and that P. Martin the 5th in his Bull for the Confirmation of the Council of Constance Sess. 45. gives the Sense of the Proposition of that Council Sess. 15. may it not be very pertinently asserted that the said Council condemns only the killing of a Tyrant and not of an Heretick and the killing of a Tyrant who is not condemned and deposed not of one who is excommunicated for Heresie for that last Clause without expecting the Sentence and Command of a Judge supposes that it may be a very lawful and meritorious Act to kill such Princes as are deposed by Superiour Judges that is by the Pope or Council which is the only Authority that ever pretended to judge or depose Sovereign Princes and therefore when Suarez was urged with this Decree he answered Defens Fidei lib. 6. cap. 4. Where do you find in the Acts of that Council that this extends to Princes excommunicated or deposed by the Pope 13. If we may take and leave of the Roman Councils what we please and be good Catholicks still wherefore may we not reject the Decrees of their Councils about Transubstantiation Purgatory Indulgences the Invocation of Saints and Worship of Images c. and continue as good Catholicks as they are who renounce the Authority of their Councils as to the deposing Power 14. Since P. Paul the 5th Anno 1606. by a Breve written to the English Catholicks declared and taught them as Pastor of their Souls that the Oath of Allegiance established by Parliament 3 Iac. 1. cannot be taken without violating the Christian Faith and injuring the Salvation of their Souls as containing many things which are manifestly contrary to Faith and Salvation Now as the Author of the First Treatise against the Oath of Allegiance called The Jesuits Loyalty well observes there are not in it multa many things to which this Censure is possibly applicable unless this be one that the Pope hath no Power to despose the King or absolve his Subjects from the Oath of Allegiance now when in Obedience to the Pope the Roman Catholicks have to this day obstinately refused this Oath some very few excepted who were Anathematized at Rome for doing so is there not reason to suspect that they are not clear in this Point and that they who will not abjure so pernicious a Doctrine may be perswaded to practise it when time serves and then let any man judge what security there is of their Loyalty 15. As for those Loyal English Romanists who will not allow the Deposing Doctrine to be the Doctrine of the Church of Rome though they acknowledge it to have been Decreed by Popes and Councils because all the Ages before Gregory the Seventh were positively against the Deposing Doctrine that this was a Doctrine brought in in the 11th Century against the Judgment and Practice of Ten before and that all the Fathers were against it must they not needs go upon these Principles 1. That Popes and Councils may and have decreed such Doctrines as are contrary to Scripture and Catholick Tradition 2. That no good Catholick is bound to own such Doctrines though decreed by Popes and Councils 3. That this Doctrine although so decreed is not the Doctrine of the Catholick Church 4. That men are good Catholicks not by adhering to the Doctrine of Popes and Councils but to the Scriptures expounded by Primitive and Catholick Tradition These are indeed the better Subjects for adhering to those Principles for those are the very Principles on which our Reformation is founded and by which we justifie our selves against the Innovations of the Church of Rome But though these Principles will justifie the Reformation yet they will not prove that this Deposing Doctrine is not taught by the present Church of Rome 16. But to shut up all these Queries concerning that vile Deposing Doctrine I desire only to be informed what Roman Catholick Nation who had all the Power in their hands would have suffered a Protestant Prince to Succeed quietly to his Throne We know how it fared with Henry the Fourth of France notwithstanding the Parliament of Paris burnt Mariana's Book and what Henrician Hereticks in those days signified but our Church teaches better and the True Sons of the Church practise better and we hope they shall never have reason to repent of what they have done SECT XXII Of their Vncharitableness to all other Christians Qu. 1. HOw can they be vindicated from Hypocrisie in a very high degree beside their Uncharitableness who after they have Condemned an Heretick and delivered him to the Secular Judge to be burnt yet thus bespeak him We passionately desire you for the Love of God and in regard of Piety Mercy and our Mediation you would free this miserable person from all danger of Death or mutilation of Members How can this be reconciled to the 20 Cap. of the 25 Sess. of the Council of Trent about Reformation 2. Since Boniface the Eighth hath determined that it is indispensably necessary for all men to believe the Bishop of Rome to be the Oecumenical Patriarch the Universal Bishop the Visible Head and Monarch of the Catholick Church the Infallible Doctor of its Faith and Manners S. Peters Successor and Christs Sole Vicar upon Earth which Arrogant Titles are now become a part of their Canon Law and occur frequently in the sixth Book of the Decretalia may it not be pertinently demanded Where was their Charity to all Christians before the time of Boniface the Third who dyed in the 7th Century seeing there is no Bishop of Rome found who did assume or claim those insolent Epithets before that time 3. What difference can be assigned betwixt the old Donatists and the present Romanists since the former confined the True Church of Christ to Africa yea to that Corner of it which was ex parte Donati and the later to Rome 4. Let us suppose a man to walk as Conformably to the Precepts of the Gospel as ever any of the Sons of Adam Christ only excepted would it not argue the height of uncharitableness to Damn that man in our Imaginations because he cannot believe the Popes Supremacy to be jure divino for want of Divine Revelation since the best Logician in the World cannot deduce it from any place of Scripture per decimam sextam Consequentiam 5. Because some moderate Protestants grant that he who is under Invincible Ignorance of the Corruptions of the Roman Church and makes Conscience to live up to his Light may through the infinite Mercy of God be saved though he live and die in that Society hence to argue that its best to joyn in Communion with the Church of Rome wherein by consent of both parties Salvation may be had doth the force of that Argument in the eyes of sober persons amount to any more than this Come over to us for we have less Charity than ye whereas a good Christian who understands the nature of his Holy Religion will be ready to answer
Qu. 1. WHen Nectarius with his Church of Constantinople discharged for ever the Office of Penitentiaries because of a scandalous Deacon can it rationally be presumed that this Office was ever reputed by them a Sacrament but rather at the best an Expedient to prepare men for it for we are bound in Charity to think that neither the Bishop nor that Church would have ever consented to the Abolition of a Sacrament for the sake of such a Scandal as happened in the mis-management of it or if they had done so much less can it be imagined that the greatest part of the Christian Church would have concurred with them in it Moreover since the ancient Church had no Form of Absolution but only the admitting Penitents to the Communion where then shall the Form of that pretended Sacrament be found among the Ancients 2. If the Absolution of a Roman Priest hath the power to convert Attrition that is such a consternation of mind as fell upon Iudas when he went and hanged himself into the Grace of Contrition as divers Popish Casuists aver had it not been an unspeakable happiness to that Betrayer of the best Master that ever was to have rencountred in the way of striving such a Priest when he was seeking after some Instrument to become Felo de se. SECT XV. Of the Sacrament of Marriage with the Clergies restraint therefrom Qu. 1. IF Marriage be a Sacrament and confer Grace as Baptism and the Eucharist wherefore do they restrain their Consecrated Persons from that supernatural Quality since it s only an Ecclesiastical Restraint they pretend unto 2. Since God hath sufficiently declared his Approbation of the Marriage of the Clergy in that the whole World hath been twice by his Appointment Peopled by Two married Priests viz. Adam and Noah and that he tyed the Priesthood under the Law to a Race of married People and that the Scripture hath told us Marriage is honourable in all and placeth it among the Qualifications of a Bishop That he be the Husband of one Wife having faithful Children not to speak of that Canon of the Council of Gangra nor of the Discourse of Paphnutius in the Council of Nice nor of Spiridion S. Hilary Eucherius Lugdunensis and many other Primitive Bishops who were married beside the Apostle S. Peter may it not be pertinently enquired if the Church of Rome borrowed their Doctrine of the unlawfulness of the Marriage of Priests from the Manichees who allowed Marriage to their Hearers as the Church of Rome doth to Laicks but forbad it to their Elect as that Church doth to her Priests 3. Had not Aeneas Sylvius afterwards P. Pius the 2d good reason to write that in consideration of the vile Abuses of the Celibacy of the Clergy whatever reasons the Clergy had at first to restrain them from Marriage now for much better Reasons they ought to be restored to that which God hath made the Privilege of all men who cannot contain SECT XVI Of the Sacrament of Extreme Vnction Quest. SUppose the Administration of Extreme Unction to dying persons as a Sacrament had been the Doctrine and Practice of the Catholick Church in all Ages though for a Thousand years after Christ we find no such thing how can the Practice of the Roman Church be reconciled to the Doctrine of S. Iames or S. Mark for these are their Scripture-pretences who manifestly shew us that the design of that Anointing was the recovery of the Patient the gift of miraculous Healing not being ceased in the days of S. Iames whereas the Romanists do not practise that Ceremony till all hope of Recovery is past SECT XVII Of Tradition Qu. 1. OF those who magnifie the Tradition of the Church so highly as to imagin that the very Credit of the Scripture depends thereon or that it gives the Scripture its Authority which is as much as to say that Man gives Authority to Gods Word it may be demanded What if the Church should have concealed or taught otherwise of those Writings than as of the undoubted Oracles of God would she not have erred damnably in her Tradition 2. Since Tradition in the Roman Church is taken in to supply the Imaginary defect of Scripture and the Authority thereof to supply the defect of Tradition doth it not hence follow that neither Scripture nor Tradition signifie any thing without the Churches Authority And consequently it must needs be the Rule of their Faith that is They believe themselves 3. Since the Doctrine of the Millenaries was unanimously received as an Apostolick Tradition in the 2d and 3d Centuries of the Church meerly upon the Authority and Antiquity of Papias who lived presently after the Apostles and yet by St. Hierom and many of this present Age looked upon as an Imposture and if both Irenaeus for his asserting that our Saviour suffered about the Fiftieth year of his Age and Clem. Alexandrinus that he died for the Sins of the World about the Thirtieth year of his Age are judged exceedingly mistaken and not without good ground notwithstanding they both pretended an Apostolick Tradition as having conversed with Apostolick Men Irenaeus having written An. 180. and Clemens 190. And in fine since in that famous contention about Easter which miserably afflicted the Church in the days of P. Victor Bishop of Rome by dividing the Eastern Christians from the Western one pretending Oral Tradition from S. Iohn and S. Philip and the other from S. Peter and S. Paul may it not be pertinently demanded What stress can be laid upon a pretence of Apostolick Tradition sixteen hundred years after Christ suppose it were now become Universal but especially when it is but the particluar Tradition of a particular Church 4. What greater certainty can be given of the uncertainty of Oral Tradition as it is contradistinguished from the Scripture than this consideration that of all Christ said and no doubt he spoke much in point of Morality which is not expressed in the Gospels nothing is found in any Authentick Record save the Scriptures except that one expression preserved by S. Hierom Be thou never merry unless thou see thy Brother living in Charity for which notable expression we have the sole Authority of S. Hierom 5. Since its evident from the penult of S. Iohn's Gospel at the end as also the close of the last Chapter That our Saviour did many great things which are not recorded in Holy Scripture is it not a great Evidence of the great incertainty of Oral Tradition that none of all those Miracles not found in Scripture are conveyed to us by any warrantable Record the Legends which contain some of those pretended Miracles being rejected as Fabulous by the best Criticks of the Roman Church SECT XVIII Of that Thred-bare question Where was your Church before Luther Qu. 1. OF those who are still harping on that Thred-bare Question Where was your Church before Luther May it not as pertinently be demanded Should a Revolt happen from the
Reformed Church of England to Romanism again which God forbid where was your Religion before 86 or before such a time Would they not answer at Rome and in England also only kept under and obscured by Hereticks And Christianity though not so visible yet was purer when its Professors dwelt in Mountains and Dens places of Obscurity and Privacy in the Reigns of Nero Decius and Dioclesian than when some Kings were called its Nursing Fathers and took possession of the seven Halls as when it groaned under Arianism in the days of Constantius and Valens 2. When some peremptorily require from us the Aera of all the Popish Errors may it not be as pertinently demanded when the Acephali began which was such a ridiculous Linsy-Wolsey Heresie as to be a Compound of these Contraries Nestorianism and Eutychianism and yet gave great trouble to the Church for many years for Baronius and Bellarmin ingenuously acknowledge that they know neither the Heresiarch or the Epocha of the Heresie nor when Filioque was inserted by the Latin Church into the Creed and if they know not the Aera of their Truths how can it be rationally expected that we should design the precise times when all their Errors began since it s in the Night Season that the Adversary Sows his Tares in the Field of the Church 3. It may be demanded what more pertinency amongst Disputers is in that old Thred-bare Question Where was your Church or Religion before Luther than in this amongst Husbandmen Where was the Corn before it was Weeded For if our Forefathers under the Papacy embraced the true Faith we have it still the Faith not being removed but the Corruption 4. Since the Church of England obligeth none to believe any thing as necessary to Salvation but what is plainly proved from holy Scripture and intirely holds the Apostolick Nicene and Athanasian Creeds and obeys more Canons of the first general Councils than those of Rome do and approves that Exposition of Scripture which hath the consent of the Fathers of the four first Centuries Yea holds all that the Church of Rome held necessary for Salvation for five or six hundred years together so that a Romanist may turn Protestant without adding any Article to his Faith but a Protestant cannot turn Romanist without the addition of many new ones or novel Inventions which have neither Foundation in Scripture nor genuin Antiquity May it not then be most rationally concluded that the Protestant way is the surest and safest because both sides agree therein and that their Church was long before Papacy appeared in the World 5. Since its impossible to produce any genuin Work of any of the Fathers who lived within Four Hundred Years after Christ that positively asserts the practice or the lawfulness of Prayer in an unknown Tongue of taking away the Cup from the People or with-holding the Scriptures from the Laicks or Adoring Images or having them in Churches the Pope's Infallibility or Supremacy Indulgences in the Sense of Pope Leo the Tenth the Doctrine of Merit in the Sense of the Council of Trent that there are neither more nor less than Seven Sacraments the necessity of the right Intention of the Priest for the Validity of a Sacrament Transubstantiation the Limbo of unbaptized Infants Private Masses the Popes deposing Power c. may it not more pertinently be demanded of the Romanists Where was Popery before Boniface the Third than they can enquire of the Protestants Where was your Church before Luther 6. Since its impossible to find any of the Primitive Fathers or any Christian Writer a thousand years after Christ and more who believed all the Twelve new Articles of Faith which P. Pius the Fourth hath added to the Apostolick Creed may it not be pertinently demanded of the Romanists Where was your Faith to be found intirely before the Council of Trent And is not the Modern Papacy younger by many years than Martin Luther himself 7. Since not one of the Twelve new Articles of the Creed of P. Pius the Fourth is to be found in any ancient Creed or Confession of Faith generally allowed in the Christian Church whence it is evident that they are Innovations destitute of Primitive Authority may we not more pertinently demand of them Where was Papacy when those Confessions were framed than they can enquire of us Where was your Church before Luther 8. Since every true Reformation necessarily pre-supposeth Corruptions and Errors to have been before it what Advantage can the Romanists have in charging our Reformation with Novelty For if a real Reformation be made the thing justifies it self and a Reformation must begin sometime and when ever it begins it is certainly new Besides it ought to be considered that this Objection of Novelty lyes against all Reformation whatsoever tho never so necessary and tho things be never so much amiss So that tho our Reformation was as late as Luther our Religion is as antient as Christianity it self for when the Additions which the Church of Rome hath made to the antient Christian Faith and their Innovations in Practise are par'd off that which remains of their Religion is ours and this they cannot deny to be every tittle of it the antient Christianity And what other Answer I pray could the Iews have given to the like Question if it had been put to them by the Antient Idolaters of the World Where was your Religion before Abraham or Moses Or what other Answer could the Primitive Christians have given to those Pagans who pretended Venerable Antiquity and Universality for their Polytheisme but the very same in substance which we now give to the Church of Rome And if any be so fond as to brand the Protestant Religion with Novelty because of some negative Articles in opposition to the Corruptions of the Roman Church which by accident are become a part of our Faith occasioned by their Errors they may as well tax the Primitive Church with Novelty because the renouncing of the Doctrines of Arianism at the Council of Nice of Macedonianism at the Council of Constantinople of Nestorianism at Ephesus and of Eutychianism at Calcedon came a part of the Catholick Religion after the rise of those Heresies 9. But to shut up this Point if to Pray without Understanding to obey without Reason and to believe against Sense be the surest Evidences of the Antiquity of a Church then I pray where is that Protestant to be found who is so contentious for Priority as not to yield upon these accounts the Precedency to the Church of Rome above all Christian Societies in the World SECT XIX Of the Infallibility of the Pope with his Councils Qu. 1. IF the Pope or Church of Rome be infallible wherefore are they so uncharitable to the World at least to their own Incorporation as not to give an infallible Comment on Scripture but suffers her Doctors to write as fallible Comments and in many things as contrary to each other as any
Protestant Divines do And I cannot imagine what good Infallibility does if an infallible Church has no better means of understanding Scripture than the Comments of fallible Men that is no better means then every fallible Church hath 2. When the Doctors of the Roman Church vye Reasons and Arguments with us Hereticks and dispute from Scripture and Antiquity especially in order to the establishing that beloved Palladium of their Churches Authority and Infallibility which those cross-grain'd Hereticks deny do they not appeal from the Infallibility of the present Church to every Man 's private Reason and Judgment as much as every Protestant does For it s against the very Principles of Philosophy to imagin that the Churches Authority can be a sufficient Topick to prove it self 3. If a visible uninterrupted Succession be the Mark of such a true Church as is the infallible Interpreter of Scripture as some Romanists aver wherefore is not the Greek Church an infallible Interpreter of Scripture since she hath as visible and uninterrupted Succession from Christ and his Apostles to this Day as the Church of Rome has yea if we consult the Catalogues of their Patriarchs of Alexandria and Antioch we shall not find so many Chasma's occasioned in those Lists by Schisms as in the See of Rome 4. Since P. Zachary deposed Virgilius Bishop of Saltzburge as an Heretick because he truly maintained tho in a very ignorant Age the Doctrine of Antipodes may it not be pertinently demanded may not he who can mistake Truth for Heresie also mistake Heresie for Truth as no doubt P. Liberius Vigilius and Honorius did 5. Since it s confessed by Bellarmine and divers other eminent Champions for that Church that the Popes Canonizations are doubtful and subject to Error may it not be pertinently demanded if his Infallibility should chance at any time to mistake as I am pretty sure he hath done more than once in what a pitiful case are the Members of that Church who are obliged to invocate such mistaken Saints Would not that be Idolatry 6. Since in the first and last Ages of the Church there were many Schisms and Heresies which if we believe Irenaeus who lived in the Second Century were as wild and extravagant as any of later date now if the Fathers who lived in these Primitive Ages believed the Infallibility of the Roman Church at that time may it not be pertinently demanded Was there no Prudence amongst them all in going so far about by their endeavours to bring those Hereticks and Schismaticks to the Touch-stone of the Scripture and next to that to the most Orthodox and Catholick Tradition whereas how short and easie a Decision to all Debates might have been fetched hence had they had the same Apprehension of the Authority and Efficacy thereof by referring all Controversies depending to the determination of the Roman Church the Mother and Mistress of all and that infallible Conduct setled therein But not one word of that which makes it more than probable that such holy and wise men knew no such thing only when they make their Appeals to her after the express word of God it s in common with many other Churches especially those of Apostolical Foundation as is evident from Irenaeus Tertullian and St. Augustin when they had to deal with such Persons 7. How can any rational man imagin that the Popes or Roman Councils which they account General are infallible even when they are confirmed by Popes unless Errors become Truths and Contradictions be reconciled when determined by a Pope and Council Since P. Vigilius not only confirmed the Fifth General Council which formerly he had condemned but General Councils confirmed by Popes have made Definitions and Decrees plainly contradictory one to another Thus the Sixth General Council confirmed by Pope Adrian the First defined that Marriage was dissolved by Heresie And the Council of Trent confirmed by P. Pius the Fourth that it could not be so The Council of Constance confirmed by Pope Martin the Fifth decreed that a General Council was superiour to the Pope The last Lateran Council under P. Leo the Tenth condemned this Decree so did it the Decree of P. Nicholas the Fifth who ratified the Council of Basil as a true General Council 8. How can any doubt that General Councils confirmed by Popes may err since it is so manifest they have actually erred by making Decrees so apparently contradictory to the Plain Words and Sense of Holy Scripture that no impartial Person can any more question it than he can whether Theft be forbidden by the Eighth Commandment So did the Council of Constance confirmed by P. Martin the Fifth and Trent by P. Pius the Fourth the former in the Decree for Laicks Communicating in one kind only notwithstanding as themselves acknowledge that Christ instituted the Sacrament in both kinds and delivered it in both to his Disciples The later in decreeing that Divine Service should not be in the Vulgar Tongue in plain Contradiction to what St. Paul prescribes in 1 Cor. 14. not to speak that the Pope's Confirmation of Doctrinal Definitions is but a meer Ceremony it being impossible for any man to make that become true which is false or that which is false to become true 9. Since from the fitness of an infallible visible Judge for the Militant Church the Romanists are apt to pretend that God hath actually appointed such an one without which God say they had not made sufficient Provisions for the Assurance of Man's Faith and for the Peace and Unity of his Church or as it is with a strange kind of Civility expressed in their Canon Law Aliter Dominus non videretur fuisse discretus otherwise our Lord had not seem'd to be discreet may it not be very pertinently urged from this Topick of Humane Appearance that it had been yet more useful for the Church that not only the first Patriarch but all of them had been infallible yea and all the Bishops and Presbyters of the Church and if all men had been infallible certainly the Church of God should never have been troubled with any Error whatsoever but the experience of the World demonstrates that it is not so 10. If it be a fit Argument always to conclude that God hath done such a thing because the generality of Men judge it expedient to be done may it not be pertinently demanded where is that man who consulting with Flesh and Blood I mean Humane Reason who would not have thought it very fit that our Saviour after his Resurrection should have publickly taught the People of Hierusalem in the Temple as he used to do that all the Inhabitants of that great City yea all the Males throughout the Land being obliged to be there also at the Feast of the Passover might by an ocular Demonstration be convinced that our Saviour was not an Impostor when he said he would rise again the third day yet the infinite Wisdom thought it not fit For his ways are not as
far removed from them yet their minds should be at rest because he had already invested St. Peter with a Paternal Authority or Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction over them when he promised to him the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven but since in our Saviour's reproof we find no such Insinuation may it not be pertinently doubted if ever he meant any such matter 11. I would demand how the ensuing particulars can be reconciled to a formal Jurisdiction of S. Peter over the rest of the Apostles 1. The Care of all the Churches being committed to every one of them in solidum 2. St. Peter was sent by the Apostles and Elders at Hierusalem to Samaria he that gave the Commission having rather the Authority than the Person commissionated 3. His being called to an account for conversing with Cornelius the Centurion in Caesaria and other Gentiles by those at Hierusalem velut vehementur infensi as S. Chrysostom phraseth it 4. If St. Peter was then Supreme Governour wherefore did not the controverting Christians at Antioch address first to him in order to the indicting of a Council 5. Wherefore did St. Iames preside therein and by his Verdict determine the Controversie if we believe Eusebius and Epiphanius and not St. Peter on which account and because he was the first Bishop of Hierusalem and of the Christian World Epiphanius positively asserts that St. Iames was invested by our Saviour with a Superiority over all the Apostles 6. Wherefore was not that Decree issued forth in the Name of Peter if he was the Monarch of the Church 7. Why was St. Paul so immethodical to reckon Iames before Cephas or Peter and so arrogant as to say that he was in nothing inferiour to the chiefest Apostles for if St. Peter was his Superiour he came short of him in something which is very material and that is Authority 8. Was not St. Paul a very unmannerly Vassal to rebuke his Lord and Master for Judaizing and so solemnly that both Jews and Gentiles were witness to the Reproof 9. How could St. Cyprian say that the rest of the Apostles were the same that St. Peter was pari consortio praediti honoris potestatis Finally How could Eusebius aver in his Old Editions before they suffered the Index Expurgatorius that Peter Iames and Iohn were appointed Princes of the Apostles and that these three were equal 12. Since P. Leo the Tenth with the consent and approbation of the Lateran Council which they account General declares that our Blessed Saviour did institute St. Peter and his Successors in the Roman See his Vicars to whom by the Testimony of the Book of Kings it was so necessary to yield Obedience that whosoever would not was punished with Death thus Binius Concil Tom. 9. it may be pertinently demanded if they have Five Books of the Kings for in the Vulgar Version which have four of that Name there is not any Syllable which insinuates any such matter 13. If the Bishop of Rome was invested Iure Divino with an universal Jurisdiction over the Catholick Church or if the Roman Church either in its Head or Members severally or in all conjunctly be indued with an infallible Spirit how comes it to pass that all the antient Apologists were guilty of such a Supine Negligence from Iustin Martyr the first of them who lived Anno 150. to Theodoret inclusively who dyed about the middle of the Fifth Century as never to mention that most admirable Prerogative of the Roman Church above all the Societies in the World since some of them descend to many minute Particulars which are long ago obsolete and out of date in all the Churches of Christ 14. If it be a sufficient Answer for the Silence of the Apologists to say that they are so succinct that they had no room for such a matter For though it is easily granted that of Asianus Melito Quadratus and Aristides we have but Shreds in Eusebius and that Athenagoras Tatian Theophilus Antiochenus Minutius Foelix Cyprian ad Demetrianum I. Firmicus Maternus are very brief not to speak of many Orations written by the Fathers against Iulian the Apostate the Jews and Gentiles in general which are also reckoned among the Apologists and are yet briefer yet the two Apologies of Iustin Martyr with his Dialogue with Tryphon the Jew all the Works of Clem. Alexandrinus save his Paedagogus the larger Apologetick of Tertullian with his lesser ad Scapulam and some Books against the Jews and Gentiles the eight Books of Origen against Celsus the seven Books of Arnobius contra Gentes and so many of Lactantius his Institutions Eusebius de demonstratione praeparatione Evangelica S. Augustin his 22 Books de Civitate Dei Theodoret his 12 Books de curandis Graecorum affectibus all these are pretty Voluminous yet ne gru quidem not the least word or insinuation of any such prodigious privilegeof the Roman Church either in its Head or Members 15. What greater Elogy could have been given by any of the Fathers to S. Peter than that which S. Chrysostom applies to S. Paul that he was the Light of all the Churches the Foundation of the Faith the Pillar and Ground of Truth 16. Might not the Bishop of Antioch have claimed by virtue of Succession a Superiority over all the Organical Members of the Catholick Church as well as the Bishop of Rome since it is certain S. Peter resided seven years at Antioch and it cannot be proved from any Authentick Record that he was one year at Rome 17. May not the Bishop of Hierusalem which is the Mother of us all with better reason claim an universal Monarchy over the Church by virtue of Succession since the unquestionable Head of the Church dyed there And S. Iames the Lord's Brother was unquestionably the first Bishop of the Christian World whence Epiphanius concludes that the Principality over the Church was due to him and not to St. Peter 18. Since it s granted by Bellarmin and others that St. Peter's Martyrdom at Rome was but accidental there being no Scripture Promise or Catholick Tradition for it can the Bishop of Rome by virtue of his See pretend to S. Peter's Spirit and Power upon better grounds than Vibius Rufus did to the Genius of the Great Caesar because he bought his Chair 19. Could any of the Fathers have Complemented the Bishop of Rome with an higher Hyperbole than Synesius the Bishop of Cyrene did his Patriarch Theophilus of Alexandria none of the best of men for he was a great Persecutor of S. Chrysostom by calling his Advice a Divine Response and an Heavenly Oracle 20. Can any Instance be given of any Bishop of Rome who before the famous Council of Nice presumed to exercise any proper Act of Jurisdiction without the proper Bounds of his own Patriarchat called the Suburbicarian Churches except P. Victor who for attempting to Censure others without his own Precinct was severely reprehended by Irenaeus and P. Stephen who was justly censured by
Imprimatur Aug. 19th 1687. Guil. Needham A REQUEST TO Roman Catholicks To Answer the Queries upon these their following Tenets § I. Their Divine Service in an Vnknown Tongue II. Their taking away the Cup from the People III. Their witholding the Scriptures from the Laicks IV. The Adoration of Images V. The Invocation of Saints and Angels VI. The Doctrine of Merit VII Purgatory VIII Their Seven Sacraments IX Their Priests Intention in Baptism X. The Limbo of unbaptized Infants XI Transubstantiation XII The Propitiatory Sacrifice of the Mass. XIII Private Masses XIV The Sacrament of Penance XV. The Sacrament of Marriage with the Clergies Restraint therefrom XVI Their Sacrament of extream Vnction XVII Tradition XVIII That thred-bare Question Where was your Church before Luther XIX The Infallibility of the Pope with his Councils XX. Tho Pope's Supremacy XXI The Pope's Deposing Power XXII Their Vncharitableness to all other Christians By a Moderate Son of the Church of England LONDON Printed for Brab Aylmer at the Three Pigeons over against the Royal Exchange in Cornhil MDCLXXXVII A REQUEST TO Roman Catholicks c. SECTION I. Their Divine Service in an Vnknown Tongue Quest. 1. MAY not the Seventh Commandment be as easily reconciled to Adultery as the Service of the Roman Church in an unknown Tongue to 1 Cor. 14. where the Apostle Five several Times expresly prohibits it and gives so many pregnant Reasons for the Inhibition 2. If the various Gestures and Ceremonies practised by the Priest at Mass be sufficient to excite Devotion in the Spectators may not a dumb Priest be as useful for that effect especially he who babbles with a Stentorian Voice as he who speaks in an unknown Language since one who cannot speak at all may be as mimical as he who can speak more Languages than ever Ioseph Scaliger did or as many as were at the Confusion of Babel 3. Since it 's possible that the Priest may be so Diabolical as to be practising Conjuration in an unknown Language instead of Devotion or may be cursing his Congregation in lieu of blessing them would not Reason without the Apostolick Authority perswade us of the necessity of understanding his Language that we may say Amen to what he says 4. Since the Priest in these publick Offices is the Mouth of the People in offering up their Tribute of Honour and Adoration to God if the Congregation understand him not how can he more justifie himself than if he did celebrate the Service in a Tongue himself knows nothing of and which neither the one nor the other did understand 5. Since it 's given as the principal Reason of the Roman Service in Latin by the Rhemish Annot. that Christians where-ever they travel may find the same Service and Priests officiating in it as at home it may be demanded if for the sake of some few that travel the many that stay at home should be left destitute and for one Man's Convenience a Thousand be exposed to eternal Perdition for there will not be one to a Thousand who understand Latin in the Christian World 6. Since in the Service in an unknown Tongue the People are wholly left to the Ability and Sincerity of their Priest Is not the case of that People very lamentable For if the Priest wants the former he may through Ignorance turn the most Solemn Part of their Service into Ridicule and Nonsense or Blasphemy And if he want the later he may use a Spell for Prayer or the antient Charm of the Valentinians Abracadabra for Ave Maria nay instead of Baptizing in the Name of the Father c. he may do by the Person as a Iew under the Profession of a Priest is said to have done by a certain Man in this last Age who Baptized him in the horrid Name of the Devil there being nothing so absurd or wicked which according to this case may not be practised 7. Since Scripture the Reason of the Thing the Fathers and Practice of the Church for about Seven Hundred Years together are for the Expedience and Necessity of having God's Publick Service in a Tongue understood by the People may it not justly be enquired with what Effrontory the Council of Trent hath Anathematized all those who believe the necessity of having God's Solemn Worship in a known Tongue as if Trent because a City of the Alps were transformed into Mount Ebal whence they might curse that great Doctor of the Gentiles in the first place 8. Is it not evident from 1 Cor. 14. that in St. Paul's Judgment they deserve to be reckoned Mad-men who Pray to God in an Unknown Tongue 9. Is it not probable that the Romanists have borrowed their Service in an Unknown Tongue from some Heathens who as Clemens Alexandrinus reports thought those Prayers most effectual which were uttered in a Barbarous Language or from their Neighbours the old Cusleans of whom Varro testifies that their Priests did scarcely understand their own Sacred Rites 10. Since the English Liturgy is so agreeable to the undoubted parts of the most antient Liturgies it being a Form which hath all those parcels of the Roman Offices that were known and used in the first Three Centuries but wants all the Innovations and Coruptions of the present Mass May we not truly and pertinently challenge all Christendom to produce any publick Platform or Solemn Church-Service so constant to the purest Primitive Devotions 11. Since the Famous Bishop of Condam hath most cunningly endeavoured a palliative Cure by soft and smooth Words as to many Practices in the Roman Church which stand in need of Amputation yet both in his Exposition and Exhortation he still passeth by their Service in an Unknown Tongue Is it not because he had no Tongue of his own to answer for that Practice which is so directly repugnant to Scripture and Antiquity having despaired it seems to find either Butter or Oyl to cicatrise or soften that Wound SECT II. Their taking away the Cup from the People Quest. 1. SInce the Council of Constance Anno 1418. made it an Article of Faith That the Laity ought to receive the Eucharist only in One Kind non obstante of the Institution of Christ as it was then acknowledged and the constant Practice of the Catholick Church above a Thousand Years Wherefore may they not Christen the Laick's Children only in the Name of the Holy Ghost leaving out the Father and the Son by the way of Concomitancy it being as lawful to Baptize as to Communicate by halves and no less certain that since the Three Persons of the Blessed Trinity partake of the same individual Nature where one is all the rest must be suppose the Mutilation of the Eucharist could not be disparaged by that Emblem of the Effusion of Christ's Blood which is necessarily required in the Sacrament 2. Since the principal Reason assigned by Gerson for that Canon of the Council of Constance which abstracts the Cup from the People is the Danger of
spilling of the Blood of Christ may it not pertinently be demanded Wherefore may not Laicks in this Age have as steddy hands as the Ages foregoing that Council Or if Priests are the best Supporters of a Chalice Why may they not hold the Cup to Peoples Heads as well as put the Bread into their Mouths Not to speak of that Infallible Prescience Christ behoved to have of that imaginary Inconvenience if we believe him to be God as well as Man. 3. Since it is also one of the Reasons assigned by Gerson wherefore the Council of Constance prohibited the Cup to the People lest the Consecrated Wine long kept should be converted into Vineger How can that Fear consist with Transubstantiation for it is not Blood but Wine which turns into Vineger 4. With what Effrontory can any Romanist pretend that the words of St. Iohn chap. 6. are to be understood of the Eucharist since the Mutilation of that Sacrament is thereby expresly condemned for a Man cannot be said to drink when he eats 5. Since the Eucharist is an Emblem of the Effusion of Christ's Blood How can they be said to drink of that Cup which is the New Testament of Christ's Blood shed for us who do not drink at all Suppose there was Truth in Transubstantiation and in that of Concomitancy first divised by Th. Aquinas 6. Since the natural Abstemiousness of some Men is likewise assigned as a Reason of that Sacrilegious Mutilation may it not pertinently he demanded Why is not the Bread taken away also because some Persons have been found who could never tast of any kind of Bread 7. It it may be farther enquired if it were a civil Apology at an ordinary Feast when there are very many invited that the Host should say He had provided neither Bread nor Wine in regard one of the Guests cannot taste of the former and another cannot drink of the later 8. Since it 's impossible to produce one Instance from any Authentick Record for a Thousand Years after Christ and more of the Celebration of the Eucharist in the Face of any particular Church without giving the Consecrated Cup to all the Communicants doth it not evidently follow that the Catholick Church behoved to have been in an Error so long or that the present Roman Church hath degenerated from the Doctrine and Practice of the Catholick Church for so many Ages SECT III. Their with-holding the Scriptures from the Laicks Quest. 1. SInce there is no Christian Church unless it be a Society of Blasphemers under the Notion of a Church that pretends to more Infallibility than Christ and his Apostles Upon what account should the Roman Church require more implicit Faith from its Members than Christ and his Apostles did from their Hearers For notwithstanding these were unquestionably endued with an infallible Spirit and the Gift of Miracles yet they still remitted their Hearers to the search of the Old Testament that they might find by their own Reason and Industry the Doctrine of the Gospel consonant to the Prophetick Oracles and Mysterious Types of our Saviour's Incarnation and Passion and were commended for doing so 2. If the Scriptures are so unintelligible that an honest man cannot find out the meaning of them without the Infallible Interpretation of the Church even in those things which are indispensably necessary to our Salvation for we are still ready to say with one of the Ancient Fathers That as they have Flats wherein a Lamb may wade so they have Depths wherein an Elephant may swim I would desire to know whether Christ and his Apostles preached intelligibly to their Hearers If not to what purpose did they preach at all By what means were Men converted to the Faith If they did How came these Sermons to be so unintelligible now they are written which were so intelligible when they were spoken For the Gospels contain a plain History of what Christ did and said and the Apostles wrote the same things to the Churches when they were absent which they preached to them when they were present and we reasonably suppose that they designed that the Churches should as much understand what they wrote as what they preached and therefore that they generally used the same Form of Words in their Writings and in their Preachings and this makes it a great Riddle How one should be very plain and easie to be understood and the other signifie nothing without an Infallible Interpreter 3. Where the Turkish Alcoran is permitted in English viz. at Rome Vid. Indic Libr. prohibit Alexandr 7. and the Bible in English ordained to be burnt vid. ibid. Whether do they fancy the Gospel or Alcoran better 4. Why may not an implicit Faith in the Scripture save a Soul as well as in the Church and why may not the one free from Heresie as well as the other 5. Since our Saviour recommended the reading of the Scriptures to Laicks and the Apostle St. Paul commended them for doing so and that the Primitive Fathers pressed it as a Duty on all Ranks of Persons Must not the Reasons of the Roman Church in prohibiting the Laicks to read the Word of God or to have the Bible translated into their Mother Tongue be exceedingly weighty if they can preponderate all these Authorities 6. Since it is well known from Ecclesiastical and Secular History that the greatest Heresies and Schisms in the Christian Church and which gave it the greatest and most lasting Trouble had their Rise from Men in Holy Orders who were accounted great Clerks in their time such as Marcion Paulus Samosatenus Arius Eunomius Apollinaris Macedonius Photinus Nestorius Eutiches Pelagius and many others Novatius also and Donatius who rent the Catholick Church by long lasting Schisms were Men in Holy Orders not to speak of Lucifer and Meletius Is it therefore a solid Reason to with-hold the Scripture from the ignorant Laicks for fear of their broaching Herefies or Schisms seeing the sad Experience of the World doth rather teach that the learned Clergy should be restrained therefrom SECT IV. The Adoration of Images Qu. 1. DOth not the Roman Church in picturing of God not only act directly contrary to Sacred Scripture where it is so frequently forbidden but also to the very Nature of God who is an infinite Spirit and can no more be represented by a bodily Shape than a Thought can And how can their Practice be re reconciled to that Canon of their Second Council of Nice which determined it not only unlawful but also absurd and impossible to make an Image of that Being which is spiritual invisible and incomprehensible 2. If any Man can reconcile the Worship of Images to the Second Commandment may it not also be imagined that he can make Adultery Perjury Murther Theft and False-witnessing to become Vertues 3. How can any Man that hath the use of Reason imagine that the Antients were clear for the Worship of Images since it is most apparent from the Writings of the most
regard to the Intention of the Worshipper doth it not appear from this that this Idolatrous Worship was to be punished with Death Deut. 13 and therefore it must be such external Idolatry as falls under the Recognizance of Humane Judicatures which Intention doth not unless a Man had confessed his Intention 13. When can it be shewn that those Fathers whose Authority is urged by the Church of Rome for the Invocation of Saints do dogmatieally and positively assert the Lawfulness of Praying to Saints and Angels since many Fathers of the same Age do positively deny the Lawfulness of it is it not a plain Argument that it was not the Judgment and Practice of the Church and a good reasonable Presumption that these Fathers in their Apostrophes and Prosopopeia's never intended any such thing in what they said how lyable soever their Words may be to be expounded in such a sense 14. May it not easily be imagin'd wherefore the late Latin Editions in the Church of Rome of the 35th Canon of the Council of Laodicea instead of its prohibiting the Faithful to call on the Name of Angels have put in Angulos corners contrary to all the Greek Copies and Fathers that writ them and so have made nonsense of that excellent Canon but veritas non quaerit Angulos And the mischief of these Prevaricators is that there is no resemblance in the Greek which is the Original Language of the Canon betwixt the words which signifie Angels and Angles SECT VI. The Doctrin of Merit Qu. 1. IF the Doctrine of Merit of good Works as it is taught in the Roman Church by an Analogy or due proportion betwixt the Work and the Reward as if God were unjust if he gave it not but not as it imports a Reward Virtute promissi Divini as the Fathers teach be not perfect nonsense in Divinity Since our Saviour hath expresly said When we have done all that we can do we are but unprofitable Servants we have done nothing but what was our Duty and the Apostle hath told us That the light Afflictions of this Life are not worthy to be compared with that great measure of Glory which shall be revealed besides that other consideration that all we are and have of any goodness are graciously derived from that inexhaustible Fountain so that neither Men nor Angels can properly Merit at the hands of God. 2. Since the Popes pretend that they have thrown into the Treasure of the Church the Superplus of the Merits of some eminent Saints may it not be pertinently doubted if they believe the Foundation of that Treasure I mean the merits of Holy Jesus to be infinit seeing what is really infinit can neither admit of Addition or Diminution at least needs no Addition SECT VII Of Purgatory Qu. 1. IF the Pope hath Power to take all Souls out of that imaginary Purgatory how comes it that he is so unmerciful as not to rid many thousands of Poor Ones from those Flames which are intensively no better than the torments of Hell is it because those tormented Wretches have not Heirs and Executors behind them with Purses so flush as those of the Rich 2. Is it possible to find an account of Indulgences in the Primitive Times in any other sense than that of relaxation of Penances inflicted upon scandalous Persons by the Governours of the Church 3. Since the most Primitive Fathers by a purging Fire for Sinners do generally understand the Fire of Conflagration in the last Day with what face can it be pretended that they believed the Romish Purgatory where poor Creatures suffer the Torments of Hell for a time 4. Since the Greek Church never believed the Roman Purgatory how can it be said with any colour of Truth that it is a Catholick Tradition of the Universal Church seeing the extent of the Greek Church is nothing inferiour to that of the Roman The same Question may be proposed concerning the Pope's Supremacy the Mutilation of the Sacrament of the Eucharist Service in an unknown Tongue the Celibacy of the Clergy and many other particulars in Controversie at this time 5. If we were to understand 1 Cor. 3. of Purgatory I would demand of those Glossators how they reconcile the Doctrine of their Prophets and Apostles Confessours and Martyrs the Blessed Virgin with the Thief on the Cross that they went immediately to Heaven or Paradice at least since the Apostle tells us there that every man's Work must be tryed by Fire of what sort it is which note of Universality in the Eyes of a Puny Logician comprehends the whole Race of Adam 6. With what Confidence can the Roman Church boast of Antiquity in Behalf of Purgatory or Indulgences seeing it is not able to produce any one Prayer publick or private nor one Indulgence for the Delivery of any Soul out of Purgatory in all the Primitive times or out of their own ancient Missals or Records SECT VIII Their Seven Sacraments Quest. SInce before Peter Lombard's time the number of Sacraments was indefinit in the Church of Rome it self if so be they have gathered the number of Seven from the Fathers Writings as they pretend for I am sure in Scripture they find them not it may be pertinently demanded wherefore not seventy seven seeing the Fathers call many other things Sacraments yea if that general Rule assigned by St. Augustin be observed in the Computation viz. that all Signs when they belong to Divine things are called Sacraments they would be found no ways short of the greatest number SECT IX The Priest's Intention in Baptism Quest. WHat can in reason be answered to that objection of the Bishop of Minori in the Council of Trent who said that if they should ratifie as afterwards they most unhappily did the Decree of the Florintin Council concerning the necessity of a right Intention of the Priest in the Administration of Sacraments especially of Baptism it would evidently follow that it were in the Power of one single Priest who came to be old in Wickedness to damn his whole Parish Yea suppose that Hellish Paroxism did but once overtake him that Child not rightly Baptized by him might afterwards become a Bishop so that not only his own Ordination but also all the Orders conferred by him would become invalid which might occasion a world of Mischief SECT X. The Limbo of Vnbaptized Infants Quest. SInce many Infants are still-born and some dye in their Mothers Womb all which because unbaptized must go to that Limbo of Infants according to the Doctrine of the Roman Church where they are for ever to be deprived of the beatifical Vision which is the greatest of the Plagues of the Damned Poena Damni being in the Opinion of the School-men and Fathers much greater than Poena Sensus how can that rigid Opinion be reconciled to the infinit Goodness and Wisdom of God to appoint a means indispensably necessary to Salvation which in some circumstances cannot possibly be administred and may not
our ways nor his thoughts as our thoughts Isa. 55. 8 9. 11. Since it is no less behoofful for the Purity of the Militant Church to be secured from Vice than from Error by some infallible means and whereas the former is not pretended to by any is it not very reasonable to put the Romanists to it to shew from Scripture who this Infallible Visible Judge is who is invested with that Power or Commission especially when it is considered that our Judge of Controversies in the Church is now become our greatest Controversie Besides that it would puzzle any man to give a good reason why God should take more care to secure men against Errors in Belief than against Sin and Wickedness in their Lives 12. If an infallible visible Judge be such an adequate means to determin all Controversies in matters of Religion which happen in the Militant Church as the Romanists pretend how came it to pass that there were so many Schisms and Heresies too in the Apostles times when those who govern'd the Church were certainly guided by an Infallible Spirit 13. Can the fiercest Bigot of Popery prove from Holy Scripture that the Pope is infallible in the Popish Sense of the World I know that some fly the Absurdity by hiding the Pope in the Church but if the Church be Infallible it is so as its representative in General Councils or diffusive in the whole Body of Christians and then what is Infallibility to the Church of Rome more than to any other particular Church And how shall that which is common to all give power to one over all And what is it to the Pope above another Bishop or Patriarch 14. Since the Council of Trent hath determined that Infants should not be Communicated because they cannot examine themselves nor discern the Lord's Body who can doubt but that Popes with their Councils and Roman Church have erred in their Belief and Practice of the Communion of Infants long ago it being past all doubt that for some Hundreds of Years it was so in the Roman Church 15. Was not the Apostle to blame to say there must be Heresies and Divisions among you and not to tell them there must be also an infallible Judge among you to obviate such pertinacious Errors and Schisms if so be that God had appointed any such infallible visible Judge to be for ever in his Church 16. If the many Dissentions in the Protestant Churches as is pretended make this infallible visible Judge always necessary how is it that this sole Remedy is found so ineffectual against the Divisions in the Roman Church and that there are so many Differences there about Infallibility it self the manner and subject of it so that many Romanists not of the dullest brains being ashamed of it have betaken themselves to Tradition instead thereof SECT XX. Of the Pope's Supremacy Qu. 1. SInce the Reason assigned by the Council of Calcedon giving equal Priviledges to the Patriarch of Constantinople with him of Rome is because old Bizantium was become Nova Roma that is the Emperours had fixed their Habitations there might not Milan and Ravenna have claimed the same Priviledge seeing some Emperours did honour those Cities with their Presence many years 2. Had not the African Churches as good reason to decline the pretended Authority of the Bishops of Rome as the Churches of Cyprus to reject the Jurisdiction of the Patriarch of Antioch from which liberated at last by the Third General Council since they had still a Primat of their own and were no more within the Roman Patriarchat than Cyprus was within that of Antioch 3. Since all sober Persons hinc inde acknowledg a Primacy of Order in St. Peter either for his Age or his being first called to be an Apostle or for his Zeal or some other reason best known to his Lord and Master it being impossible that any Society should remain long without Confusion far less that it should continue well ordered which hath not one appointed to be the Mouth thereof it may therefore be pertinently demanded if any Romanist can produce any place of Scripture which imports a formal Jurisdiction in St. Peter which was not at some other time vouchsafed on the Catholick Church at least on the rest of the Apostles 4. Dato sed non concesso that St. Peter had a Primacy of Jurisdiction over all the General Members of the Catholick Church wherefore might not this have been a personal Priviledge and intransmissible to any Successor no less than the Gradus Mosaicus was to any other Prophet 5. Upon what Grounds do Bellarmin and others call Christ's Ingemination of these Words Feed my Sheep the peculiar Priviledge of St. Peter above all the rest of the Apostles since St. Augustin and St. Cyril of Alexandria call it the peculiar Penance of St. Peter for denying his Lord and Master which none of the rest had done 6. Since the Primitive Fathers by Rock in the 16th of St. Matthew generally understand either Christ himself or that excellent Confession of St. Peter where then doth his peculiar Prerogative lye in these Words 7. Suppose our Saviour did mean by St. Peter when he said On this Rock will I build my Church alluding to his Name by way of Emphasis not Exclusion I pray where is yet the peculiarity of St. Peter's Priviledge since if we believe either St. Paul or St. Iohn in his Revelation the rest of the Apostles were Foundations as well as he for I hope none will call him the Chief Corner-stone 8. Since the generality of the ancient Fathers look upon Peter both in his Excellent Confession and Promise made to him as personating the Catholick Church and that what our Saviour there promised was after his Resurrection fulfilled as we may read Iohn 20. 21 22 23. Where I pray you is St. Peter's special Priviledge above the rest of the Apostles since our Saviour said to them all alike As my Father sent me so send I you and I suppose S. Peter could not have a Sublimer Mission than our Saviour and breathed upon them all and said Receive ye the Holy Ghost whose Sins ye remit c. 9. But what ever Sense these Words of St. Iohn may have or these of St. Matthew doth it not evidently appear that what our Saviour promised to St. Peter Matth. 16. was given to the Catholick Church at least to the rest of the Apostles as well as Peter in Matth. 18. 18. in the same words of Mat. 16. our Saviour himself having expounded the Power of the Keys by that of Binding and loosing 10. Since after that Promise made to St. Peter Mat. 18. we find the Apostles more than once controverting for Superiority may it not very rationally be presumed that H. Jesus the Wisdom of the Father and Prince of Peace having taken notice of that Ambitious Debate would once have undeceived them by telling them that tho the Despotical Power of the Gentile Kings or Governours should be