Church That a Council kept by the Roman Bishop and those only who are subject to him excluding others is but a particular Council That a General Council may be celebrated though the Pope refuse to concurr by his Presence and Consent That All that meet in Councils ought to have free Liberty orderly to declare and Determin Maters in question That whatever must oblige as Divine ought to be confirmed by the Authority of Holy Scripture That no Councils are Legitimate where private Respects are managed under pretext of Faith and Religion That the Roman Bishop hath not that power which many flatterers attribute to him viz. That he alone is to Determine and Others only to Consult and Advise That a General Council is Superiour to the rest of the Patriarchs and also to the Roman Bishop That a General Council may be deficient and that de facto Councils lawfully assembled have erred And since they have failed and have contradicted one another as appears in the Second Council of Nice and that of Constance among many others the one Decreeing the Worship of Images the other prohibiting Communion in both Kinds against the express words of Scripture the Councils of Lateran in Deposing Kings the Council of Frankfort opposite to that of Nice in the Business of Images the Council of Florence against those of Basil and Constance in the point of the Pope's Superiority over a Council It is certain that Councils are to be Regulated and Examined by God's Word and to be Received or Rejected as Conformable to or Disagreeing from that And for this we have the Authority of the Great S. Augustin contra Maxim Arian l. 3. c. 14. Nec ego Nicenum c. Neither ought I to produce the Nicen nor Thou the Ariminum Council as having already prejudged or absolutely Determined the Cause beyond all Appeal For I am not bound up by the Authority of this nor Thou by the Decree of that but let us regard the Authority of the Holy Scripture witnesses not partial or appropriated to either party but common to both A speech worthy the Gravity Learning and Piety of S. Augustin As for the Councils of the Later Centuries they neither have been General nor hath either their Assimbling or Proceeding been Lawful and they have most Industriously thwarted the Canons of the most Pure and Antient Councils Their Assembling hath not been Legal in that the Modern Popes have Usurped the whole Right and Authority of Convocating Councils contrary to the Primitive Custom and Practice of the Church The first Nicene Council was called by Constantine the Great the first Constantinopolitan which is the second General Council by Theodosius that of Ephesus by Theodosius Junior that of Chalcedon by Martianus the fifth by Justinian c. All which are such evident Proofs that the Cardinals Cusanus Jacobatius and Zabarella confess that in the first Ages of the Church the Right of Calling Councils belonged to the Emperour Nor are Their Proceedings any better For the Popes admit no Assessours or Judges in Councils but their own Faction Men beforehand enslaved by a Solemn Oath which all Bishops of that Communion take at their Consecration to maintain the Regalia Petri all the Usurpations of that See The Pope is the only Authentick Judge in All matters Approving and Refusing whatever He pleases Their own Histories afford us Examples enough to confirm this I shall instance but in the Sleights and Wiles of the Late so much cryed up Trent-Council Wherein to make sure work on the Pope's side there were more Italian Bishops than of all the World beside And most ridiculously to dazle the eyes of the People some of these subscribe themselves Eastern Patriarchs as of Jerusalem c. and Others as if they were Greek Prelates Some had the Titles of Archbishops who had neither Church nor Diocess as Upsalensis and Armachanus who were Created on purpose to fill up the Number And when the Pope on a certain Occasion wanted Voices to sway the cause He sent a fresh supply of 40 Bishops newly made And this was part of that Leigerdemain which an Eminent French Bishop Claud Espenc one of those vvho sat in the Council calls the Great Helena which of late Ruled All at Trent in Ep. ad Tit. c. 1. All the Oriental and Greek Patriarchs and Bishops were Excluded None out of England Scotland Ireland Danemark Swedland few out of France and Spain fewer out of Germany it self were admitted When the Protestants required Audience they could not be hearken'd to upon any tolerable terms It was long before they could get a Safe-Conduct and when it was procured it was clogg'd with this Clause That it should belong to none but such as would Repent and Return to the Bosom of the Roman Church This Partiality and Jugling when the Princes of Europe saw they sent their Protestations against the Council as being Insufficient to Resorm Religion In Trying and Deciding Controversies they adhered more to Tradition than Scripture and pass'd nothing till the Pope with his Consistory had seen it at home and approved it and then he transmitted it to his Legats So that as One said the Holy Ghost was continually posted in Cloakbags between Rome and Trent Though by the way their own Doctors teach that the Assistance of the Holy Ghost is a personal Privilege and cannot be Delegated While the Divines were formally Disputing at Trent the Pope was as busie in Ingrossing Canons at Rome and sending them to the Council to be published Thus they proceeded sometimes by a wrong Rule sometimes by none at all In the 4th Session they Decree That none should give any other Exposition of Scripture than such as might agree with the Doctrine of the Church of Rome And yet this very Doctrine was the Thing questioned and the Scriptures were to have been the Touchstone to try it by Take this whole Affair in the Words of Andraeas Dudithius a Bishop in the Roman Church and an Eminent Member of this Council He thus writes in an Epistle to the Emperour Maximilian the 2d what good could be done in that Council where voices were taken by Number and not by Weight The Pope was able to set an 100 of his against every one of ours and if an 100 were not sufficient he could on a sudden have created a thousand to succour those that were ready to faint We might every day see hungry and needy Bishops and those for the most part Beardless Youngsters come in Flocks to Trent hired to give their Voice according to the Pope's humour unlearned indeed and foolish but of good Use to him for their Audaciousness and Impudency The Holy Ghost had nothing to do with that Conventicle All things were carried by Humane Policy which was wholly employed in Maintaining the Immoderate and indeed most Shameless Lordship and Domineering of the Pope From thence were Answers waited for as from the Oracles of Delphos or Dodona From thence the Holy Ghost who as
Scheme of Apostolical Primitive Doctrine and Discipline You have here good works Recommended Preach'd and Practiced as the Fruits of Faith and Evidences of our Justification and though not as Expiatory for our Sins yet as in Obedience to the Divine commands and as a Sacrifice acceptable to God And even in this Degenerate Age of Christianity it might be made to appear that as many Acts and Monuments of Real Charity have been exhibited since the Reformation as were in many Ages before But for those Works of Suprerecogation as they are called whereby we are presumed to perform more than is our Duty this Church worthily disowns them as savouring of too much Pride and self Conceitedness in us who at the best are but unprofitable Servants You have here a just and Competent Authority allowed to the Church of appointing Decent Rites and Ceremonies and of determining Controversies in Religion provided she decide nothing Repugnant to the Holy Scripture And the Apostles themselves challenged no more Witness S. Paul Be ye followers of me as I am of Christ. You have here a Lawful Call to and Succession in the Ministerial Function and this Succession if need were may be shewn to be more Sincere and less Interrupted than that in the Roman Church As likewise those Three most Antient degrees of Bishops Priests and Deacons and the manner of their Ordination most conformable to God's Word and Primitive Constitutions and Practice You have here all the Divine Services and Administration of the Sacraments performed in the known Vulgar Tongue of the Country to the Edification of the People and according to Divine Precept On which Subject S. Paul hath written a whole Chapter 1 Cor. 14. no ways reconcilable to the Practice of the Roman Church which herein is confessed to disagree with Antiquity by the most Learned of our Adversaries and many of them wish that the Custome were abolished Nor doth their Common Plea avail that God understands any Language for many parts of their Service are addressed to the People and not to God as the Instructions out of the Epistles and Gospels Orate Fratres c. and many Occurrencies in the Administration of the Sacraments Here you will find the two great Sacraments of the New Law Baptism and the Sacred Eucharist The first never so much as questioned by our Adversaries as to its Validity And the other Administred in the due Matter and Form of Divine Institution and that intirely without committing that Grand Sacrilege of taking away the Cup from the Layity And if the Church of England Embrace all that is Really conveyed to us in those High Mysteries viz. The Application of those Ineffable Benefits and Advantages of the Sacred Body and Blood of Christ it is as much as every Good Christian can desire and enough if duly received to make him Happy And as for that Wonderful Doctrin of Transubstantiation we have the Romanists own Acknowledgment that it was not believed in that Church till the Councel of Lateran which likewise Decreed the Deposing of Kings and I am sure the Church of England hath Scripture Antiquity Reason and the concurring Testimony of all our Senses when she acknowledges a Real Presence to the True Believer without Annihilating the Substance of the Elements I am sure our Blessed Saviour at the Institution calls the whole Action a Commemoration and in the Consecration of the Cup he most apparently uses a double Figure both in the Cup used for what is in it and the Testament for what is conveyed by it He himself calls it the Fruit of the Vine And S. Paul 1 Cor. 11. 26. 27 28. in 3 verses together expresly calls it Bread even after the Consecration Whoever shall eat this Bread c. As often as ye eat this Bread c. Let a man examine himself and so let him eat of this Bread And whereas our Saviour saies This is my Body to omit the multitude of Authorities that might be produced let the great S. Augustin speak the sence of All Antiquity Christ did not stick to say This is my Body when he gave the Sign of his Body in Psalm 98. and de Doctrin Christian. l. 3 c. 10. he lays down this notable Rule If you find a Commandment that forbids a Crime or injoins any good Action then its sense is not Figurative but it is otherwise when it seems to command a Crime and prohibit a good Action Except you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood you have no life in you saies Christ. That word seems to command a Crime it is therefore a Figure which bids us Communicate in the passion of our Lord and call into our Memories with sweetness and benefit that his Flesh hath been wounded and nailed on the Cross for us Thus doth S. Augustin teach And indeed nothing is more frequent in Holy Writ than such manner of Speech This is the Lord 's Passover I am the true Vine c. But to examine this business fully would require a just Volume and it is already done by very able Pens The 5 other Sacraments in use in the Roman Church are solemnly used by the Church of England though not under that notion excepting the Ceremony of Anoynting which was a Miraculous guift of Healing peculiar to the Apostles In the Church of England you may injoy the true use and Advantage of Confession and Absolution in a far more serious and less suspicious manner than in the Roman Church And as for Absolution even the Form of it is as full and Compleat as theirs I will set it down here as it is found in the Service for the Visitation of the Sick Our Lord Jesus Christ who hath left power to his Church to Absolve all Sinners who truly Repent and Believe in him of his Great Mercy forgive thee thy offences And by his Authority committed to me I absolve thee from all thy Sins in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost Her Churches are decently kept and adorned at least it is her desire they should be so though not crowded with Images the Historical use of which she rejects not but the Adoration of them she worthily esteems most Dangerous and Detestable And truly for my own part I think that Dr. Stillingfleet now the Reverend Dean of S. Pauls hath little less than Demonstrated it to be Idolatry Let any but impartially examin the general practice of the Church of Rome especially on Good-Friday in creeping to the Cross and he will find an undeniable proof of their Adoring Images The Priest by degrees uncovers the Crucifix lists it upto be Adored with these words Ecce Lignum Crucis c. Behold the Wood of the Cross come let us Adore it Then first he himself then all that are present with three Prostrations of the Body even to the Kissing of the very Earth approach to it and with all Reverence Imaginable Adore it The Worship and Invocation of
having Fellowship with any of those horrid Works of Darkness whereof many of its Professors and the Religion it self are accused And this may serve for my old Friends Now as for your self and all other candid disinterested Persons I know it will be satisfactory to put you in mind that to impute my Proceedings to the frowning of the Times on that Party is Fallacia non Causae pro Causa a Mistake of the Adjunct or Circumstance of Time for the Principal Motive The Conversion of a Sinner is the Work of Omnipoteuce who as he is most free in all his Actions ad Extra so especially in the reclaiming of a strayed Sheep He is no wayes tied up to the Circumstances of Whom How Where or When. Nescit tarda Molimina Spiritûs Sancti Gratia sayes S. Bernard And if he were graciously pleased more effectually to touch my Heart now than at any other time and times of Affliction are his especial Seasons Afflictio dat Intellectum Cum Occideret eos c. I know no other Account can be given of it than that of our B. Saviour Even so Father for so it seemed Good in thy Sight Nay I have before demonstrated that these Thoughts have been long hovering in my Mind though perhaps they had not been altogether so suddenly declared but out of a deep Resentment of the Dangers of any further neglecting the Divine Call and a seasonable Desire to Testifie to the World my perfect Abhorrence of such desperate Practices and Principles which I am convinced are pernicious both to Publick Polity and Civil Society And I hope none can reasonably be angry that I have gained more Experience now I am thirty six years old than I had when I was but twenty These are the Principal Matters I thought worth your Knowledge at present wherein I protest before God and Man that I have no other Design but the Quiet of my Conscience and the Salvation of my Soul And when I have given a publick Tolerable Account of this Affair I will take my leave of this Noble Science of Controversie as Mr. Serjeant calls it having alwayes been more addicted to Ascetick Theology and sit down with Divine Anselm's Resolution Quid restat per Totam Vitam meam nisi ut Defleam Totam Vitam meam Crosses and Afflictions are no more than I except and deserve having hitherto been so little acquainted with them The Wise man hath read my Doom to me Fili accedens ad servitutem Dei praepara Animum tuum ad Tentationem As for the sincerity of my Resolutions I can but Appeal to that Great Searcher of Hearts and Tryer of Reins And though some Folk talk of Dispensations from Rome for the taking All Oaths and Complying with All Externals and no meaner a Person than the Author of the Difference between the Church and Court of Rome out of Arch-Bishop Spotswood's History mentions some such like thing practised in Scotland yet with submission to the Learned Author I conceive there is no such matter since the Pope himself could never be induced to Approve even the single Oath of Allegiance but expresly condemned it and severely prohibited the taking of it as containing saith he divers Points contrary to Salvation And moreover put case any thing of that nature were in Being I here solemnly Avow that I disown all such Pretended Authority One Circumstance not very Material I confess but I would not too much swerve from the Accurate Exactness of Writers of Epistles Apologetical though Mr. Cressey observe it in the Beginning and I in the Conclusion must not be forgotten and thus it is To you above all Persons living I have an Obligation to recurr in Spiritual Concerns for I am your Parishioner Holborn having been the place of my Nativity I have nothing more but with all Respect and Gratitude to assure you I am December 15. 1678. Reverend and Honoured Sir Your most obliged and Humble Servant T. S. Several Weighty CONSIDERATIONS Humbly Recommended To the Serious Perusal of ALL especially the Roman Catholicks of England IT is a very good Rule prescribed by some Spiritual Writers That in Converse we should rather discourse of Things than Persons And I intend as much as the Matter will permit to observe it in this subsequent Treatise carefully avoiding all personal Reflections especially upon such as are living and shall only bring some Doctrines and Practices to the Test which though they pass for currant with many will yet be found adulterate and contrary to Holy Scripture the best Genuine Antiquity and Right Reason highly scandalous to the Christian Religion in General destructive of Civil Government fatal to Humane Society and very pernicious both to the Spiritual and Temporal Concerns of the Practisers even in their private Capacity In short I shall very plainly and briefly endeavour to make good two Assertions 1. That there is no sufficient Ground for any one to forsake the Communion of the Church of England and incorporate with that of Rome 2. That there is all Reason imaginable both for such as have been educated in the Roman Communion to Reform and for such as have unwarily ingaged with her to Return This was the happy Result of these following Considerations upon my own Heart And it shall be my Prayer that they may have the same Blessed Effect in the impartial Perusers of them The sacred Oracles of the Holy Scriptures deservedly Command our first Inquiry We have Cardinal Bellarmine's own Concession that in the grand Question of the Church the Scripture is better known than the Church Consequently then not only her Authority but her very Being must be subordinate to it And therefore in the first place let us see what Sentiments the Church of England hath of these Heavenly Records and whether Hers or those of the Roman Church be more Consonant to Pure Antiquity Reason and Holy Writ it self All Protestants and particularly the Church of England Artic. 6. look upon the Holy Scriptures to contain all things necessary to Salvation so that whatever is not read in them or cannot be proved from them is not to be Imposed on any to be received as an Article of Faith or a Necessary Requisite to Salvation Whence it appears that they take Them to be the Onely Complete and Adequate Rule both of Faith and Life sufficiently intelligible and easie in matters that concern what is simply necessary to make us Good and Happy They consequently hold that since Holy Scripture is the Rule of our Faith it must have an exact Proportion to that whereof it is a Rule So that Matters of Faith are not to be extended beyond this Rule nor can any unwritten Traditions any way be pretended to appertain to the Substance of Faith Moreover the Rule being the Idea Model and great Exemplar of what is regulated by it it is in order of Nature before the thing so regulated And if the word of God be antecedent to Faith it self it must likewise
precede the Faithful themselves and if the Faithful then must it have Preheminence before the Church it self which is nothing else but the Congregation of the Faithful Thus the Church of Rome will evidently fall short of that Prerogative she so presumptuously arrogates of being both Before and Above the Scripture Again a Rule consisting in Indivisibili as we say i. e. being of that Nature that it is not to be inlarged or diminished how guilty are they who either make Additions to or Substractions from it Both which the Roman Church practiseth as de facio will be manifest in the Sequele of this small Tract In Fine they hold the Word of God written to be that one infallible entire Rule whereby all men Learned and Unlearned may in all necessary and fundamental Points of Faith and Manners be sufficiently instructed what is to be embraced for True and Good That it is a Rule most Certain Plain Universal Impartial not addicted to one Side more than another which neither Pope Conclave nor Councel can so much as pretend to of Power and Authority able to convince the Consciences of such as use it and from which there can be no Appeal And the only Cause why any miss of the True Faith is because they do not sincerely seek and find out this infallible Rule or having found it will not with an obedient Mind captivate their Understanding but have Access to it with Pride Curiosity Prejudice or some other unmortifyed Lust or Impediment More especially the Church of England besides that high Veneration that she her self hath for these sacred Books labours to confirm and root the same in the Hearts of her obedient Children by her Devout Practice For to omit the Frequent Laborious and Judicious Preaching and Expounding of them in this Church she hath so prudently disposed of her publick Liturgy that every day some Part and Portion of both Testaments is appointed to be read The whole Book of Psalms is gone through once a Moneth the Old Testament once and the New thrice every year with other most excellent Exercises of Piety at which even the Romanists themselves can take no just Exception and a very great Author affirms that a modern Pope would have approved the whole Service-Book had his Authority but been acknowledged which discreet Course cannot but afford much heavenly Instruction and Consolation to the constant Attenders on such Blessed Opportunities But what saith the Church of Rome all this while in this Business In her Tridentine Council Sess. 4. Can. 1. She expresly Decrees that unwritten Traditions are of equal Authority with the written Word that they are to be received with the same Reverence and Affection And Cardinal Hosius who was one who in the Popes Name presided at that Council defends that most Blasphemous Speech of Wolfangus Hermannus that the Scripture is of no more Authority than Esop's Fables but for the Churches and Popes Approbation lib. 3. de Authorit Script The Council of Basil would fain perswade us that the Churches Acts and Customs must be to us instead of the Scriptures Instar habeant Sacrarum Scripturarum for that the Scripture and Churches Customs both require the same Affection and Respect Indeed I find the Romish Doctors in nothing more fluent than in degrading and vilifying the Scriptures Our Country man Dr. Stapleton positively affirms that the Church hath Authority to put into the Number of Books of Scripture and to make Canonical the Writings of Hermes and Constitutions of Clemens two famous Counterfeits and that then they would have the same Authority which other Books have canonized by the Apostles themselves Some call them a Nose of Wax to be wrested any way Cardinal Cusanus blushes not to write that the Scriptures are fitted to the time and variously understood the sense thereof being one while this and another while that according as it pleases the Church to change her Judgment Some teach that the Scripture is not simply necessary that God gave it not to the People but to the Doctors and Pastors and that we must live more according to the Dictates of the Church than the Scripture Eckius the great Antagonist of Luther would make us believe that Christ never gave any Command to his Apostles to write any thing Which yet seems very odd when such an express Injunction was lay'd on S. John to write that mystical Book of the Apocalypse which certainly is not more conducing to the Churches Edification than our B. Saviour's Sermon on the Mount and the many other practical Discourses both of himself and his Disciples In a word the most ingenuous and civil among their Writers think they have pay'd all due Respect to Holy writ when they term it a Dumb Judge Dead Ink or Ink shaped into various Forms and Characters Notwithstanding which I humbly conceive that let an Indifferent Person open the Bible and the Canons of the Council of Trent together and he will receive at least as clear and full Satisfaction from the Bible as from the other unless we will impiously deny Almighty God the Faculty of expressing his holy Will and Pleasure as intelligibly as frail Men can theirs or without any shew of Reason affirm with a late Divine that Religion it self was never fully setled till that upstart Conventicle Conformable to the Sentiments are the Practices of that Church in keeping the Bible lock'd up in an Unknown Tongue from the Use of the Vulgar Clement the Eighth very strictly orders all Vulgar Translations to be put into the Index of Prohibited Books And in Italy and Spain and wherever the Inquisition hath the least Jurisdiction the very keeping of them is a Crime no less than Capital It is true where the Reformation hath got any footing Faculties are sometimes granted to read a Translation but clog'd with so many Proviso's and various Cautions and their Spiritual Guides give so small Encouragement to it that it seems rather a Trick to stop the Mouthes of their Adversaries when they Object the Prohibition of Reading Scripture than any real Intention of Promoting so Pious an Exercise among their Devotes Besides their other Forms of Devotion Rosaries or saying over the Beads after divers Methods our Ladies Office Prayers for the Dead Manuals the long Litanies of Saints hearing of Masses reading of Legends c. are in so great Vogue and take up so considerable a Time that I scarce see how any can be allotted for that contemned Employment of studying Gods Word which ought to be the Meditation of every good Christian Day and Night Indeed this neglect to say no worse of Holy Scripture is so notorious among and so peculiar to those of that Way and the Ignorance not only of the Laity but of divers of the Clergy in that kind of Learning especially is so gross that it would be a Work of Supererogation to attempt the proof of it Their Doctors generally pretending Translations of Scripture to be the cause of all Heresies
and Phanaticism Nay I have met with one so frantick that he thinks it was the Devils invention to permit the people to read the Bible Martin Peres de Tradit And I remember Thyrraeus de Daemoniac c. 21. says that thence he knew certain Persons to be possess'd by the Devil because being but Husbandmen they were able to discourse concerning Scripture We will now see what Holy Writ it self untainted Antiquity and unprejudiced Reason alleage in this Case and which side they patronize the Reformation or the Church of Rome S. Paul gives this Encomium of his Disciple Timothy 2 Ep. c. 3. v. 15. That from a Child he had been Conversant in the Holy Scriptures and tells him they were able to make him Wise to Salvation which I hope is Knowledge enough and I am sure is a more plain compendious Path than the crooked Labyrinths of uncertain Traditions forged Decrees Canons and Fathers He further assures him that the same Divine Scriptures were profitable for Doctrine for Reproof for Correction for Instruction to Righteousness that the Man of God might be perfect throughly furnished to every good Work For my part I know not what remains then for Tradition and such like Trash to perform since the Word of God alone can so compleat us Solomon Prov. 2. 9. assures us that Gods Law alone will make a man understand Righteousness and Judgment and Equity and Every good Work The Prophet Esa. c. 8. 20. refers us to try all things by the Law and Testimony and that we must conclude those to have no light who speak not according to that Word Our B. Saviour Luke 10. 26. When a Lawyer inquired of him what he should do to inherit Eternal Life bids him have recourse to what was written in the Law and asked him how he read there S. Luke writ his Gospel to Theophilus a Lay Person Luke 1. 4. to the end he might certainly know those things wherein he had been instructed S. John writ his as he himself testifies c. 20. v. 31. that we might believe that Jesus is the Christ the Son of God and that believing we might have Life through him Abraham sends Dives his Brethren to Moses and the Prophets rather than to Visions Apparitions and private Revelations which yet are so much pretended to and boasted of in the Roman Church Christ himself submitted the Tryal both of his Doctrine and Miracles to the Censure of the Scriptures John 5. 39. Search the Scriptures for they are they which testifie of me Thoughts are free and I am apt to think that some will take the Liberty to judge it a little unreasonable that our B. Saviour should so readily stand to the Verdict of Moses and the Prophets and yet his pretended Vicar should scorn to submit to the Censure of Christ and his Apostles but defie both their Doctrines and Practices with so many Non Obstante's as appears by their new model'd Creed at this day wherein Pius the fourth hath coined twelve new Articles of Faith to shew his single Power equivalent to that of all the Apostles in General who did but every one contribute his single Article to that ancient Symbole bearing their Name S. Paul's Auditors the Bereans are highly commended for searching the Scriptures daily to examine whether the Doctrine they heard were true or no. Act. 17. 11. In Sum the old Law was severely injoyned to the Reading and Meditation both of Prince Priest and People men Women and Children as is obvious to observe all along the Style thereof And the Jews were so versed in it as to be able to reckon up the Number of the Words nay Letters contained therein And the new Law excludes none either from that Common Salvation it holds forth or the means to attain it which is the Doctrine of the Gospel The Epistles are directed to Persons of all sorts and both Sexes In fine the whole Oeconomy both of the Old and New Testament is so diametrically opposite to the Practice of the Roman Church in this Point that it is but too too palpable that the three Main Pillars of Popery are to keep the Prince in awe the Priest in Honour and the People in Ignorance Antiquity is so luxuriant in this point that it will be a greater Difficulty to select than to accumulate Famous is that Speech of Constantine the great to the Fathers in the Niccne Council recorded by Theodor. Histor. l. 1. c. 7. and this Saying among the rest is very remarkable We have the teaching of the Holy Ghost written for the Evangelical and Apostolical Books and the old Prophets do evidently teach us the things that are needful to be known concerning God Wherefore laying aside all Contention let us out of the Divinely Inspired Scripture take the Resolution of those things we seek for Tertullian contr Hermog in plain terms calls the Scripture The Rule of Faith St. Chrysostom Hom. 13. in 2 ad Cor. styles it A most Excellent Rule and Exact Ballance to try All things by St. August in l. 2. de Nupt. Concup c. 33. speaks thus This Controversie depending between us requires a Judge let Christ therefore judge and let the Apostle Paul judge with him because Christ speaks in his Apostle But most Memorable is that Passage of Optatus contr Parmen l. 5. where he thus presses the Donatist We are saith he to enquire out some to be Judges between us in these Controversies The Christians cannot because both sides cannot yield them and by part-taking the Truth will be hindred the Judge must be had from without our selves If a Pagan he knows not the Mysteries of Christianity if a Jew he is an Enemy to Baptisme therefore on Earth no judgment concerning this matter can be found The Judge must be had from Heaven But to what end should we knock at Heaven when here we have one in the Gospel Quotations might be Infinite but I Supersede Nor did the Antient Fathers onely think this themselves but by their frequent Translations of the Scripture and vehement Exhortations to the People to read them so translated they endeavoured to beget the same awful Respect to Gods Holy Word in the Minds of all Ulphilas a Bishop of the Goths turned the Scripture into that Barbarous Language as Socrates witnesses Methodius into the Sclavonian S. Chrysostom hom 1. in Johan makes mention of Syrian Aegyptian Indian Persian and Ethiopian Translations Theodoret de Curand Graec. Affect assures us the Bible was turned into all Languages used in the World Greek Latin Armenian Scythian Sarmatian c. And we have at this day divers Fragments of them remaining Venerable Bede shews the same of our own Country To speak plain I know no Topick the Fathers are more Copious upon than in calling upon the People to get Bibles to read them to examin what they hear by them and severely inveighing against the Negligence of such as did not According to the Apostles Advice even to the Laity Colos. 3. 16.
same Holy Law in having the same Faith Hope and Charity the same Heavenly Example one worship in Spirit and in Truth one Communion or Communication of the Members which is the Unity of that Church which includes all the Faithful from the beginning of the World to the end c. In short such an Unity as the Holy Scriptures require in being derived from one beginning which is the Holy Ghost who as one Soul quickens and moves all the Parts in having one Head which is Jesus Christ and in being but one Body partaking the same Doctrine Sacraments and Worship of God This Unity by God's Grace all true Protestants breath after as may apparently be evinced by the Harmony of their Confessions although in points of smaller importance there may be some little differences and most of their Dissentions are rather Verbal then Real As to the Sanctity of that Church let but the Lives of the Roman Bishops be perused written by their own Authors a noysomer Sink and Kennel of Abomination can never be raked up in all Antiquity some Atheists some Conjurers some Adulterers Murderers Incestuous Sodomites Simâ—niacks and what not the manners and conversation of their Clergy Religious Men and Women so heinously tax'd and inveigh'd against by those Famous Writers of their own side S. Bernard Nic. Clemangis Alvar Pelagius Claud. Espencaeus c. and at least they will have little cause so boldly to challenge and appropriate it to themselves above all their Neighbours These things are sufficiently known to any that have viewed their Doctors or conversed even with their Modern practices though themselves are very much amended since the Reformation But I love not to tell stories out of the School and I promised at first to refrain from personal Reflections There are Books enough on this Subject and the World talks sufficiently loud of it If all the precedent Prerogatives signifie nothing at last we must be over-born by whole Legions of Innumerable Miracles that are obtruded upon our Credit But so spurious so ridiculous so impious many of them that the more modest and discreet among themselves dare not own them Their best Writers affirm That Miracles are not necessary for the Being of a Church but onely for the Begetting of a new Faith or an Extraordinary Mission Nay I may add not for an Extraordinary Mission neither as we may see in many of the Prophets of the Old Testament of whose Miracles not one word is mentioned Nor are they at all to be expected from or by the Protestants who neither profess a new Faith nor an Extraordinary Mission The Miracles of our Saviour his Apostles and the first Age of the Church are sufficient Seals to the Doctrine they own And as for those so importunately urged by the Romanists they are but too often convinced to be meer juggles contrivances for filthy Lucre Sleights to uphold some gainful Doctrine or to advance the reputation of some particular place or Religious Order done in a Corner of a far different Nature from those of our B. Saviour and rather of the same stamp with those the Apostle speaks of 2 Thess. 2. 9. belonging to him who comes with all Power and Signs and Lying Wonders and Revel 13. 13. who doth great Wonders so that he makes fire come down from Heaven on Earth in the Sight of Men. A man that duly ponders the most palpable Cheats and Impostures of this kind daily practised in the Church of Rome for these By-Respects would almost be of Mr. Chillingworth's mind that it cannot be sufficiently made out that ever so much as a Lame Horse was cured by way of Miracle in confirmation of any Popish Tenet Some insist much on the Outward Prosperity Pomp Splendour and Magnificence of their Church To this the Wise Man hath given an answer Eccles. 9. 1. Our Works are in the hand of God and no man knows either Love or Hatred by all that is before him Nay our Saviour puts it down as a Mark of the false Church Joh. 16. 20. Verily I say unto you that you shall weep and lament but the World shall rejoyce It remains then that the onely Certain and Evident marks of a True Apostolical Church are The Sincere Preaching of God's Word and a Due Administration of the Sacraments To which may be annexed Ecclesiastical Discipline but this is reducible to the other two These are All that the Holy Scriptures afford us Matth. 28. 19. Go and Teach all Nations baptizing them in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost Teaching them to observe all things whatever I have commanded you Act. 2. 42. And they continued stedfastly in the Apostles Doctrin and Fellowship and in Breaking of Bread and Prayers Having thus survey'd the Roman Church in general it will hardly be thought Good Manners if we neglect his Holiness the Pope in particular or as some are pleased to flatter him The Church Virtual For what ever stirâ— and bastle they make about the Church their Mother the plain English of their meaning is nothing but the Pope their Father It is the express Doctrin of S. Thomas Aquinas and his Doctrin in that Church is little less than Canonized 2. 2. q. 1. a. 10. that the making of a true Creed belongs to the Pope as all other things do which belong to the Whole Church and that the Whole Authority of the Universal Church abides in him 2. 2. q. 12. a. 2. Thus as they take all Authority and Sufficiency from the Scripture and give it to the Church so all the Churche's Authority they attribute to the Pope Gregorius de Valentia one of the Learnedst Jesuits tells us plainly That by the Church they mean Its Head that is to say the Roman Bishop in whom resides the full Authority of the Church when he pleases to Determin matters of Faith whether he d th it with a Council or without Bellarmine teaches that the Pope himself without any Council may decree matters of Faith Bannes affirms that the Authority of the Universal Church the Authority of a Council and the Authority of the Pope are one and the same thing The Canon Law in Sext. Extrav Johan 22. c. Cum inter in Gloss. speaks thus It is Heresie to think Our Lord God the Pope may not Decree as he doth And Distinct. 19. in Canon His Rescripts and Decretal Epistles are Canonical Scripture All which passages clearly convince us what is the meaning of those perpetual Braggs of the Catholick Church His Holyness must excuse me if being no Courtier I address not my self to him in the phrase of the Roman Inscription to Paul the V. yet to be seen in that City saluting him as a Vice-God and the Stout Assertor of the Pontifical Omnipotency or as the Gloss of the Canon Law in their last and best Editions viz. the Roman 1580 and Parisian 1612. Our Lord God the Pope Waving therefore these Ceremonies I shall summarily consider his
some Evangelists some Pastors and Teachers for the Perfecting of the Saints for the edifying of the Body of Christ. And when he recommends Unity by reason of one Body one Spirit one Hope one Faith one Baptism one Lord there is no mention at all of any Pontifical Monarch In all the New Testament there is not any one called the Head of the Church but only our Blessed Saviour Eph. 1. 22. God hath put all things under his feet and given him to be Head over all things to his Church And chap. 4. 15. Grow up to him in all things who is the Head even Christ. Colos. 1. 18. He is the Head of the Body the Church Wherefore they are highly injurious to our Saviour who set up any other Nor do Protestant Princes take themselves to be Heads of their own particular Churches in any other sence than the good Kings of Israel and Juda were to defend the Orthodox Religion and maintain good Order and Discipline in the Church and take cognizance of abuses crept in among any persons Ecclesiastical or Civil and reform what they find amiss according to the Canon of the Scripture by the advice of their Chief Clergy And not as the Papists impertinently object concerning Q. Elizabeth that she had assumed power to preach administer the Sacraments c. And all this as I said before is the undoubted Right of Soveraign Princes in their own Territories and was practised by the Good Princes under the Old Law with great Commendation and Reward It was likewise promised to the New That Kings should be Nursing Fathers and Queens Nursing Mothers to the Church In fine that Paternal Wisdom and Providence of God which so plentifully revealed to us All matters of importanee for our own private Good for the Being or Well-being of his Church and certainly this great pretended Jurisdiction most be of that Nature that the most Curious Inquirer can desire nothing more and which did under the Mosaical Dispensation so exactly describe the Condition and Power of the High Priest even to the minute Circumstances of his Garments so that none could be so stupid among the Jews but if he read the Books of Moses he might sufficiently understand that there was a High Priest constituted and what Authority he had would certainly have left us some intimation of the like Regiment under the Gospel had there been any such matter to be expected Whereas on the contrary we cannot there find so much as the Name or Title of any such Dignity nor of any Seat appointed for his Residence no singular Office is assigned to him above others no Ensigns of Soveraignty are recorded whereby He might be distinguished from others no manner of Succession is provided for nor is there the least practice or exercise of such a singular Absolute Power so much as hinted at in the whole New Testament And therefore we may justly conclude it to be an upstart Usurpation and no Authority of Divine Institution There are but two passages in Scripture that with any tollerable shew can be made use of to countenance this Supremacy that is so much urged to be conferred on S. Peter and intayled on his Successors The one wherein it seems to be promised the other wherein they say it was actually bestowed The first is that famous place the Achilles of the Roman Cause Matth. 16. 17 18. Thou art Peter and upon this Rock will I build my Church and the Gates of Hell shall not prevail against it And I will give unto thee the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven and whatsoever thou shalt bind on Earth shall be bound in Heaven and whatsoever thou shalt loose on Earth shall be loosed in Heaven These words which they think so plain and obvious do yet contain two Metaphors of a Rock and the Keys and I cannot find in any other part of Scripture that they are explained in the Romanists sence Simply and without a Metaphor I am sure they were not so easie to the Aposiles themselves nor did they understand thereby any principality intended for S. Peter as appears by sundry contentions among them after these words were spoken who should be the Chiefest Nor can the Antient Fathers Good men discover any such Energy or Prerogative in them for S Peter or the Pope For our Saviour doth not plainly and literally affirm that he will build his Church upon S. Peter but upon the Rock which he confess'd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 upon this Rock not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 upon this Peter Non dictum est illi Tu es Petra sed Tu es Petrus Petra autem erat Christus It was not said to him Thou art the Rock but Thou art Peter for the Rock was Christ says S. Augustin Retract l. c. 21. The same Father in his 124 Tract on S. Joh. Ser. 13. deVer Dom. thus paraphrases this Text Upon this Rock which thou hast confessed upon this Rock which thou hast acknowledg'd saying Thou art Christ the Son of the Living God will I build my Church that is upon my self the Son of the Living God will I build my Church I will build Thee upon Me not Me upon Thee For the Rock was Christ whereon Peter himself was built I am punctual in citing this Great Doctor and Father of the Church because the Romanists give out that they desire to stand to the alone Judgment of this Learned Father The Holy Martyr S. Cyprian could not apprehend any such Intrigue in these words l. de Unit. Eccles. The rest of the Apostles saith he were the same that Peter was being endowed with an equal share both of Honour and Power Nor S. Ambrose Serm. 66. S. Peter and Paul were eminent among the Apostles and it is doubtful which is to he preferred before the other S. Hillary l. 6. de Trin. S. Chrysost. hom 55. in Matth. Euseb. Emissen Greg. the Great V. Beda Haymo the Gloss of Gratian Lyra and a multitude of others understand the Text of S. Matthew as S. Augustin doth Cardinal Cusanus l. 2. c. 13. Concord Cath. is very positive that nothing was here said to S. Peter but what was said to the rest of the Apostles And the words of Sixtus Senensis a very Learned Pontifician Biblioth l. 6. are worth our notice We believe and acknowledge with a sure faith that Christ is the first and Chief Foundation of the Whole Ecclesiastical Edifice But we also affirm that upon this Foundation there are other Rocks lay'd namely Peter and the rest of the Apostles whom John in the Apocalypse names the Twelve Foundations of the Heavenly Jerusalem In sum I find three Interpretations of these words among the Antients viz. That Christ is the Rock That the Confession Faith and Doctrine of Christ is the Rock and that S. Peter himself as an Apostle is Metonymically a partial Rock All which meanings agree very well together but nothing favour the Supremacy that the Romanists desire Nor do the Protestants
Saints and Angels is here looked upon as at least very Dangerous and not having any President in the Old or New Testament S. Paul hath imparted his mind to us in this matter Coloss. 2. 18. Let no man beguile you of your reward in a voluntary humility and worshipping of Angels intruding into those things which he hath not seen The Doctrines of Merit Indulgences Purgatory c. are presumptuous at best and full of Abuses contrived more for the Priests profit than the Penitents comfort All which considered together with the small grounds for the belief of them they are worthily disowned by the Church of England Nor was Bellarmin when out of the heat of School Disputes of a Different Judgment l. 5. de Justif. c. 7. Propter incertitudinem c. By reason of the Uncertainty of our own Justice and the Danger of Vain Glory Tutissimum est c. It is the safest course to repose all our Confidence in the alone Mercy and Benignity of God In short you will find that the Church of England in her Reformation which was most Regular and by the Supreme Authority of the Whole Nation retains all the Essentials of Christianity and onely Rectified such things as She found and the whole World complained were some Ridiculous some Impious Others Sensual and Cruel Such are the Innumerable Crossings Repetitions of Names Kissings of the Pax and Images Offering up of Incense and Candles Impertinent Pilgrimages c. and a Thousand the like absurdities Such as teach men to put their Confidence in Bless'd Beads and Medals Counterfeit Relicks Confraternities Sodalities to trust to Mundayes Prayers for the Dead and our Ladie 's Litanies and Ascribe to pieces of Wax called Agnus Dei's Divine power and Efficacy even as much as is due only to the Pretious Blood of the Son of God Nor is this the belief and practice onely of a few Old Wives but the Authentick Book of the Sacred Ceremonies of the Roman Church tells us how Urban V. sent three Agnus Dei's to the Greek Emperor with most Blasphemous Rythmes annexed concerning their Virtue Amongst others this is Verbatim set down Peccatum frangit ut Christi sanguis et angit that it Destroys Sin as the Blood of Christ doth And this was not the Practice of one Phantastical Pope alone but according to the foresaid Book l. 1. Every Pope in blessing these Agnus Dei's uses this Prayer That it would please thee O God to bless these things which we purpose to pour into this Vessel of Water prepared for thy Name so as by the Worship and Honour of them we thy Servants may have our heinous offences done away the blemishes of our Sins wiped off and thereby we may obtain pardon c. No Meaner a Person than the Angelical Doctor S. Thomas Aquinas attributes the same Virtue of taking away Venial Sins to Holy Water And likewise 3. qu. 25. a. 3. in c. most Orthodoxly defends That Stocks and Stones I mean Images are to be worshipped with Latria the same Honour that is due to the Creator Suarez and Vasquez teach the same To Conclude this Discourse In the Church of England You will meet with all that is Good and Warrantable in the Church of Rome what ever is Necessary to Salvation and that by the Confession of the Learnedest Romans Let Bellarmin speak for all l. 4. de Verbo Dei c. 11. The Apostles themselves never used to Preach openly to the people much less propounded as Articles of Faith other things than the Articles of the Apostles Creed the Ten Commandments and some few of the Sacraments because saies he These are simply Necessary and Profitable for All Men the Rest besides are Such as that a Man may be Saved without them This made Antonius de Dominis Archbishop of Spalatto even at his Return to Rome to acknowledg the English Church to be a True Apostolical Church And Father Fulgentio the Venetian Companion to Father Paul the Famous Compiler of the History of the Council of Trent had a most High value and Tender Respect for this Church as having in it all the Requisites for Faith Manners and Discipline And that Incomparable Man Hugo Grotius had so Venerable an Affection for her above all other Reformed Churches that he told our Embassador in France That he Intended after his Return from Swedland whither he was designed Embassador from the States General to transport himself with his whole Family hither on purpose to dye in the Bosome of the English Church In such Repute is She even with Foreigners And to speak one word to the Roman Catholicks of England even in their own Language By their own Concessions the Church of England is safer to Communicate with than that of Rome For To Believe onely what is in the Scripture is as much as is necessary as Bellarmin Confesses To worship God without an Image is acknowledged by all both safe and acceptable To pray immediately to God and use the Lord's Prayer without Repeating so many Ave Maria's to perform the best works we can and not stand on the point of Merit c. and so of the other matters in Controversie is by both Sides granted secure Whereas the other Things in debate are strongly disputed by very Learned and Pious Men. Now what would a Man require more than what all acknowledge to be in the Church of England viz. Means effectually conducing and sufficient to Believe Well to Pray Well to Live Well and to Dye Well It remains onely that the Truly Devout and Loyal Persons in our Nation that are of the Roman Persuasion will but vouchsafe to take the Courage and Pains following Our Blessed Saviour's Advice John 5. 39. Search the Scriptures and S. Paul's 1 Thess. 5. 21. Prove all things 2 Cor. 13. 5. And examine your selves whether you be in the Faith A POST-SCRIPT To the Roman Catholicks of my Acquaintance Ever Honoured and still Respected Friends HAving thus fairly and ingènuously unbosomed to you the very thoughts of my Heart I beseech You not to take with the Left Hand what I offer with the Right Many of You I know to be Truly Vertuous Noble and Loyal to Many I have most Endearing Obligations and I think none can contradict me if I affirm That my Converse among You was repay'd with Love and Esteem and I take Heaven and Earth to witness that I still value you as tenderly as I do my own Soul God onely knowes how many Throes and Struglings I had to part with those whom I so Earnestly affected But Truth at least as it seems to me is Great and will prevail My Request to You All is That You would not let us break in point of Charity though our Opinions are not altogether Coincident That You would for the removing any scruples that may arise believe me as I shall answer at the Last Tribunal That I was not onely Sincere but Zealous while I remained among You and that whatever I performed was with the perfect Intention of and Compliance with the Roman Church and as Validly done as any Actions of that nature are capable of admitting Lastly I desire for God's Religion's and Your own sake that we may refrain from All Contumelious Reflexions on one another In that Long Converse and Great Familiarity I had with you it is impossible but Failings and Imperfections must be discovered on both sides Let All be concealed Under the Mantle of that Charity which hides a multitude of Sins still think of me as you ever found One that sought not Yours but You an honest plain down-right meaning Person And as for my present Proceedings Leave me to stand or fall to that Great Judge to whose and his Churche's Censure I with the most profound Obedience Submit whatever I Write or Do. And Once more I recommend to your most impartial and serious Consideration this Important Quaery Whether it be not Sufficient Ground to withdraw from the Communion of a Church when She is convinced publickly to Teach Practise and Command Treason and Rebellion to its Members Sicut Reputari cupiunt Haberi Fideles as the Lateran Council Thunders it out as they desire to be Accounted and Treated as Christians As to the Traiterous and Monstrous Plot now in Question What Mr. Oats and Mr. Bedlow with the rest of the Informers Evidences are I know not nor am I much Inquisitive His Sacred Majesty and his Great Council are Judges of that But of this I am as sure as I can be of any humane Transaction That the Roman Church Teaches and Commands such Practices That they have been frequently put in Execution abroad and especially at Home And that consequece to such Doctrines Mr. Colemâ—â— by his own Confession and Letters which he did not deny was very Busie in attempting to Dissolve the Parliament and in procuring Assistance from the French King by the interposition of Monsieur le Chese the Jesuit who was that King's Confessor to use his own words To Carry on the Mighty Work in their hands no less than the Conversion of Three Kingdoms and the Utter Subduing of a Pestilential Heresie which hath Domineer'd over a great part of this Northern World a long time and that there never was such hopes of success since the days of their Q. Mury as now in These days And I am sure that a most Worthy Justice of Peace was Barbarously Murder'd who took the Examinations upon that occasion and that many other Insolent Actions were committed by that Party Nor can it be any satisfaction to the Nation for well-minded Persons to say they Disclaim and Detest such Actions unless they Kenounce the Principles and Disown the Authority which have promoted and still are ready to prompt men to such Desperate Practices God Almighty grant Us All his Grace to Consider in This Our Day the Things that Belong to Our Peace before they be Hid from Our Eyes Amen FINIS