and height of an amourous passion was so blinded that to satisfy his carnal lust he assumed and annexed a spiritual supremacy to a temporal Crown may be attributed to the fondness and fancies of love That a Babe K. Edward 6. was taken with such a bable as that same supremacy may be imputed to the tenderness of his age and to the imprudence of his Vncle and Protector Somerset who by promoting that Oath and the Protestant reformation put the Kingdom into a Babylonical confusion That Dudley Duke of Northvmberland seing the Church and state so confounded did ground a title for the Lady Jane Grey and for his own son to the Crown vpon the principles and Zeal of Protestancy is but the ordinary practise of Politians that the Lady Elizabeth did reâ—â—ive her Fathers supremacy and the Protestant reformation wherby alone shee could pretend to be legitimat against two acts of Parliament never yet repeald is not so blameable in her as in them that but four years before had by an vnanimous vote in both Houses declared An Bullens marriage voyd and that same supremacy and Protestancy to be heresy That K. Iames did pardon and promote his mothers murtherers and conform himself to that Religion wherby shee and himself had bin so long excluded from their right was great clemency or a cuning compliance without which he covld hardly have compassed his ends and restored the line of the Stenarts to the British Empire That K. Charles 1. did endeavour by Ordinances and Laws to restrain and reduce the variety of Protestant opinions grounded vpon the liberty of interpreting Scripture to some kind of vniformity and subordination to Princes and Prelats had bin an act of great prudence if it had not shaken and shock't the very fundation of all Protestant Reformations that consists in an arbitrary interpretation of the obscure Texts of Scripture from which foundation and fountain necessarily floweth the priviledge of denying obedience to all civil and Ecclesiastical authority that commands any thing contrary to those interpretations of Scripture wherby every privat person or any leading men of the Protestant Congregations will be pleased to direct themselves or guide others That the Zealous and precise sort of Protestants did convene and covenant against the King and Bishops for endeavoring to deprive them of this their Evangelical liberty of the Reformation was but a natural result of the same fundamental principle of Protestancy That Oliver Cromwell by counterfaiting Zeal and piety and by humoring the privat spirits and interpretations of Protestant Sectaries did ruin his King and rais himself from a mean subject to be absolut Soveraign needs not to be enumerated among the casualties or favors of fortun there being not any thing more feasible then to dethrone a Protestant Monarch by his own Religion because it is nothing but an arbitrary interpretation of Scripture and by consequence gives such a latitud for justifying rebellion vpon the score of refining the reformation by a new sense of Scripture that every Protestant without violating the principles but rather sticking to the prerogative of Protestancy may embrace any more pleasing and popular sense of the Text however so prejudicial it prove to his lawful Soveraign or however contrary it be to the sense of Scripture established by law or by acts of vniformity But that notwithstanding so many warnings and wars as we have had so great and grave a Councel as the Parliament of England should think fit to continue the same vnsuccessfull cours of setling Monarchy the same statuts wherby Q. Elizabeth excluded the right heirs and now reigning family the same fundamental Tenet of the Reformation wherby every subject is made interpreter of Scripture and by consequence Iudge of his Soveraign and of the Government which must be subordinat to Scripture is not only to me but to the Christian world the cause of greatest admiration And becaus every Religion hath some incomprehensible mysteries I will number this among those of Protestancy but withall must beg pardon for thinking that it is rather against then above reason for to grant the principle wherupon the independency or Soveraignty of every Protestant subject is grounded and yet to make Acts of Parliament in favor of the Church of England against the same subjects independency or Soveraignty is a kind of contradiction So discerning a people as the English can hardly be hindred from seing the manifest connexion that is between the Protestant subjects liberty of interpreting Scripture and the not submitting their judgments or actions to any human laws or Government if contrary to their own interpretations And so Religious and scrupulous a people as they are will not be easily persuaded that an Act of Parliament is sufficient to dispense with their obligation and inclination of sticking to that fundamental Tenet of Protestancy I confess that in some Countreys as in France the Protestant people are now kept in so great subjection that they dare not go so far as the principles of Protestancy lead and in other more Northern Climats they are of so dull and peaceable a constitution that they want either curiosity to examin or courage to assert the priviledges of the reformation and therfore are apt to submit their Iudgments by an implicit faith to the opinions of Luther or Calvin or of their own Clergy But with us where every one thinks his own spirit as divin and his Iudgment as good as that of Luther or Calvin or of the Bishops where the stoutness and stubborness of our nature makes us venture vpon any thing wheâ—her sacred or profane where every Peasant is warranted by the law to question the prerogative of his Prince in such a Countrey I say and in such a constitution of the Government it is not to be expected that men will be less contentious in the Church then they are in the Courts nor content with less then with that supremacy of judicature allowed by the principles of Protestancy to be the spiritual-birth-right of every Protestant subject These are some of the inconveniencies whervnto the government is lyable by the principles and profession of Protestancy and though I humbly conceive that nothing but liberty of conscience can content so many dissenting parties yet I am of opinion that before such a liberty be granted some previous conferences concerning Religion like that of Hampton Court in K. James his reign be allowed but without excluding from those Conferences Papists or any party that will offer to give reason for their Religion For as to accept of a Bill of comprehension before men examin the consequences and qualifications of the Religions comprehended may breed greater confusion so to except any Christian Religion from being examined doth argue that in our Conferences we consult not conscience But it is to be feared that education and interest the two greatest prejudices not only against truth but against the examination therof will make the Bishops and their Bigots avers from any
only more â—ound in point of Christiatity but more safe in order to the government then any others And though it be a common and true saying that the greatest Clerks are not the wisest men and by consequence not so fit to prescribe rules for governing as wordlings that are not Divines or as wranglers that are Lawyers yet I humbly conceive that when the misfortunes of a government proceed not from want of judgment or resolution in the Councel but from want of faith or which is the same from an acknowledged vncertainty of faith in the Church Catholick Divines seing we are unanimous in matters of Christian belief and do persuade the best part of Christendom that our Church is infallible in the same and if heard we doubt not to prevail with these British Nations also to credit vs in that important point however improbable it may seem to them at first sight I hope this supposed we Catholick Divines may without offence pretend to be better able to shew and salve the spiritual sore of this state then any Protestant Statists or schoolmen who want sufficient unity and assurance of faith in themselves to make their cure and care credible to others Seing therfore the foundation not only of Christian Religion but of a peaceable government doth consist in a firm persuasion of the people governed that the doctrin professed and established by Law is infallible and of Divine inspiration not of human invention and by consequence that the decrees and determinations of the State which in all Governments ought to be proportioned to the doctrin of its Church are lawfull and intended for the common good not designs or devices to fool the multitude feed the ministery or favor the soveraign and that not only evidence of falshood but vncertainty of truth in matters of Christianity must needs render the Church and State that profess such an vncertainty so weak and contemptible that the subjection to either cannot be otherwise secured then by the force and fear of a standing Army and that such a subjection doth savor more of a Turkish slavery then fâ—â—a Christian Society or of a civil subordination to publick authority and therfore is the cause of continual discontents and frequent rebellions and that no Church but the Roman Catholick doth as much as pretend or can persuade it s own infallibility in matters of Religion seing I say all this is manifest by reason and our wofull late experiences I question not but that the Parliament will be pleased to take in good part this humble proposal of saving our souls and of setling this state by the doctrin of the Roman Catholick Church and by the Revenues of the Protestant Prelatick Clergy especially if the corruptions of Scripture and falsifications of Councells and Fathers wherwith I do charge that Clergy and wherby alone they maintain their Protestancy be cleerly demonstrated in this Treatise and patiently heard in a publick Trial. It 's now above a Century of years since the great Statsmen of England have employed their wit and industry in devising how to setle Monarchy vpon Protestancy but vnder favor we Catholick Divines do shew and all Protestants may suspect by the success that in so great an affair they have proceeded like vnskillfull Architects that busy themselves altogether in proportioning and adorning the superstructures without inquiring into the strength and solidity of the foundation They mistook sand for stone fals translations for true Scripture a lay ministery for a lawful Clergy a temporal soveraignty for a spiritual supremacy They layd for the first stone of their New fabrik a sworn spiritual rebellion the oath of supremacy against the chief Prelat and common Father of all Christendom S. Peters Successor No marvail then if this fundation yeelded and the whole fabrik fell to the ground in our late distempers for by an evident parity of reason it must be concluded that it is as lawful for Protestants to depose Kings as Popes by vertue of their privat and arbitrary interpretations of scripture If notwithstanding the legal and long possession or prescription of a suprem spiritual superiority the Bishop of Rome may by the principles and prerogative of Protestancy be reformed and reduced to be only Patriarck of the West or a privat Bishop what temporal soveraignity can be absolute or secure among Protestants The same arguments the same texts of Scripture the same spirit the same interpretations of God's Word that Luther Calvin Cranmer and all other Protestants objected against the Popes supreme spiritual authority did the Presbyterians and other Protestants press by an vnanswerable paralel against the late King 's temporal Soveraignty Wherfore it is much to be feared that notwithstanding the extraordinary prudence of our government we shall be frequently involved in as great troubles and dangers as formerly and that the privat spirit and English Scripture interpreted by Protestants will prevail against lawfull Monarchy whensoever the like circumstances do concurr viz. a Zealous Parliament a mild King a covetous Clergy a stubborn people and resolute Rogues to lead them and declare to the Multitude their own strength as wel as the fundamental principles and priviledges of all Protestant Reformations In Catholick Commonwealths all these circumstances do meet the principles of Protestancy only excepted and yet the Catholick subjects remain immoveable in their obedience in regard of the credit and authority of their Church and Clergy which in privat confessions and publick exhortations continualy inculcat how inconsistant any privat or arbitrary interpretation of Scripture and by consequence any pretext of superiority over the Soveraign is with the Christianity and obsequiousnes of Catholick faith and how principal a part it is of that â—aith to believe not only that the Church is infallible in its doctrin but also that temporal Soveraigns are Gods Vice-regents and absolut in their government and therfore as such ought to be revered and obeyed And when by reason of heavy taxes or other such accidents the fire of sedition somtimes breaks forth among Catholicks it is generally speaking suddenly quencht by the authority and severity of the Clergies Censures against the Authors or by the devotion and reverence which even the most Irreverent of our profession exhibit to the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar that is shewn vpon such emergencies to the mutinous people which notwithstanding their fury and madness immediatly fall down to adore their God and Redeemer and for respect of him whom they beleeve to be realy present are appeased or at least give ear to their Pastors reasons and exhortations with more patience and better success then any Protestant people in the like occasions Wherfore though we Catholicks should grant as we neither do nor can that the Protestant or Prelatick reformation is as safe a way to Heaven as the Roman Religion yet methinks such Protestants as desire to live peaceably or govern prosperously ought to preferr Popery before Protestancy That K. Henry 8. in the heat
the Fathers contradicted his protestant doctrin bouldly affirmed the ancient Doctors and Fathers of all former ages to have bin blind and most ignorant in the Scripturs and to have erred all their life time And in Colloq cap. de Patribus Ecclesioe Luther saith of sundry Fathers in particular thus Jn the writings of Jerome there is not a word of true faith in Christ and sound Religion Tertullian is very superstitious J have holden Origen long since accursed Of Chrysostom I make no accompt Basil is of no worth he is wholy a monk I way him not a haire Cyprian is a weak Divine c. Adding further that the Church did degenerat in the Apostles age and that the Apology of his scholler Philip Melancton doth far exceed all the Doctors of the Church and exceed even Austin him self And in his Treatise de formulâ Missae in tom 3. Germ. folio 274. Jf the Councel should in any case decree this the Communion vnder both kinds least of all then would we vse both kinds yea rather in despite of the Councel and that decree we would vse either but one kind or neither notwithstanding Christ's precept and the necessity of that spiritual refection and in no case both But this man's bare word ought not to weigh more then the Testimony of all the Fathers and Councels that went before him or be preferred before the constant Tradition of 15. ages especialy if we reflect vpon the pride and passion which he declares in all his writings not only against the Doctors of the Roman Church but against his own Disciples and as hath bin said how in the begining of his reformation when his spirit was in it's primitive fervor he doth plainly confess that he did favour Idolatry to contradict Carolstadius for anticipating his commands in a point of the reformation viz. for abolishing of the adoration and elevation of the B. Sacrament in his absence I did know saith he the elevation of the Sacrament to be Idolatricall yet nevertheless J did retain it in the Church at Wittenberg to the end J might despite the Devill Carolstadius And yet this wicked friar's authority is the first foundation of protestancy Therfore notwithstanding his known impiety he is termed by their writers Holy saint Luther a man sent of God to lighten the world the Helias Conductor and Chariot of Israel to be reverenced next after Christ and Paul greater then whom lived not since the Apostles tims The Angel and last trumpet of God whose caling was immediat and extraordinary c. Let the most peevish Protestant I say once more be judg whether it be not more probable and possible that one privat proud and passionat man did mistake the true sence of Scripture and misapply the words therof to humour his passion of pride and revenge then that all the primitive Fathers and Christians of the world did conspire to forsake the known true letter and cleer meaning of God's word or if all did not conspire in the Apotasy that there should be no monument left or mention made in record history or tradition of the fidelity of the party that resisted Secondly this supposed change is proved incredible not only by the impossibility of an insensible change in a thing so remarkable and important as the doctrin and Profession of Christian Religion but also by the impossibility that a change and corruption of Christ's doctrin should be made to the detriment of the wary layties temporal interest and to the disadvantage both of the layty and Clergie's liberty For when men resolve to go out of the narrow way which leads to heaven they are not so foolishly wicked as to retire from the wide world into deserts or Monasteries and to impose vpon themselves or their followers an obligation or principles of a more strict course of life then that which they had forsaken as dayly experience doth cleerly demonstrat If protestancy therfor was the primitive and pure Christian Religion the fall from it to Popery must have bin rather condessending then contrary to sensuality and liberty And yet if the doctrin of the reformation and it's exceptions against Popery be considered we shal find that in every particular wherin they differ Protestancy doth favour liberty and vice Popery doth favour temperance and virtue We shal declare herafter to what great crimes and carlesness of life men are encouraged by the Protestant doctrine of predestination and justification by faith alone Christ's sufferings and satisfaction for our sins they apply not to themselves by imitation of his virtues and mortification of the flesh but think it a diminution of his glory and a disrespect to his person that men endeavour by God's grace to help themselves and to cooperat with Christ's passion and vpon thiâ— ground they rayse their batteries against Indulgences Purgatâ—â—y â—â—lgrimages Prayer to Saints Confession of sins Pennance the three Vows and the austerity of a Religious life Works of Supererogation c. and censure Catholicks as guilty of superstition and folly for believing that though Christ's passion be infinitly sufficient to redeem vs from the guilt and penalties of sin yet is it not sufficiently and actualy applied to actual sinners without their own concurrence good works and the Sacraments of the Church As for their pretence that Christ hath satisfied for all they may as wel say that he hath prayed fasted and given almes for all and so discharge men of all such Christian-duties and devotions And as to other particulars we desire to know what can the Protestant Clergy's design be in allowing Priests mariages and a liberty to dissolve mariages change wives and husbands in case of adultery departure infirmity by child-birth or otherwise but lust and sensual liberty contrary to the instition of matrimony and to the purity and practise of Christianity which Roman Catholicks observe From whence proceedeth their allowing of eating of flesh and fish promiscuously on all days of the year but from gluttony Their Clergy's denyall of the Pop's superiority which their betters in virtue birth and learning acknowledg but from want of humility And their placing it in the temporal Soveraign but from excess of flattery Their dulness in confounding the substance with the appearance of bread and wine in the Sacrament but from sensuality Their denial of the Church's infallibility and yet assert in themselves an vncontroul'd authority but from pride and obstinacy Their fond expressions of their own prelatick reformation and doctrin but from want of Christian modesty and from their for-fathers the ancient hereticks whose presumption and obstinacy was neuer more manifestly absurd nor more legaly condemned at Nice Ephesius Calcedon or Constantinople then the Protestant Tenets have bin at Trent as wil appeare to any that wil read the history of those Councels and compare the objections and exceptions made by Arians Nestorians and Eâ—â—tychians e. against the Authority and decrees wherby they
by faith in Christ not by good works which they in no wise did affect We Catholicks do not pretend to have no evill-livers in our Church but this we may say with truth and I hope without offence that the difference between Protestant and Catholick â—â—â—ll-livers is that when Protestants sin they do nothing but what they are encouraged vnto by their justifying faith and the other principles of their Religion but when Catholicks sin they go against the known Tenets of their faith and profession Even our Pardons and Jndulgences how-ever so plenary are so far from encouraging vs to a continuance or relapse of sinning that they involue as a precedent and necessary condition a serious and sincere repentance of our former offences and afirm purpose and resolution of never returning to the like crimes and after all is don we pretend to no such vndoubted certainty of being pardon'd either by confession or Indulgences because we are not certain whether we do al as we ought as Protestants presume to have of their justification and saluation by only faith The nature of this justifying faith and of other Protestant principles considered We Catholicks have reason to thanck God that the prudence â—f the Prince and moderation of his Ministers is so extraordinary that it keeps the indiscreed zeal of a multitude so strangly principl'd if not as much with in the limits of Christianity and civility towards their fellow subjects as were to be wished yet so that the execution of the sanguinary and penal statuts is not altogeather so distructive as the Presbiterians and others endeavor Untill the generality of these Nations reflect vpon the impiety of the first Reformers and vpon their own mistakes in preferring the mad fancies of a few dissolute Friars concerning the nature of Christian faith before the constant Testimony and doctrin of the whole visible Church we cannot expect that they who govern so mistaken a multitude can make justice the rule of the publick Decrees which depend of the concurrence and acceptance of men whose greatest care is to promote Protestancy and persecute Popery SECT IX Protestants mistaken in the consistency of Christian faith humility Charity peace either in Church or state with their making Scripture as interpreted by privat persons or fallible Synods or fancied general Councells composed of all discenting Christian Churches the rule of faith and Iudg of Controversies in Religion How every Protestant is a Pope and how much also they are overseen in making the 39. Articles or the oath of Supremacy a distinctive sign of Loyalty to our Protestant Kings LVther Zuinglius Calvin Cranmer and all others that pretended to reform the doctrin of the Church of Rome seing they could not prove their new Religions or Reformations by testimonies from antiquity or by probability of Reason were inforc't to imitat the example of all Heretiks who as S. Austin says l. 1. de Trin. c. 3. endeavour to defend their falls and deceitfull opinions out of the Scriptures If on shall ask any Heretick saith that ancient Father Vincentius lyr l. 1. cons. Haer. c. 35. from whence do you prove from whence do you teach that I ought to forsake the vniuersal and ancient faith of the Catholik Church Presently he answereth scriptum est It is written and forthwith he prepareth a thousand testimonies a thousand examples a thousand authorities from the law from the Apostles from the Prophets This shift is so ordinary and notorious that Luther him-self postill Wittemberg in 2. con 8. Dom. post Trin. fol. 118. Dom. post Trin. fol. 118. affirmeth the sacred Scripture is the book of Heretiks because Heretiks are accustomed to appeale to that book neither did there arise at any time any heresy so pestiferous and so foolish which did not endeavor to hide it self under the vaile of Scripture And yet Luther Calvin Cranmer c. finding nothing to say for them-selves either in History or Fathers and seing Tradition so cleerly bent against them that they could not name as much as on Parish or person which ever professed their protestant doctrines they appeal'd from the word of God proposed by the visible and Catholick Church and Counâ—â—ls to their own Canon and Translations of Scripture and from that sense of Scripture which the Church and Councells had follow'd for 1500. years to that which their own privat spirit temporal interest or fallacious reason diâ—â—â—ted to them-selves and so did others that followed their examples making every privat Protestant or at least every reforâ—â—d Congregation Judg of Scripture Church Councells and Fathers In so much that Luther tom 2. Wittemberg cap. de Sacram. fol. 375. setteth down this rule for all Protestants to be directed 〈◊〉 The Governors of Churches and Pastors of Christ's sheep 〈◊〉 indeed power to teach but the sheep must judge whâ—â—â—er they propose the voice of Christ 〈◊〉 of strangers c. Wherfore let Popes Bishops Councells c. decree order enact what they please we shal not hinder but we who are Christ's sheep and heare his voice will judge whether they propose things true and agreable to the voice of our Pastor and they must yeeld to us and subscribe and obey our sentence and censure Calvin though contrary to Luthâ—â— in many other things yet in this doth agree as being the ground wherupon all protestant Reformations must rely in his lib. 4. Institut cap. 9. § 8. he says The definitions of Councels must be examined by Scripture and Scripture interpreted by his rules and Spirit The same is maintained by the Church of England as appears in the defence of the 39. Articles printed by authority 1633. wherin it is sayd pag. 103. Authority is given to the Church and to every member of sound judgment in the same to judg controversies of faith c. And this is not the privat opinion of our Church but also the judgment of our godly brethren in foreign Nations And by Mr. Bilson Bishop of Winchester in his true difference c. part 2. pag. 353. The people must be Discerners and Judges of that which is taught How inconsistent this doctrin is with Christian faith is evident by the pretended fallibility and fall of the visible Church which all Protestants do suppose and must maintain to make good the necessity and lawfullness of their own interpretations and Reformations For if the Roman Catholik and ever Visible Church may and from time to time hath erred as the Church of England declares in the 39. Articles no reformed Congregations whether Lutheran Presbiterian or Prelatick can have infallible certainty but that them-selves have fallen into as great errors as those which they have pretended to reform in the Roman Church And if they have not infallible certainty of the truth of their reformed doctrin they can not pretend to Christianity of faith that involves an assurance of truth which assurance is impossible if that the Church can be mistaken in it's proposall So that Christianity of faith including
would follow the greater the authority is the more slow we ought to be in submitting therunto or which is the same the more inclined God is to truth and the more powerfull he is to practise the same and to keep the Church stedy to truth the more slow we ought to be in believing the Church or God's known Ministers and Messengers SECT XIV Reasons for liberty of Conscience and how much both Piety and Policy is mistaken in making Prelatick Protestancy the Religion of the state by continuing and pressing the sanguinary and penal statutes against the Roman Catholick faith and the Act of vniformity against sectaries THere is not any thing more damnable to soules or more dangerous to states then to make the laws of the land the rule of faith and temporal statuts the ground of spiritual jurisdiction It is endeed Christian piety to fence and favour Religion with Imperial edicts and Royal Decrees and therfore it was prophecied of the Church Kings shall be thy nursing Fathers and Queens thy Mothers but to found the belief of eternal verities and of Christian Religion vpon temporal statuts and to frame the doctrin of the Church and the Caracter of the Clergy according to Acts of Parliament and to the interest of the Prince is neither piety nor policy in lawfull and vndoubted Soveraigns What Queen Elizabeth did to salue the sore of her illegitimacy was as great a prejudice and ought as litle be made a president to the royall family of the Stewards as Oliver Cromwel's Tyrany the laws and Religion of both equaly tending to it's total ruin and exclusion from the Crown with this only difference that Queen Elizabeth destroy'd the Stewards by reforming the Old Religion whervpon their right was grounded but Cromwell destroy'd them by reforming the New Religion whervnto they had conformed and wherby they endeavored to setle their Throne And indeed Souveraigns can expect no greater security or better success then the Royal family of the Stewards hath had whilst the Religion which their Subjects profess hath no other certainty or setlement but what is received from an arbitrary interpretation of Scripture confirmed by temporal statuts That the Protestant prelatick Religion hath no other rule but this and the laws of the Lands is manifest by so many changes of it's articles liturgy caracter and Translations of Scripture by publick and Parliamentory authority That it hath no certainty from it's own principleâ— is manifest by the acknowledged fallibility of that Church and by the liberty of interpreting God's word and by the prerogative of judging controversies of faith which the Tenets of all the Reformations and example of the first Reformers allow to any particular person that will claim the privilege of a reformed Christian or the spirit of a godly or guifted Protestant This liberty of professing and the vncertainty of protestancy having proved in all places and persons wherunto it had access a seed of rebellion destructive not only of the substance of Religion but of the tye of alleigance it was thought necessary for the preservation of Princes and the peace of their subjects to reduce the variety and regulat the extravagancy of the dissenting reformed doctrines into publick professions of protestancy as sutable to the interest of the souveraigns and inclinations of the subjects and customs of their Countries as could be devised And because the government of England continued Monarchical and that Episcopacy doth favor Monarchy and is essential to Parliaments the protestancy of the Church of England was made prelatick notwithstanding the incoherency of Episcopacy with the very foundation of the first and pure pretended reformations And seing ther is such antipathy between the caracter of Episcopacy and the principles of protestancy that the Church of England in the beginning of Q. Elizabeths reign durst not claim that caracter or any spiritual jurisdiction by succession from the Apostles and their successors the ensuing Catholick Bishops it was content to receive both as also the confirmation of it's prelatick doctrin from an vnheard-of spiritual supremacy of a lay Prince and from Acts of Parliament and so was it made the legal Religion of the state contrary to the principles both of the ancient Catholick faith and of the new protestant reformations How contrary this setlement of prelatick protestancy by a persecution of Popery is to Christian piety may easily appeare to them who will remember what hath bin sayd hertofore of the sanctity antiquity and continuall succession of the Roman Catholick Religion from the Apostles to this present and reflect vpon the principles begining and progress of protestancy in general and of the prelatick in particular How inconsistent with policy it is to press by the severity of laws a profession so generally dislik't as the prelatick it being contrary to the ancient Religion and not agreeing with the new Reformations experience hath demonstrated when not only all foreign Roman Catholick Princes and people stood neuters not much concerned whether Protestant Prelacy or Presbytery should prevaile in England they pittied indeed the Royal family and wish'd them good success against their rebellious subjects but this they wish'd to them as Princes not as Prelatiks not only Isay foreign Catholicks were neuters but all the Protestant Churches abroad were more inclined to favor the Presbiterian and fanatick English and Scotch Congregations then the King's Religion for that they come neerer to them and to the primitive and fundamental principles of Protestancy The reason why the Prelatick persuasion is so odious to the reformed Churches abroad and so opposed by Presbiterians and other Protestant Congregations at home is because the formality of it's ceremonies and the legality of it's discipline are incompatible with the primitive spirit liberty and principles of protestancy The protestant Bishops would fain Lord it over their brethren not content with the name and power of Protestant superintendents they strive to imitat the authory and severity of the Catholick Episcopal jurisdiction in their Courts and do what they can to retain a ceremonious decency in there Churches but neither is agreable with the nature and spirit of the Protestant Reformations which consist in an independency and exemption from all spiritual superiority and ceremonie of a particular person being supreme Judge and Interpreter of Scripture This spiritual judicature is the spiritual birth-right of every Protestant and the ground wherupon Luther and his followers raised their reformations and their new sense of the Ghospel Wherfore the resâ—raiâ— of this Protestant evangelical liberty and birth-right by the rigor of our lawes in favor of the prelatick jurisdiction and disciplin must needs make the law-makers and their religion as odious to all zealous Protestants as liberty of opinion and fancied Scripture are deere to a stubborn and humorâ—om peopâ—â— Let it then be maturely considered whether any thing can be more daungerous to the safety of the Soveraign or to the tranquillity of the state then to enact lawes
in a protestant Commonweale or Kingdom wherby the very foundation and birth-right of Protestancy is made penal and the most Religious observers of the protestant rule of faith are rendred incapable of all employments both in Church and state And that all this violence is practised to support a Creed the 39. articles of a doubtful sense and a Clergy of a doubtful caracter even according to their own prelatick principles and according to the primitive principles of protestancy and to vphould a Church that professeth it's own fall and fallibility and therfore for all it self knows is no true Church but may be mistaken in it's doctrin and lead all that rely vpon it's ministery and instruction into eternal damnation and can give no satisfaction or security to such as are of their communion nor produce any thing for justifying the severity of these proceedings but a Parliaments Act of vniformity and other temporal statuts To which every Presbiterian and fanatick doth answer that lawes enacted in favor of Religion do suppose not make the Religion reasonable for though reason be the ground of all human lawes yet no human lawes can be the ground of Religion When all this is maturely considered it will doubtless appeare to be a sad case that a poore man who desires to be saved and informed of the true Church and of Christ's doctrin and conform himself therunto shall be compell'd by forfeitures imprisonment and banishment c. to the prelatick doâ—trin and Church of England and shall have no other reason 〈◊〉 redress given him for this violence and punishments but that he doth not conform to the Religion established by the lawes of the Land So much was alleadged for the Idolls and Religion of the Pagan Emperous and vpon the same ground of law did they persecute the primitive Christians Doubtless all Quakers Presbiterians and non Conformists think themseves as glorious sufferers as the holy primitive Martyrs and Confessors which persuasion in so great and zealous a multitude can not be voyd of daunger and ought to be remedyed more by reason then rigor for though from Roman Catholicks whose principles are peaceable and incline them to suffer persecution with patience no great prejudice may be feared if they will be directed by their profession yet experience hath taught that all Protestant sectaries have inherited from their first Patriarchs Luther Calvin Crammer c. the spirit of sedition and rebellion which is involved in the very foundation of protestancy Luther openly declared so much at the Diet of Worms in presence of the Emperour Charles 5. Who had objected against him tumults and disorders as vndeniable effects of his doctrin misapplying the words of our saviour Non veni pacem mittere sed gladium as if dissention and rebellion had bin a mark of the true Ghospel On the other side the Presbiterians do imitate the bloudy proceedings and principles of their 〈◊〉 Fathers Zuinglius and Calvin in deposing of Kings and Magistrats and make good the saying of Zuinglius Evangelium vult sanguinem the Reformation must be maintained by bloud So that the sanguinary statuts in favor of prelatick protestancy and the bloudy principles of Presbitery in in pursuance of their seditious spirit clashing togeather will make fine work among Christians and the prelatick Clergy which ought by their admonitions and censures to compose these disorders and be Authors of peace are despised as no Clergy and their caracter is made the subject of discord and dispute And the Protestant Bishops which ought to exercise the authority whervnto they pretend retire and recurr to the 〈◊〉 Courts for the spirituality as well as for the legality of their jurisdiction and function and confess in plain termes their Churches frailty and fallibility in doctrin and leave the state to shift for it self deprived of thâ—â—â— helps which Catholick Princes receive from the Roman Church and Clergys censures wherwith rebellious subjects are terrified and 〈◊〉 or return to their duty SVBSECT I. NEither is the daunger of disturbing the tranquillity of the state for supporting the Prelatick doctrin and caracter by temporal lawes confin'd only to Presbiterians and Fanatiks the Prelatiks them-selves if interest prevaile not more with them then conscience and coherency can not but change their Religion into a contrary persuasion when they observe that the mean between Popery and Presbytery wherin they place Prelatick protestancy and the truth of christianity hath no solid foundation or colour of reason For what can be more absurd then to pretend that as moral virtue is a mean or mixture of two extremes so the truth of Christian Religion is a mean between two contrary opinions or a mixture of Popery and Presbitery which are two extremes involving contradictory Tenets Morality I confess is a mediocrity and a kind of Mixture For liberality for example doth seeme to participat some thing of covetousness and some thing of prodigality which are extreme different but Christianity being truth and Divine truth is no mean between the two but one of the two extremes it is no mixture because truth admits no mixture of falshood nor division it can be but on one side Therfore when a Presbiterian or Fanatick saith that Scripture is the only rule of faith and Judge of Controversies the Catholick sayes it is not not both but one of them speaks truth Yet the Prelatick would fâ—ain stand like a Christian moderator or neuter between both parties and reconcile their Contradictions by reducing them to a third doctrin or to a mean between truth and falshood and the mean is to grant both the contradictory propositions and collogue with both sides And indeed that is the mean wherin Prelatick Protestancy doth consist when their writers defend it against Presbiterians they grant the doctrin of Papists when they answer and 〈◊〉 against Papists they maintain the doctrin of Presbiterians for there is no other mean to reconcile or be reconciled to contradictions but to maintain both And this was the custom of Luther Calvin Cranmer c. and is the ordinary practise of the ablest Prelaticks in their books of Controversy I remit you to one of their greatest Champions my Lord Bishop of Down in his Dissuasive from Popery you need not run through the whole book read but his first Section and you will heare him say first that Scripture alone is the foundation or rule of faith and after that it is not Then again that it is nothing els but Scripture together with the Creeds and the foure first Councells It is as impossible therfore that a 〈◊〉 man should be in his judgment a Prelatick Protestant as it is he should believe that God revealed contradictions Wherfore if interest and conveniency hath not a greater 〈◊〉 vpon his profession of faith then conscience or coherency even to the principles of the Reformation he will not continue a prelatick nor make temporal statuts his rule of faith but will either according to the prudent