However thro' the esteem I have for that august Assembly I submit my self and am willing to depend on its prudent determination To the end therefore that amidst so much confusion this weighty matter may be more Cautiously and Piously decided Martin Bucer once a Dominican Bernardin Ochin a quondam Frier and some others qualify'd in the same nature are call'd into England by my Lord Protector and Bishop Cranmer to frame a new Model of Religion and fix the Standard of the English pretended Reformation Let me here desire my Reader to weigh these following lines with that indifference of Judgment and unprejudicateness of mind which an Affair of this importance requires and as I write them with the most sincere Zeal and Uprightness of intention so I most earnestly beg they may be accordingly consider'd by the discreet Christian Reader Bucer therefore stil'd by Arch-Bishop Whitgift a Reverend Learned Painful Sound Father and of whom Sir John Cheek In his Defence page 522. said The World scarce had his Fellow first became a Lutheran then a Zwinglian after that a Lutheran again as may be seen in the Acts of the Synod held at Luthers House in Wittemberg in the year 1589 And Bucer himself in his Commentary on the 6th of St. John and Epist ad Norimb Esseing 26th of St. Matthew asks pardon of GOD for having deceiv'd so many with the Errours of Zwinglius and the Sacramentarians yet after this open Repentance he returns to the same Zwinglianism in England and at his Death as those who were present testifie Schlussem nn Theol. Calv. l. 2. f. 70. Pratcol page 107. embraces Judaism having long before declar'd to Dudley Duke of Northumberland that he doubted whether all was true which the Evangelists relate of CHRIST which if it were none who believ'd CHRIST to be GOD and to have spoken these words This is my Body could deny the Real Presence Ochin whose Opinions were Oracles to the Composers of the Nine and Thirty Articles and whom Bishop Bale terms a Light of Relig. Gover. p. 62. 3. the Church saying That England was happy whilst It had him miserable when it lost him after many changes in Religion turn'd Jew taught Circumcision and wrote a Book in defence of Polygamy Cranmer in Henry VIII's days wrote a Book in defence of the See his Letters in Fox 1279 and Stow p. 1036. Real Presence and another in Edward VI's against it Many such Remarks might be made of Peter Martyr Coverdale and others the grand Masters of the Reformed Church of England Now I desire to know whether these Men were in all these Opinions true Protestants If my Reason is not quite lost I conceive you must answer in the Affirmative for he according to your Doctrine is a true Protestant who guides himself by the HoIy Scripture taken in such sense as appears true to his own reason which he is not oblig'd to submit to the Judgment of any Church whatsoever Why so Because every sound Judgment is a sufficient Judge in Controversy If those Men therefore were of sound judgment and judging according to Scripture as they for the present understood it were now of one Opinion then of another now condemn'd what they once believ'd then again believ'd the Tenet they had so lately Anathematiz'd liv'd Christians dy'd Jews They were notwithstanding in all these Opinions true Protestants If you say they judg'd right when they were Zwinglians wrong when they were Lutherans This is said meerly gratis and is a perfect begging of the Question The Lutherans will rise up and assert that they were then truly inspir'd from above when they judg'd the Zwinglians an abominable Sect And the Jews will challenge them because in their latter days when they were not only more experienc'd but also more grave and serious upon the approach of death they pronounc'd Christ to be no Messias and all the Christian Religion to be nothing but a meer Delusion and Cheat. If being asham'd of such Patriarchs you disown them and say They were deceiv'd in this or t'other Opinion that they were of weak judgment wanted Sincerity Humility Modesty It then follows that the Basis of your pretended Church totters and how shall any one be assur'd that the Fabrick built on such a Foundation is firm solid and warrantable If you say you have only taken from them what was true and agreeable to the right meaning of GOD's Holy Word without the mixture of their various and unchristian Errours I desire you to give me a Rule by which I may be assured of this your certain Choice of only true Doctrine These Men always spake conformably to their present Judgment of Scripture which as you Universally teach is clear and evident in all points necessary to Salvation what certainty have I that this Perspicuity and Evidence was better discern'd by them when they taught this Doctrine than when they deliver'd the Opposite If you tell me you are sure of it because 't is conformable to your own Judgment of Scripture the opposite Party will as confidently affirm they are certain of the contrary because they Judge contrary to the Doctrines which they are assur'd are true and only conformable to GOD's Holy Word The Zwinglian according to his sense of Scripure says He is sure Bucer was deluded when he taught Lutheranism The Lutheran from his Judgment of Scripture avers the same assurance of his having Err'd when he taught Zwinglianism The Jew is as certain that he was deceiv'd in both and was then only in the right when he embrac'd Judaism Where does the Scripture say Luther you understand me right you Zwinglius Err or the contrary But methinks I hear you tell me that I have forgot with whom I argue that yours is not a Religion of any one Man but a Church Establish'd by Law that 't is not only imprudence but even impudence to question the Certainty and Truth of a Religion prescrib'd by so Wise Sincere and Learn'd an Assembly as that of an English Parliament Very good but am I not still free to examine according to my own Sense and Judgment whether this Assembly speak conformably to the sense of the Holy Ghost You reply that I am every Man of sound Judgment being judge of Controversies of Faith. What therefore if according to the conviction of my Understanding I am in my Conscience perswaded that they have all Err'd Holy Scripture seeming clear to me in the contrary sense Am I still a true Protestant while I Judge the Church of England to be a Spurious and False Church If so then I am at the same time a Protestant and no Protestant if not then a Man of sound judgement may cease to be a compleat judge in Controversy If you Preach to me submission of Judgment and implicit Faith you have left your Principles and are become a Papist O but tho' I may securely judge Ten whole Ages and Twelve General Councels to have handed
possible in reading of Scripture grounding himself on your Assertion of the last Ten Ages having produc'd nothing but Impostors and considering that all the Arguments you bring against Miracles in the Roman Church may equally be alledg'd against those of Moses and our Saviour should remain convinc'd that the Creation of the World the Wonders of Exodus and all the other surprizing Stories related in Holy Writ are meer Fables and consequently that Religion is only a pure invention of States-men Politickly devised to keep Mankind in aw and in fine question the very Being of a Deity Phil. Sir I have often told you Iudge no Man. Eu. So that Heretieal Blasphemous Anti-christian Diabolical Turkish Iewish Heathenish Atheistical Doctrines undergo no censure from a true Protestant than the which what can be granted more destructive to Christianity Unheard of PARADOXES following from the Protestant Rule of Faith. 1 Paradox WHen Luther's Conscience checkt him in the terms he expresseth a Lut. to Ger. fol. 9 to 2. Wittem 1562. alibi How often did my trembling heart beat within me and reprehending me object against me that most strong Argument art thou only wife Do so many Worlds Err Were so many Ages Ignorant What if thou Errest and drawest so many into Errour with thee to be damn'd Eternally And again b Luth. to 5. Wittem in Galat. fol. 290. in Coll. Mensal fol 273. Dost thou O sole Man and of no account take upon thee so great matters What if thou being but one offendest If God permit such so many and all to Err why may he not permit thee to Err. c Luth. to 7. Wittem an 1558. to 6. Ger. fol. 26. aliis in Locis Hitherto appertain those strong Arguments the Church the Fathers the Concils the Customs the Multitudes and Greatness of Wise Men who have taught the opposite Doctrine to mine d In col mensal 158. in prof in to Ger. f. 9. That I had never begun this business e That my Writings were burnt and bury'd in Eternal Oblivion A true Protestant believes that Luther did Prudently and Piously stifle all these remorses of his Conscience and that he was endu'd with the Spirit of God when he said f Tom. 5. Wittem an 1554. fol. 290. in Ep. ad Gal. c. Be it that the Church Austin and other Doctors also Peter and Paul yea that an Angel from Heaven teach otherwise yet is my Doctrine such as setteth forth God's only Glory Peter the chief of the Apostles did live and teach besides the word of God. Now dear Christian what Judgment can be more rash injurious and contrary to Christian Charity than to assert that so many Holy and Learned Doctors as have been and are confessed Papists and even the whole visible Church for the space of at least a thousand years could either ignorantly mistake or would wilfully forsake the true sense of God's word so clearly shining in Scripture as every petty Protestant doth pretend what so repugnant to Christian modesty and simplicity as for a Man to prefer his own private Opinion to the Decissions of General Councils Torrents of Fathers Clouds of Witnesses and the Universal Tradition of so many Ages 2 Paradox A true Protestant believes that Almighty God having a Loc. com Class 4. pag. 50. a design to Reform his Church made use of Luther haunted by the Devil from a Child to avoid whose molestations he became Religious and was quiet till he threw off his Habit and held Sacrilegious commerse with a Nun when again the Devil return'd really not imaginarily to him Of Calvin b Sclussel Hier. Bols an 1577. Defence of the censur fol. 81. 8. who besides the keeping a Gentleman of La-anna's Wife was sentenc'd at Noyon in France to be publickly branded in the Shoulder for sins not to be named as was Registred by Mr. Bertilier Secretary of the Council of Geneva under a sworn Notaries hand c Ibid. fol. 86. 87 c. Of Beza who liv'd in wickedness with Andebertus a Boy with Candida a Harlot who ran away with a Taylors Wife that dwelt in Calenderstreet in Paris and kept another Woman called Claudia whose Child he kill'd to cover the sin Of d See the Stat. an 28. Henic 7. 1536. Cranmer who two several times at least Marry'd King Henry the Eighth and as often declared the said Marriage Null e Dr. Heyl. Fox c. Besides his own marrying against his Oath when a Fellow at Cambridge and afterwards f Schi Angl. p. 216. when Bishop carried his Wench along with him in his Episcopal Visitations Of Poynet who went to Law with a Butcher for his Wife having then another Wife living Of g Bale of hemself Cent. 5. 245. Bale who was inspir'd to take a sweet-heart called Doll All of them men without Mission either Ordinary as not being sent by any Lawful Power upon Earth or Extraordinary that is particularly Delegated from Heaven as not having all of them together as Erasmus well objected power of Miracles even so far as to cure a Lame Horse And that they had neither command over Devils Gift of Tongues Spirit of Prophesy or any Supernatural Grace whatever Yet these men are believed by a true Protestant to have been Vessels of Election chosen by Almighty God to Reform the World men endu'd with a Divine Spirit and that Austin Apostle of our Countrey Boniface sent hence with Twelve Companions to the Conversion of Germany Willebrord sent with as many to the Conversion of Brabant Freez-land Izeland c. Monks of exquisite Learning Irreproachable Behaviour Unspotted Innocency Saint-like Conversation Gifted from above with all supernatural Graces Power of Miracles and most of which sealed their irreprehensible lives with a Glorious Martyrdom were Impostors or at least imposed upon Deceivers or deceived to have believ'd and taught a Doctrine to be Reformed by Martin Luther Calvin c. that Bucer Peter Martin c. having sacreligiously broken their tripple Vow made to God and coming into England with their debauched Nuns brought along with them the purity of the Primitive Church And that their Contemporary Xaverius leaving all his great Pretentions in Europe and sailing into the remotest parts of the East to Preach the Faith Gifted from Heaven with Power of curing all Diseases raising the dead casting out Devils endued with a high spirit of Prophesy Gift of Tongues and whom God prospered so far that he Converted from Paganism 12 Kingdoms by his Preaching and still savours by preserving his Innocent Unspotted and Chaste Body uncorrupt at Goa A true Protestant I say believes Bucer sent by God Xaverius by the spirit of Falshood If so let Protestants object no more that Catholicks require we deny our senses since they exact that we lay aside our Reason 3 Paradox A true Protestant believes that that Government would be the best Constituted in the World as being a perfect model of the
Lawful Queen and that the Protector of Edward the Sixth who carried on the design had always in his eye the great Fortune he raised upon the Ruins of Abbys Priorys c. And that Queen Elizabeth had never perfected it was it not that she found it the only expedient for the making a Party to support the weakness or rather defect and nullity of her Title Altho' all the Promoters of this great Revolution were apparently invited by ample and rich Possessions of the Church and the Protestant Clergy entered into Possession of more than a Million of Catholick Revenues Altho' nothing be so clear as that the necessity of a handsom maintenance for Wife and Children mixt with a fear of being defam'd and ruin'd by the Party if they leave it be the chief invitation of the Ministers of the Church of England to remain in her Communion as many of them have own'd to me some of which I have reconcil'd Altho' experience hourly teaches that no Catholick ever calls for a Minister on his Death-bed to be received into the Protestant Communion Tho' Protestants daily send for Roman Catholick Priests in that Truth-discovering moment Yet our true Protestant believes this whole work of the Reformation to have been begun and carried on without Interest Prejudice or Passion and that there is a finger of God in the whole And that it is the Roman Catholick forsooth who in matters of Religion is guided by Interest while the Protestant is governed by pure Reason and sole Principles of Religion which if so our Reason is inverted our Judgment without Rule and all of us destitute of common Sense Can it be possible that any Considering Serious Sober Christian Reading this Paper with an unbyass'd Mind and indifferent Reason should do otherwise than doubt at least whether the Protestant Rule of Faith may be follow'd in the perillous journey of Eternity and whether he may not have the same reason to doubt as an Eminent Doctor of the Church of England had when giving me his Hand he said Sir you have by the Hand the Vnhappiest Man living I desir'd to know the reason of his Dissatisfaction I am says he a Member of a Church I know to be False and a Guide to other in a way I am sure will never Save them Why truly Dr. said I things standing so you have a great deal of reason to style your self Unhappy and ought in my judgment to provide a timely remedy he replyed That God was merciful and that he would think on 't in good time That there was one Impediment viz. A Wife which he must provide for that he had been Gentilely Educated and was now very acceptable to the Gentry as indeed he was and that to become a Catholick would ruine his Family That if he should quit his Benefice one of the best in our Country another might succeed who would do more harm and rail against the Truth more than he had done For his part he said he had never in his Life Preached against the Papists but twice which still lay upon his Conscience and it was for that he had been check'd by his Bishop for not doing it I replyed That all these specious Arguments would not prove a sufficient Plea at the day of Judgment He shrunck up his shoulders saying He served a God he hop'd would be as merciful to him as he had been to one of his Predecessors who was reconcil'd upon his Death-Bed I laboured to shew him the danger of that fallacious Discourse saying how he ought to call to mind that altho' a Thief on the right hand of our dying Saviour had found mercy yet another as near to his Redeemer had perished on the left and much to that purpose In the end he promised that the Spring following He would go to Rome and do as his Conscience obliged him nor could I obtain any more of him I returned soon after into Flanders and that very Winter the poor Gentleman died without any assistance It was as I take it upon the same occasion that he told me How he thought it impossible for any Schollar who was not blinded by false Principles of Education Interest Passion or Sensuality to read the Holy Scriptures and search into History without being convinced of the Roman Catholick Churches being the only way to Salvation and consequently of the nullity of all the pretended Reformations ADVERTISMENT I Have been obliged to prefix different Titles to this short Discourse by reason of the Endeavours I have Experienced to be used by Protestant Ministers to keep out of the Peoples hands all Books and Papers which might contribute to the dis-abusing a Nation the most imposed upon this day in Christendom FINIS