Christ Eph. 4.11 12. it 's not to be understood of Christ's Natural Body In this so difficult a case which is absolutely necessary to be answer'd for the salvation of his Soul p. 4. if you will believe the Addresser What is to be done What in reason will content him It 's nothing less than this That it be shewn that in some Verse and Chapter in Scripture we have these or the like words The Word One in St. John ' s Epistle signifies a strict Identity And he might have gone on without end in the same way and one as obstinate as himself may say Shew me some other Chapter and Verse wherein it is said that the word Door John 10. is to be understood Metaphorically and the word Body Ephes. 4. is to be understood Mystically or else it is apparent that we cannot know what Door Proper or Metaphorical or what Body whether Natural or Mystical is meant in those places for This ought to be if these things are clearly contained in Scripture This is a Thought for ought I know peculiar to our Author for I don't find this Address comes out with other Allowance than Printed for R. Taylor and as I do not envy him the Glory of the Invention so I shall leave him the satisfaction of self-enjoyment Indeed his Friends the Learned Arrians went not his way in opposing the Trinity nor the Orthodox in defending it and therefore if this Point was now to be argued the Ministers of the Church of England that hold with the Orthodox and amongst other places produce this of 1 John 5.7 for it would say that it 's as plainly said The Father Word and Holy Ghost are One as that they are Three and that tho Unity is sometimes taken in a Moral sense as John 17.21 yet the arguing of St. John in the former place shews it not to be understood in the same sense as the latter he making a plain difference betwixt the Unity that is betwixt the Three that bear record in Heaven and the Three that bear witness in Earth for of the Three that bear Record in Heaven it 's said They are one but of the Three that bear witness on Earth it 's said They agree in One. Now if it had been a mere Moral Union that was betwixt the Father Word and Holy Ghost who are the Three in Heaven it would have been as well said of them as of the Spirit the Water and the Blood which are the Three in Earth that they Agree in One. In like manner would the Ministers of the Church of England support the proof of this Article from John 10.30 I and my Father are One and shew that it 's to be understood of the Unity of Essence and not of mere Will and Consent because the Jews took up stones to stone him for blasphemy and because that thou being a man makest thy self God. But since there is a Union that may be betwixt God and Man without making man to be God as it is John 17.21 it follows that neither did our Saviour speak nor the Jews understand him to have spoken of a Moral but a Natural Union but for this let me recommend the Addresser to the Second Part of the Dialogue concerning the Doctrine of the Trinity and Transubstantiation compared p. 10 11. and Published the last Year His second Instance is of the Incarnation of which he saith Again Is the Belief of the Incarnation necessary for Salvation Where is it clearly expressed in Scripture You refer me to S. John chap. 1. The Word is made Flesh. But you know that many Learned Men Nestorius and others denied that word to signifie a strict Incarnation but either a Moral Vnion or a meer external appearance of a Man as those who held Christ not to have a real but a phantastick Body Now be pleased to shew me in what Verse or Chapter it is clearly expressed that the said words signifie a strict Incarnation But if you deny the belief of this Mystery to be necessary to Salvation own it for our satisfaction in these or the like words It is not necessary for Salvation to believe that the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity was made true Man. And if the Belief of neither Trinity nor Incarnation are necessary shew me what 't is and where expressed in Scripture Setting aside what the Opinion of Nestorius was which our Author for ought I perceive understands not the sum of what is said amounts to this That the Scripture is not clear in this Point because as he saith Many learned Men Nestorius and others deny that word he means that phrase to signifie strict Incarnation So that if a learned Man or learned Men dispute the Point that Point so disputed or the words expressing it cannot be clear or the Sense certain But I have before shewed that this is no reason against the perspicuity of Scripture in such a case because nothing can be clearer express'd than many of those things which are sometimes made matter of Disputation As what can be clearer than that Christ had a Body of Flesh and Bones Yet there were some of our Authors Learned men that held Christ was a meer external appearance of a man and not
to have a real but a phantastic Body And the Ministers of the Church of England notwithstanding the denial of his learned Men do yet maintain the Incarnation of our blessed Saviour to be evidently delivered in the words The word was not is as he mistakes made Flesh. For who was the Word but he that is called God ver 1. that made all things ver 3. And what was his being made Flesh but his being made of the Seed of David Rom. 1.3 And how was he made Flesh but by being united to it and becoming Man Now if the Word that was God was the Word and not Man before he was made Flesh and when he was made Flesh did not cease to be the Word then there must be in him two Natures united which is the Incarnation His 3 d Instance is as he saith in order to Practice and the Query upon it is Then in order to Practice I desire to know whether it be necessary to Salvation to keep holy the Lord's-Day that is Sunday and not Saturday If it be I desire to know in what Chapter and Verse it is clearly contained in Scripture as also where the Abrogation of the Saturday is clearly expressed If it be not necessary for Salvation to keep holy the Lord's-Day I desire your warrant for it in these or the like terms It is not necessary to keep holy the Lord's-Day that is Sunday To this I answer That the obligation to observe the Lord's-Day is more or less necessary or unnecessary according to the Institution of it for such as the Institution is such is the Obligation If it be of mere Humane and Ecclesiastical institution it may by the same Authority be altered as it was established If of Divine Institution it 's not subject to humane arbitration And if it be of Divine Institution we must have it by the Revelation in Scripture or else it cannot be Divine And that it 's established upon such Authority I shall offer these considerations 1. There is as much in the Reason of the thing for this peculiar Day to be observed in the Christian Church as there was for the Sabbath in the Patriarchal and Jewish Church for what the Moral Sabbath was to Man upon his Creation and the Ceremonial Sabbath was to the Jews upon their Deliverance out of Egypt Deut. 5.15 that is the First Day of tâ—â— Week or the Lord's Day to Christians upon our Redemption by Christ which was accomplished and testified in his Resurrection on that Day 2. There is the Mark of Divine Institution set upon it when that which was otherwise called the first Day of the week was afterwards called the Lord's Day Rev. 1.10 It being usual in Scripture after that Times Places Things and Persons were set apart for the Service of God by Divine Institution to have his Name as a Mark of Propriety given to them Thus we read of the Lord 's Passover Exod. 12.11 The Sabbath of the Lord Exod. 20.10 The Temple of the Lord. The Lord's Sâ—pper 1 Cor. 11.20 Now I know not what Reason can be assigned that when the Things thus dignified by this Title are elsewhere of Divine Institution and so named because of that Institution that this Day should be called the Lord's Day and not be of Divine but Humane Institution 3. We may observe further That as the New World of Redemption began upon that Day so upon the same Day did Christ solemnly consecrate the Christian Church by the Descent of the Holy-Ghost upon the Apostles Acts 2.1 2. as of old the Jewish Church was by a Cloud or Divine Appearance Exod. 40.34 1 Kings 8.10 11. which they had the Promise of and until which they were not to depart from Jerusalem and to enter upon the work of gathering a Church Acts 1.4 4. It was the Day which the Primitive Christians in the Apostolical times held their stated Assemblies upon for Divine Worship as appears Acts 20.7 1 Cor. 16.2 This may suffice for the first branch of his Query I desire to know in what Chapter and Verse it is clearly contained in Scripture His next is Where the Abrogation of the Saturday he means the Sabbath is clearly expressed I may answer him it 's in the same Chapter and Verse where the Abrogation of Circumcision is clearly expressed And when he can find out Chapter and Verse for the one I will undertake to shew him Chapter and Verse for the other Indeed there was no need of an express Abrogation of either For Baptism being instituted by Christ as a means of Initiation into his Church Circumcision that was the old way of admission must fall in course because the one was inconsistent with the other So the Lord's Day being set a-part for the publick and solemn Worship of God in the Christian Church the Sabbath that was before appointed for it must in reason surrender to it So the Apostle Col. 2.16 17. Let no man judge you in meat or drink or in respect of an holy-day or of new-moons or of thâ— sabbath days which are a shadow of things to come but the body is of Christ. Where the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 tho in the plural signifies the Seventh day or Jewish Sabbath as it doth Matt. 25.10 12. and for the most part in the New-Testament And which being a shadow as well as Meats and Drinks Holy-days and New-Moons was with those and for the same reasons to cease by the coming of Christ. Now as the Institution of Baptism abrogated Circumcision and the Lord's Day abrogated the Sabbath so we may certainly infer that if the Sabbath was a shadow and abrogated as such which the Apostle here asserts that there was some other day instituted in the place of it these things mutually inferring each other and what that day is I may leave to our Author's guess without again going to Chapter and Verse If you say that everyone is only bound to believe what is clear to him in Scripture reading it with Sincerity and Humility then I must desire to know What if I reading Scripture Sincerely and with Humility cannot find clearly expressed either the Trinity or Incarnation will it not be necessary for the Salvation of my Soul to believe these two Mysteries I Answer 1. Sincerity and Humility do imply the due use of all the means a person hath in possession for the finding out the Truth such as diligent reading the Word of God Prayers and Consultation with such as are most able and fit to assist him And where this temper is and this course is taken there will never be wanting what is necessary John 7.17 If any man will do his will he shall know of the doctrine whether it be of God or whether I speak of my self 2. No man can believe but according to the motives of credibility and the reasons he hath for his Faith. An obligation lies upon all to believe all things necessary to Salvation but that is
when they are proposed and according to the Evidence so we are to believe and so only we can And yet we do not say as this Writer words it That Every one is only Bound to believe what is clear to him in Scripture For the Obligation to believe doth not depend upon his Understanding but the Authority of the Revelation his want of understanding may be taken as an excuse for his want of Faith but doth not diminish his obligation to believe 3. No man shall answer for what he had not a power to do and if he wants the Means or fails of the End in a due use of those Means it shall not be imputed to him John 15.22 If I had not come and spoken unto them they had not had sin I do not question but as he that is truly sincere would believe if he was able and could see into the strength of evidence for it so that this ingenuous disposition of mind will be a reason for Almighty God to give him that Faith which is necessary or to pardon the want of it and if I was to chuse I had rather be sincere and err in a Matter of Faith than believe upon the full Conviction of the Truth and yet not be sincere in the pâ—ofession of it being sensible that what is involuntary is a less sin than what is voluntary and that I shall suffer less for a fault in my Understanding which I could not help than for a fault in my Will which I might Therefore let a person first learn Sincerity and Humility and read the Scripture sincerely and with Humility and then he will be sure to find all Truths necessary to Salvation so clearly and sufficiently expressed therein that he will be thereby convinced of it or if he fail in it he may be sure his Sincerity and Humility will do more through the Grace and Mercy of God in Christ to save him than the want of a Belief of some things otherwise necessary can do to damn him Put the Case I have recourse as by these I have to Church Guides and they tell me I must believe those Mysteries Is it necessary I believe these Guides If it be then Scripture alone is not clear in Necessaries to Salvation for here I am obliged to believe what is not clear to me in Scripture Again am I bound to keep holy Sunday tho I find no Precept for it in Scripture and not Saturday tho I find an express Command for it no-where Abregated in Scripture because my Guides tell me I must do so If I must then Guides are necessary to Salvation and Scripture alone without them is not sufficient Be pleased to own this Proposition Scripture alone is not sufficient without Guides to Interpret it If notwithstanding my Guides I am not bound to believe either Trinity or Incarnation or observe Sunday then I must beg of you to warrant with your Authority these words I am not bound to keep holy the Lord's-Day or Sunday tho the Guides of the Church tell me I must if I cannnot find it clearly in Scripture But you tell me That Necessaries to Salvation are either clear in Scripture or evidently deduced out of Scripture Very well Assign then these Necessaries and deduce them out of Scripture shew the Verse and Chapter from whence is evidently deduced an Obligation to keep holy Sunday and not Saturday Again the Evidence of that Deduction is either had immediately from the meer reading of Scripture without help of Guides and then I desire to see the Places from whence these Necessaries are evidently inferr'd or it cannot be had but by the help of Guides and then the Scripture alone is not sufficient What he here saith concerning Church-Guides and Deductions from Scripture has been before in good part prevented and shall have a farther Reply But I cannot but observe before I proceed how our Author doth all along rather design to amuse his Reader than to come to the Point of which there is not a Paragraph but is an Evidence As for Instance 1. He thus argues If all things necessary to Salvation are contained in Scripture then they are either clearly contained in it so that there is no need of an Interpreter for the meaning of the words or not p. 1. Now he cannot but know that an Interpreter for the meaning of the words is no more denied by us than it is sufficient for them without he understands more by Meaning of the Words than he cared his Reader should at first perceive 2. He argues again Put the case I have recourse to Church-Guides and they tell me I must believe those Mysteries is it Necessary I believe those Guides Am I bound because my Guides tell me I must do so Now he knows that such Guides as it 's necessary to believe are the Guides they indeed would have but we deny 3. He proceeds The evidence of the Deduction is either had immediately from the mere reading of Scripture without help of Guides or c. Now who ever said that all Necessaries are to be learned by all persons by the mere reading of Scripture without the use of Means such as Attention Consideration Prayer Interpreters and Guides 4. He then infers fallaciously Or it cannot be had but by the help of Guides and then the Scripture alone is not sufficient For when the Scripture alone is said to be sufficient it 's meant so as to contain all things necessary to Salvation it 's sufficient as a Rule for all things belonging to Faith and Manners so as to exclude the Necessity of any other Rule of that kind But it 's not so alone sufficient as to exclude all Means by which it 's to be understood 5. He farther conceals himself when after he had applied the case to Church-Guides as if he would be understood of private and ordinary Teachers in the Church he at last lodges it in the bosom of some stated and universal Infallible and unerring Guide as in the next Question Secondly But if all Necssaries to Salvation be not clear enough in Scripture to be understood without an Interpreter then it will be necessary to know who and where the Interpreter is If you remit me to the Decision of the true Church it will be necessary to know whiâ—h is that Church If you tell me all Christian Churches joined together then it follows that I am bound to believe nothing but what all Christians agree in for what they disagree in cannot be the Sentiment or Decision of the whole Church but only of a part of it I am not then obliged to believe the Trinity for the Arians tho Christians deny it I am not obliged to believe the Incarnation for many Christians deny that Christ was God made Man by a strict Incarnation but only by a Moral Vnion that is he was a Man who had the Authority of God as his Plenipotentiary and the like Now then let me know on what
are sensible they are not to be proved in the same way they find themselves obliged to give the same Authority to one as the other and to bring down the Scripture to the Church or exalt the Church to the Authority of Scripture So that if we will look for things necessary not contained in Scripture we must have recourse to the Church which can as they say ordain new Articles of Faith and which whenever so ordained are as much to be believed and received as those which have their Authority immediately from Scripture And after our Author hath beat about and done his endeavour to loosen the Articles of our Faith from the written Revelation and the Foundation of the Prophets and Apostles hither he would bring the Case that we are obliged to stand to the Determination of one particular Church as he insinuates page 4. But now to return his own words upon him If you remit me to the Decision of the true Church it will be necessary to know which is that Church For since there are several pretenders and there are Christian Arrians as he saith and many other Dissenters how shall I find out this True Church and why that more than others Is it because she herself saith she is the True Church All the rest claim the like Character of being a True Church and besides this is to demand the thing that is to be proved Is it that she is like a City upon an Hill or the Sun in the Firmament to be known by a self-evident Light Why is it not then as well known and indisputably owned to be the true Church and the only True Church as a City to be a City or the Sun to be the Sun Is it to be found out by the Notes and Marks of the True Church Then we must find out the Marks before we find out the Church that is to be known by them And then the pinching Question comes on Where must I seek these Notes It 's to be feared that will lead us to the Scripture and then we know what follows Lastly Are we to find out the Church by an Infallible Guide Then we are to find such a Guide out of the Church and that we have no direction where to seek or by what Notes we may know it Here indeed we are left in a Maze to beat out the way and they that have made the Church a Guide have appointed no Guide to lead us to the Church That is a Track we must find of our selves there we must use our own simple Reason Consideration and Enquiry So that how certain soever we may be when in the Church we can never be infallibly certain which is the Church that we are bound to follow because this kind of certainty is peculiar to the Church and not to be had out of it But since we have gone thus far upon Supposition let us take it for granted once more that the Church is upon the Hill visible and demonstrable yet because the Church is a Collective Body where is the Seat of that Infallible Authority that I am to attend to and finally to be determined by Is it in every particular person Then because Infallibility knows no degrees I my self should in that Church be as Infallible as the Supreme Pastor of it Is it in one particular person or in a General Council Who and where is it Must I suspend till I know or till all the parts of the Church agree in it If you tell me all joyned together as our Author has taught me to Reason then it follows I am bound to believe nothing of this kind but what all agree in for what they disagree in cannot be the Sentiment or Decision of the whole Church but only of a part of it I am not then obliged to believe the Pope's Infallibility for the Councils of Basil and Constance and the French Church tho Papists deny it Nor am I obliged to believe a Council Infallible without the Pope because those at Rome deny it And because what 's a good Argument in one case is good in another let me have our Author's Warrant that I am bound to believe neither Infallible since neither of these agree with the other For certainly I am no more obliged to believe the Infallibility of their Church which they do thus disagree in than our Author would perswade us that we are not obliged to believe the Trinity because the Arrians tho Christians deny it But supposing that the Seat of Infallibility be clear and evident Yet how can I that am at a vast distance of years or place from that Oracle whatever it is be infallibly assured that these that are put into my hands are the very Results and Decrees of that Authority Or that this that I think or am told is the true and undoubted sense of them Or to speak modestly How can I be as much assured of the Truth of these matters as I am of the Authority and Sence of Scripture Or that Christ hath not spoken as plainly and intelligibly in the Scriptures as his Vicar or Substitutes have in any of their Canons and Decrees So that tho the Church be Infallible and I a Member of that Infallible Church yet what will that Infallibility avail me when I am without the doors of that Infallible Council or out of the reach of the immediate Dictates of the Infallible Chair And unless the spirit of Infallibility descends from the Chair to the meanest Priest who is to instruct and direct me or is indorsed upon every Decree and inspires every Article with its own unerring sense I am not infallibly certain And I may be no more certain of the true Doctrine of the Infallible Church than I am of the sense of Scripture under the Conduct of a Fallible Church since the immediate Authority I depend upon for the Doctrine and the Sense of it is all this while Fallible As for example I am told that there is such a Creed as that before mentioned of Pope Pius IV. that contains in it such Articles that every one is so bound to believe as without the belief of which no Man can be saved And I find in that Creed that the Church of Rome is the Mother and Mistress of all Churches And yet how shall I be Infallibly assured first that there ever was such a person as Pope Pius the 4th or that he ever composed such a Creed or that the foresaid Supremacy of the Church of Rome is one of those Articles The Pope I never saw nor am like to see A Council is a rare thing and what they care not to hear of at Rome and are able to do as well without as with it And therefore where shall I be infallibly instructed in these matters How shall I then be sure that the Article aforesaid is not to be understood that the Church of Rome is the Mistress of all Churches within the particular Diocess of Rome only For
Imprimatur Liber cui Titulus An Answer to the Address presented to the Ministers of the Church of England Febr. 11. 1687. Guil. Needam R mo in Christo P. ac D. D. Wilhelmo Archiep. Cantuar. a Sacr. Domest AN ANSWER TO THE ADDRESS Presented to the MINISTERS OF THE CHURCH of ENGLAND LONDON Printed for Ric. Chiswell at the Rose and Crown in St. Paul's Church-Yard MDCLXXXVIII AN ANSWER TO THE ADDRESS Presented to the Ministers of the Church of ENGLAND An Address Presented to the Reverend and Learned Ministers of the Church of England by one sincerely desirous of finding out the Truth in behalf of himself and others equally concern'd as well for their own as the general Satisfaction IT 's a hard Shift the present Writers of the Church of Rome among us are brought to that when other helps fail them they take up with such a sort of Arguments which how useful soever they may prove to make some men of Their Religion have a plainer tendency to make others of None Certainly were these persons as much concerned for the Truth of Christianity as they are for their own Corruptions of it or could defend those Corruptions in a better way they would not put the case upon this extremity and had they the Scripture as much for the Church of Rome's Supremacy and Infallibility c. as it is for its own sufficiency the Trinity and Incarnation of our Blessed Saviour we should have heard more of their Proofs from Scripture than of Requests and Addresses to the Church of England the great Patron it seems of these Points to prove from Scripture the Trinity and Incarnation These Articles of the Christian Faith are an Argument worthy of a serious Consideration if proposed by one that really needs as well as he pretends to desire Satisfaction But to have a Member of the Church of Rome as our Author apparently is personating an Arrian and other Hereticks and in the face of the World requiring Scripture-proof for those above-said Points of Catholick Doctrine To have this thrust upon us afresh after the unrefuted Answers given to the First Request the Catholick Dialogue and the Plea for a Socinian is no good sign whatever he pretends of one sincerely desirous of finding out the Truth nor would it be worth the while to take up the Cause anew for his sake who I am sensible is not to be satisfied in this way were it not for some better End it may be useful to The Address consists of several Proposals which thus begin There can be no doubt but that the main Concern of Man in this Vale of Tears is the Salvation of his Soul. If this be lost he loses all if this be gained he gains all and both for an Eternity No body then can blame me if being solicitous to save my Soul I have recourse to those whose Learning must needs enable them and whose Charity cannot but incline them to instruct me in this weighty Affair I therefore humbly beseech you most Reverend and Learned Doctors of the Church of England to afford me a clear and satisfactory Solution of these following Doubts First I desire to know Whether all things necessary to Salvation are contained in Scripture If not where must I seek them If they be then they are either clearly contained in it so that there is no need of an Interpreter for the meaning of the words or not If there be no need of any such Interpreter then I humbly ask what these Necessaries to Salvation are and in what Chapter and Verse of Scripture each of them may be found For example Is the belief of a Trinity c. For the clearer understanding of the whole I shall divide it into several Questions Q. 1. Whether all things necessary to Salvation are contained in Scripture A. If there are things necessary to Salvation that are not contained in Scripture the World is for ought I see at a great loss where to seek them For nothing can be necessary to Salvation which was not necessary in the Primitive and will be so to all succeeding Ages But where to find those things thus necessary out of Scripture that have been of a date and Authority equal to it I know none that have attempted the discovery Nor could we ever yet be favoured with an account of what these Necessaries are and where each of them may be found So that Scripture must contain these Necessary things or else we are left without any means of knowing them And the Scripture must fail of its end and we of the Salvation therein revealed if that be not as sufficient in its kind to beget Faith in us as Faith is to save us For faith St. John 20.31 These things 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 Nay we are as much assured of this as we are of its Divine Authority for the same Apostle that saith All Scripture is given by Inspiration of God doth immediately before as positively affirm that the Scriptures are able to make us wise unto Salvation 2 Tim. 3.15 16. From which Consideration it was that all doubts relating to Salvation were hereby to be resolved which could not be were not all things necessary to Salvation contained in it So when that Question was put to our Saviour Master what shall I do to inherit eternal life He answered What is written in the Law How readest thou Thou knowest the Commandments Luke 10.25 26. Mark 10.17 19. And that they had Moses and the Prophets was in his estimation sufficient to dispose them to Repent without any other Revelation than was therein contained Luke 16.29 30 31. Till it can therefore be shewn that the Scripture was not written to make men wise unto salvation or that men might be wise to Salvation without knowing the things necessary to it Till it can be proved that the Old Testament was not a Rule of Faith and Manners to the Jews in all points necessary to their Salvation Or that both Old and New-Testament have not the same end or not the same sufficiency to that End now to the Christian as the Old Testament alone had to the Jewish Church we have no reason to think the Scripture defective in any thing necessary to Salvation or that there is any other means provided by God to supply its deficiency therein And in this Doctrine we are not alone but have the concurrence of the most Authentick Writers of the Christian Church of which sort in particular is that memorable saying of St. Austin All things which concern Faith and Manners of Life are found in those things which are plainly contained in Scripture A Truth that the Writers of the Church of Rome in their soberer thoughts do often acknowledg So Antoninus A. B. of Florence God saith he hath spoken but once and that in the Holy Scripture and that so