way or other being necessarily included in that belief And thought that he made sincere and sound Disciples if they believed what he preach'd only Jesus and the Resurrection in their full compass and latitude Though we believe all this in a more express and explicite sence all that is contain'd in Scripture in the Apostles Creed or the two other Creeds drawn up by the Church to explain the Christian Religion in some Articles and to oppose the Doctrines of Hereticks yet the first Christians shall be saved and we shall be damned they shall be the Elect and the Church of GOD we must be Reprobates and the Synagogue of Satan Or let Rome shew her wonted Charity and say she doubts also of their Salvation Or did Christ connive at that time of Ignorance or had he as a Lawgiver forgot to declare some part of the Will and Pleasure of GOD and upon better remembrance after so many hundred years suggested it to his careful Vicar Or did Christ knowing their Nature and Circumstances of it that they could not bear them at that time therefore delay the discovery so long Or did these new Articles lie hid so long conceal'd by his Apostles or buried by some lewd Hereticks in the rubbish of those Churches they pull'd down but afterwards found as they say the Cross was and now stored to light Or are these new Articles some way or other contained in the ancient Creeds which we believe and by easie and natural consequences deduced from them Some such fine reasons as these must be pretended otherwise we can safely conclude that our Church is truely ancient and Apostolical though she disowns the late inventions of the Romish Bishop and is known to be the Spouse of Christ by her first features and complexion though she hath cast off the new Italian dress For was the Christian Church the House of GOD irregular in its building wanting of Beams and Pillars the Essentials of Religion till Romes curious and careful Builder cast it into a new Model and compleated it 2. This Question supposeth that the Christian Church ought alwayes to be visible which is not so strictly true For Visible or Invisible make not two Churches but different States Conditions or Respects of one and the same 'T was designed by Christ that all that are baptiz'd into the Communion of his Faith and Church should make an Outward and Vissible Profession of it by their Religious Assemblies and Worship by their Sacraments Discipline and Government whereby being United among themselves and to Christ their Head they should constitute one Body call'd the Catholick church in whose Communion they must live and dye But so it came to pass that the number of Christian People so proâ—essing and owning the Faith of Jesus was lesser or greater more conspicuous or obscure as Persecutions or Heresies grew and prevailed among them which like raging Plagues wasted whole Countries destroying some perverting others and making many fly into remoter Kingdoms and only some scattered and solitary Christians living in Caves and Wildernesses remained behind or only the face of a distressed Christian Church as it hapned to the Seven Asian and African Churches which now labour under a Mahumetan Pride and Superstition But as it lost in one Countrey it gained in another the Jewish Persecution and others driving several Colonies of Christians into remoter Countries where they spread and enlarged their Religion and many times the distress or triumph of the Church followed the changes and revolutions in the Civil State suffering or flourishing with it And often the abuse of Religion Prostituting of it to Hypocrisie and secular ends the wicked lives of its Disciples or want of Courage or Resolution in its defence hath tempted Providence to permit pestilent Heresies worse then that in these Northren parts to prevail and Paganism to return again but still the promise of Christ to his Church was firm and the Gates of Hell did not prevail against her And though he was forced sometimes to travel from Countrey to Countrey and lookâ— small and obscure in the number of her Followers yet still some or other parts and corners of the World and true and zealous Christians in them made up the little flock and shall never faill while the World endures Popery like the Egyptian darkness had overspread this and other Nations yet here and there was as the Israelite that had light in his dwellings and a counter-charm against the Enchantments of Egypt the Gospel that at length did prevail against corruptions and made its Followers visible and numerous They ask us Where was our Religion before Luther As though it was not because it did not visibly appear or no where in the World because not here in England or in other parts where Popery did domineer and the Romish Faction was all and whole Christianity in the World the Catholick Church which implies contradiction and absurdity Christianity here indeed was obscur'd and like the Sun under the cloud but still the Sun was the same and at length conquer'd the Mists 't is a fine Question to ask Where was the Sun before Noon day We will suppose her Followers to be few yet Christ is true though others are lyars for he never promised that the Members of the true Catholick church should be alwayes famous for their numbers or that multitudes should alwayes follow Truth nor ever directed men to follow the Multitude in search of Truth which is found otherwayes not by Votes and Polling for her Did not our Saviour ask the question when he should come again whither at the Destruction of Jerusalem or at the Judgment day whereof the other was a Type and Prefiguration whither he should find Faith on Earth or no Did not the Prophet Luk. 1â— â— sadly complain in the Reign of Jotham Ahaz and Hezekiah Kings of Judah that the good man is perished out Mich 7. 2 of the Land and there is none righteous among men they could not then reckon up of the Tribe of Judah Twelve thousand and yet there was true Faith and a Church of GOD though little and Obscure Doth not King David cry Psal 12. 1. out Help Lord for the Godly man ceaseth for the faithful faill from among the children of Men corruption in Faith and Manners usually going together And Elijah tells a sad story of the Children of Israel that they 1 Kin. 19. 10 had broken their Covenant and destroyed the Altars and the Prophets and he only was left alive that they sought his life also God tells him that yet for all that he had seven vers 18. thousand knees that had not bowed to Baal still there was a small Church not infected with Idolatry though obscure and unknown to Elijah Have not some of the Romish Writers told us that at Christs Passion the Church was only left in the Virgin Mary all then forsaking Christ but the holy Mother The Shepheard was smitten and the Sheep disperst
seventh Council * Syn. 7. Act. ult p. 886. Con. in Labb Richer H. Conc. Gen. vol. 1. p. 658. Ad calc ejusd act 7 in omn. editionibus concil legitur Epist Synod quam Tarasius c. Et diserte narrat cunctos Patres Honorium damnasse condemned as a Monothilite And he was expresly anathematized for confirming the wicked Doctrine of Sergius The guilt of Heresie in Honorius is owned in the Solemn Profession of Faith made by the Popes at their entrance on the Papacy a Lib. diurn Pontif. con sid 2. p. 41. Autores verò novi hoeretici dogmatis Sergium Pyrrhum Paulum Petru◠Episcopos unà cum Honorio qui pravis eorum assertionibut fomentum impendit pariterque Theodorum Pharamitanum Cyrum Alexandrinum cum eorum imitatoribus c. This matter is so manifest that Melchior Canus b Melch can Loci com l. 6. c. ult p. 242 243. c. professeth no Sophistry is artful enough to put the Colour of a plausible defence upon it A late Romanist hath undertaken to write the History of the Monothilites c Anton. Dez Hist Mon. Par 1678. and the Defence of Honorius seemeth to be the principal motive to that undertaking Yet so great is the power of Truth and such in this case is the plainness of it that in the Apologist himself we find these concessions That the Pope a Id. ib. p. 224. 325 226 218. was condemned by the Council and that the Council was not to be blamed †that Pope Leo the second owned both the Council and the Sentence and that Honorius was Sentenc'd as an Heretick * Id. p. 220. He would abate this guilt by saying b P. 207 208. that Honorius erred as a private Person and not as Head of the Church because his Epistle was hortatory and not compulsive It is true he erred not as Head of the Church for such he was not neither as such was he owned But he erred as a publick person and with Heretical obstinacy For Pope Leo as he noteth said concerning him that he had made it his business to betray and subvert the Holy Faith c Id. p. 122. profanā proditione immaculatam fidem subvertere conatus est Flammam confovit p. 123. Now this matter of Fact sufficeth for the refuting all the fallacious reasonings of the patrons of Papal infallibility For all must agree that they d de Socer Christ p. 40 are not unerring Guides who actually erre The Sieur de Balzac d Socr. Chr. p. 40. mocks at the weakness of one of the Romish Fathers who offered four reasons to prove that the Duke D' Espernon was not returned out of England And offered them to a Gentleman who had seen him since his return There seemeth no fitness in the constituting of such a Arg. V Guide nor any necessity for it Had it been agreeable to Gods Wisdom his Wisdom would not have been wanting to it self God having made Man a Reasonable Creature would not make void the use of deliberation and the freedom of his judgment There is no vertue in the Assent where the Eye is forced open and Light held directly to it It is enough that God the rewarder of them who believe hath given Men sufficient faculties and sufficient means And seing Holiness is as necessary to the pleasing of GOD and to the peace of the World as Union in Doctrine to which there is too frequently given a lifeless assent seing there must be Christian Obedience as long as there is a Church seing as the Guide in Controversie * R. H. Annot. on D. St. Answ p. 81. himself urgeth the Catholick Church and all the parts of it are believed in the Creed to be Holy as well as Orthodox We ask not the Romanists an impertinent Question when we desire them to tell us why a means to infallibility in the judgement rather than irresistibleness in the pious choice of the Will is to be by Heaven provided in the Church Both seem a kind of Destination of equal necessity But though the Reformed especially those of the Prop. V. Church of England see no necessity for an infallible Guide nor believe there is one on the face of the earth yet they do not reject all Ecclesiastical Guidance but allow it great place in matters of Discipline and Order and some place also though not that of an unerring Judge in Matters of Faith At the beginning of the Reformation the Protestants though they refused the judgment of the Pope their Enemy yet they declined not the determination of a Council And in the Assembly at Ausburgh the Romanists and Protestants agreed in a council as the Umpire of their publick difference At this the Pope was so alarumed saith the Sieur de Mezary * Hij A. 1. that he wrote to the Kings of France and England that he would do all they would desire provided they hindred the calling of a Council In the Reformation of the Church of England great regard was had to the Primitive Fathers and Councils And the aforesaid French Historian was as much mistaken in the affairs of Our Church when he said of our Religion that it was a medly of the Opinions of Calvin and Luther a A. as he was afterwards in the affairs of our State when he said King James was elected at the Guild-hall King of England b 10. A. 1603. The Romanists represent us very falsly whilst they fix upon us a private Spirit as it stands in opposition to the Authority of the Catholick Church Mr. Alabaster c See J. Racsters 7 motives of W. A p. 11 12. expresseth one motive to his conversion to the Roman Church in these Words Weigh together the Spouse of Christ with Luther Calvin Melancthon Oecumenical councils with private opinions The Reverend learned Fathers with Arius Actius Vigilantius Men alwayes in their time Burned for Hereticks of which words the former are false reasoning the latter is false History The Bishop of Meaux d Confer avec M. claut de p. 110. reasons after the same fallacious manner Supposing a Protestant to be of this perswasion that he can understand the Scriptures better than all the rest of the Church together of which perswasion he saith very truly that it exalteth Pride and removeth Docility The Guide in controversies d R. H. Annot on D. St. Answ p. 84. puts the Question wrong in these terms Whither a Protestant in refusing the submission of his judgment to the Authority or Infallibility of the Catholick Church in her Councils can have in several Articles of necessary Faith wherein the sense of Scripture is controverted as sure a Foundation of his Faith as he who submits his judgement to the foresaid Authority or also Infallibility Here the Catholick Church is put in place of the Roman Authority and Infallibility are joyned together and it is suggested dishonestly concerning the Reformed that they lay aside
that she died and was not miraculously assumed The Ascension of Elias is thus expounded b Dom. infrâ Oct. Asc in 3. Noct. p. 443. He was taken up into the Aerial not the Aetherial Heavens from whence he was dropped in an obscure place on Earth there to remain to the end of the World and then to expire with it They say †Infra Oct. Asc 3. Noct. Lect. 8. p. 447. of Job That when he spake of a Bird and of her path in the Air he by a figure called Christ a Bird and by the motion of it in the Air figured also our Lords Ascension We may perceive by these few Instances what an entrance into the sense of Scripture is like to be given whilst a Pope has the Key of Knowledge in his keeping Thirdly If Men would use the Church as their Assert III. Ministerial Guide and admit of the scripture as the only Rule by which all Matters of Faith are to be measured they would agree in the proper means to the blessed end of Unity in the Faith This was the perswasion of St. Austine who thus applieth himself to Maximinus * S. Aug cont Max. l. 3. Neither ought I at this time to alledge the Council of Nice nor you that of Ariminum For neither am I bound to the authority of the one nor you to that of the other Let us both dispute with the Authorities of scripture which are Witnesâ—es common to both of us Whilst the Romanists ascribe the differences which arise amongst the Reformed to their want of an infallible Guide and to their different interpretations of the scriptures they unskilfully derive effects from causes which are not the natural Parents of them There is saith St. Austine one Mother of all strifes and she is Pride Neither doth the scripture divide us nor does the infallibility of their judge unite them Their Union such as it is ariseth from the mighty force of their external Polity and they speak not differently because they dare not and the strength of that Polity arose at first from Rome not as the Chair of St. Peter but as the Seat of the Empire Our divisions like theirs arise as all Wars do be they Ecclesiasticall or Civil from the unruly Lusts and Passions of Men. And from these likewise arise generally the misinterpretations of plain Laws and Rules the sense of which must be made to chime according to the Interest of prejudiced Men or else they will not give attention to them If the Lusts and Passions of Men were mortified all Christians agreeing in the certainty of the Scriptures though not of any Living Guide and the words of one being as intelligible as those of the other All might agree in one Creed and put an end to those unnecessary Controversies which entangle Truth and extinguish Charity FINIS THE PROTESTANT RESOLUTION OF FAITH Being an Answer to THREE QUESTIONS I. How far we must depend on the Authority of the Church for the true sense of the Scripture II. Whither a visible Succession from CHRIST to this day makes a Church which has this Succession an infallible Interpreter of Scripture and whither no Church which has not this Succession can teach the true sense of Scripture III. Whither the Church of ENGLAND can make out such a visible Succession London Printed And Edinburgh Re-printed by J. Reid for T Brown G Schaw A Ogston and G Mosman Stationers in Edinburgh to be sold at their Shops 1686. THE PREFACE TO THE READER THese Papers which are here presented to thee were write for the use of a private Person and by the Advice of some Friends are now made Publick We find how busie the Romish Emissaries are to corrupt our People and think our selves equally concerned to Antiaote them against Popâ—â—y and Phanaticism Two extreams equally dangerous to the Government of Church and State in these Kingdoms both in their Principles and Practices and both of them very great Corruptions of the Christian Religion and very dangerous to mens Souls Some of our Clergy have already been so charitable to our Dissenters as to warn them of their danger and by the Strength and Evidence of Scripture and Reason to Convince them of their mistakes and I pray God forgive those men and turn their Hearts who will not contribute so much to their own Conviction and Satisfaction as diligently and impartially to read and consider what is so charitably offered to them Ignorance and mistake may excuse men whâ— have no opportunities of knowing better but such wilfull and resolved Ignorance which bars up mens miâ—ds against all means of better Information will as soon damn them as sins against knowledge And now it might justly be thought want of charity to those of the Roman communion should we take no care at all of them nay want of charity to those of our own communion and to Dissenters themselves who are daily assaulted by the busie Factors for Rome For the Disputes against the church of Rome as well as against Dissenters are for the most part too Learned and too Voluminous for the instruction of ordinary People and therefore some short and plain Discourses about the principal Matters in dispute between us is the most effectual way we can take to confirm men in their Religion and preserve them from the crafty Insinuations of such as lie in wait to deceive Some few Attempts which have been already made of that kind give me some hope that several other Tracts will follow that the ruine of the church of England if God shall please ever to permit such a thing whither by Popery or Phanaticism may not be charged upon our neglect to instruct People better Some Persons it seems whose Talent lies more in censuring what others do then in doing any good themselves are pleased to put some sinister constructions on this Design as it is imposible to design any thing so well but men of ill minds who know not what it means to do good for goods sake shall be able to find some bad name for it Some guess that we now write against Popery only to play an after-Game and to regain the Favour and good Opinion of Dissenters which we have lost by writing against them But I know not that any man has lost their Favour by it nor that any man values their Favour for any other reason then to have the greater advantage of doing them good If so good a work as confuting the Errors of the church of Rome will give the Dissenters such a good Opinion of us as to make them more impartially consider what has been writ to perswade them to communion with the church of England I know â—â— reason any man has to be ashamed to own it though it were part of his design but whither it is or not is more then I know I dare undertake for those Persons I am acquainted with that they neither value the favour nor fear the displeasure either of Phanaticks
same Doctrines which she does and she looks upon it as a just prejudice against any Expositions of Scripture if they contradict the common Faith of the first Christians and therefore when the words of Scripture are fairly capable of different senses she chooses that sense which is most agreeable with the Catholick Faith and practice of the Primitive Church but should any Doctrines be imposed upon her as Articles of Faith which are no where to be found in Scripture or which are plainly contrary to it as the new Trent Creed is whatever pretence there be for the Antiquity of such Doctrines she utterly rejects them she will not put out her Eyes to follow any other Guide and thanks be to God she needs not reject any truly Catholick Doctrine in this way We still retain the Faith of the Primitive Church and are greatly confirmed in it from that admirable consent there is between the Scriptures as Expounded by us and that Faith which was anciently owned and received by all Christians Having thus shewn in what sense the Church is the Interpreter of Scripture I proceed now to the Second thing contained in this Paper That this Church must be known to be the true Church by its continual visible Succession from Christ till our dayes Now these few words contain a great many and very great mistakes The subject of the inquiry is how we may find out such a Church whose word we may safely take for the true sense and meaning of Scripture Now 1. The Author of this Paper whither ignorantly or designedly I know not alters the state of the Question and in stead of a Church which is an unerring and Infallible Interpreter of Scripture which would be very well worth finding he tells us how we may know a true Church now I take a true Church and and an infallible Interpreter of Scripture to be very different things A Church may be guilty of Schism and Heresie and yet may be a true Church though not a sound Orthodox and Catholick Church for a true Church is such a Church as has all things necessary and essential to the Beeing and Constitution of a Church this a Church may have and superadd other things which are destructive of the Christian Faith and very dangerous and fatal mistakes as we believe and are able to prove the Church of Râ—me has done and yet we acknowledge her a true Church because she retains the true Christian Faith though miserably Corrupted by Additions of her own as a man is a true man though he be sick of a mortal Disease Now if a true Church may corrupt the Christian Faith we have no reason to rely on the Authority of every true Church for the true sense and meaning of Scripture 2. Let us suppose that by a true Church he means an Infallible Church whose Authority we may safely rely on in Expounding Scriptures this Church he sayes is to be known by a continual visible Succession from Christ till our dayes Now if this visible uninterrupted Succession be the mark of such a true Church as is an infallible Interpreter of Scripture then 1. The Greek Church is an infallible Interpreter of Scripture for she has as visible uninterrupted a Succession from Christ and his Apostles to this day as the Church of Rome has and so we have two infallible Churches not to instance in any more at present who have as good a Succession as either of them which are directly opposite to each other and what shall we do in this Case Must we believe Contradictions or must we dis-believe infallible Churches 3. If a visible Succession from Christ and his Apostles makes aâ—y church an infallible Interpreter of Scripture then all the churches which were planted by the Apostles were infallible All the churches which were planted by the Apostles have an equally visible Succession from Christ those churches which were planted by the Apostles may be presumed as infallible while the Apostles were present with them as they were afterwards and those churches which succeeded these Apostolical churches at the distance of an Age or two may be supposed as infallible as any church of this Age is for if a visible Succession from Christ makes a church infallible why should not a Succession of a hundred or two hundred years make them as infallible as a Succession of sixteen hundred years unless they think that Infallibility increases with the Age of the Church which I could wish true but we see very little sign of it Now according to these Principles all the churches which were planted by the Apostles and have a continual visible Succession from Apostolical Churches through all Ages since the time of the Apostles must be infallible for if a continual visible Succession confers Infallibility and is the mark whereby we must know it then every Church which ever had or has to this day this visible Succession must have Infallibility also which it seems is entailed on Succession And thus we have found out a World of infallibility and it is wonderful how any Apostolical Church came to be over-run with so many Errors and Heresies and to grow so corrupt and degenerate as to provoke GOD to root them up if every Apostolical Church was infallible I cannot imagine how whole Churches which visibly succeeded the Apostles should be infected with Heresie for if Infallibility it self will not secure a Church from Heresie the LORD have mercy upon us 3. This mark he gives how to find out such a true Church at is an infallible Interpreâ—er of Scripture viz. A continual visible Succession from Christ till this day includes another great mistake for it supposes that there is some church now in being on whose Authority we must rely for the sense of Scripture for otherwise there can be no use of a visible Succession to this day in this Controversie If as I have already Proved at large we must rely only on the Authority of the Primitive Church not of the church of this present Age for the sense of Scripture and that not as an infallible Judge buâ— as the most Authentick Witness of the Apostolical Doctrine and Practice then we cannot find out this church by a visible Succession to this day but by examining the ancient Records of the Primitive Church where we shall find what the Faith and Practice of the Church in those dayes was which is the safest Rule to guide us in the Exposition of Scripture Though there were no Church in the World at this day which could prove a continual visible Succession from Christ and his Apostles yet while we have the Scriptures and the Records of the Primitive church we have very sufficient means for the understanding the true meaning of Scripture So that of whatever use this talk of a continual visible Succession may be in other cases it is wholly impertinent in this A church which cannot prove such a continual visible Succession which was not founded by any Apostle
agreed that whatsoever was delivered by CHRIST from GOD the Father or by the Apostles from CHRIST is to be embraced and firmly retained whither it be written or not written that makes no difference at all if we can be certain it came from Him or them For what is contained in the Holy Scripture hath not its Authority because it is written but because it came from GOD. If CHRIST said a thing it is enough we ought to submit unto it But we must first know that he said it and let the means of knowing it be what they will if we can certainly know He said it we yield to it But how we can be certain at this distance of time from his being in the World that any thing now pretending to it was said by CHRIST which is not recorded in the Holy Scriptures there is the business And it is a matter of such importance that it cannot be expected any man should be satisfied without very good evidence of it but he may very reasonably question whither many things be not falsely ascribed unto Him and unto his Apostles which never came from them Nay whither those things which are affirmed to be the Doctrines of the Primitive Church and of the whole Church be not of some later Original and of some particular Church or private Doctors in the Church unto whose Authority that Reverence is not due which ought to be paid and which we willingly give unto the former Now according to this state of the matter any good Christian among us who is desirous to know the Truth and to preserve himself from Errour may easily discern what Traditions ought to be received and held fast and what we are not bound unto without any alteration and what are not to be received at all but to be rejected and how far those things are from being credible which the Roman Church now would obtrude upon us under the name of Apostolical or ancient Traditions without any Authority from the Holy Scriptures or in truth any Authority but their own and some private Doctors whose Opinions cannot challenge an absolute submission to them But to give every one that would be rightly informed fuller satisfaction in this business I shall not content my self with this General Discourse but shall particularly and distinctly shew what Traditions we own and heartily receive and then what Traditions we cannot own but with good reason reâ—use These shall be the two Parts of this short Treatise wherein I shall endeavour that our people may be instructed not merely to reject Errours but also to affirm the Truth PART I. What Traditions we receive 1 AND in the first place we acknowledge that what is now Holy Scripture was once only Tradition properly so called that is Doctrine by word of mouth In this we all agree I say that the whole Gospel or Doctrine of CHRIST which is now upon record in those Books we call the Scriptures was once unwritten when it was first preached by our blessed Saviour and his Apostles Which must be noted to remove that small Objection with which they of the Roman Church are wont to trouble some peoples minds merely from the Name of Traditions which St. Paul in his Epistles requires those to whom he writes carefully to observe particularly in that famous place 1. Thess 2. 15. Where we find this Exhortation Therefore Brethren stand fast and hold the Traditions which ye have been taught whither by word or our Epistle Behold say they here are things not written but delivered by word of mouth which the Thessalonians are commanded to hold Very true should the people of our Church say to those that insist upon this but behold also we beseech you what the Traditions are of which the Apostle here writes and mark also when it was that theâ— were partly unwritten For the fiâ—st of these it is manifest that he means by Traditions the Doctrines which we now read in the holy Scriptures For the very first word therefore is an indication that this verse is an inference from what he had said in the foregoing Now the things he before treated of are the grand Doctrines of the Gospel or the way of Salvation revealed unto us by Christ Jesus from God the Father who hath from the begining saith he v. 13 14. chosen you to Salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth whereunto he hath called you c. This is the sum of the Gospell and whatsoever he had delivered unto them about these matters of their Sanctification or of their Faith or of their Salvation by obtaining the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ to which they were chosen and called through their Sanctification and Faith this he exhorts them to hold fast whither it was contained in this Epistle or in his former preaching for he had not occasion now to write all that he had formerly delivered by word of mouth Which afterward was put in writing for mark which is the second thing the time when some things remained unwritten which was When this Epistle was sent to the Thessalonians Then some things concerning their salvatâ—on were not contained in this Letter but as yet delivered only by word of mouth unto this Church I say to this Church for it doth not follow that all Churches whatsoever were at the time of the writing of this Epistle without the Doctrine of the Gospel compleatly written because among the Thessalonians some Traditious or Doctrines were as yet unwritten Which can in reason be extended no farther then to themselves and to this Epistle which did contain all the Evangelical Doctrine though other writings which it is possible were then extant in some other Churches did And I say as yet unwritten in that Church because the Thessalonians no doubt had afterward more communicated to them in writing besides this Epistle or the former either viz. all the Gospels and the Acts of Apostles and other Apostolical Epistles which we now enjâ—y Which Writings we may be confident contain the Traditions which the Apostle had delivered to the Thessalonians by Word concerning the Incarnation Birth Life Miracles Death Resurrection and Ascension of our blessed Saviour and concerning the coming of the holy Ghost and the mission of the Apostles and all the rest which is there recorded for our everlasting instruction And therefore it is in vain to argue from this place that there are still at this day some unwriten Traditions which we are to follow unless the Apostle had said Hold the Traditions which ye have been taught by word which shall never be written And it is in vain for us to inquire after any such Traditions or rely upon them when they are offered unto us unless we were sure that there was something necessary to our Salvation delivered in their Sermons which was never to be delivered in writting and unless we know where to find it as certainly as we do that which they have committed to writing And
in a different manner according to the condition of those they had to do with or the temper of him that managed them yet they must needs seem more or less grievous to all when power sufficient was not left to the greatest Monarchs to defend themselves or protect their Subjects preserve the peace or promote the welfare and provide for the security of their own Countries Then no marvel if some of them grow weary of so insupportable oppressions and at last take courage to grapple with and extricate themselves from such manifest encroachments upon their own and the Peoples Civil Rights as well as the Ecclesiastical of the Church in their Dominions and be forced to some harsh and almost violent methods when the more gentle and benign could prevail nothing 3. But beside these more publick Invasions upon Church and State that which made the usurpation more odious and insufferable was the farther abuse of the same extravagant power to bring in strange and dangerous Doctrines corrupt and unlawfull practices into the Church and impose them upon all in their Communion exactly fitted to feed their Ambition enrich their Coffers secure their Authority and promote their ease and Luxury Such of the first sort are their Doctrine of Transubstantiation and Purgatory of Merit and Supererogation the multiplicity of Vows and delusions in the Principles of Repentance and ministration of Penance Of the latter sort are the Invocation of Saints and Angels Adoration of Reliques and Images their half Communion the Scripture lock'd up and Divine Service performed in an unknown tongue c. These and diverse like them have proved great Scandals abroad and stumbling blocks at home and whatever varnish they may put upon them by the fairest pretences or however they may cast a mist before the eyes of their Disciples by nice distinctions yet they have so disfigured the face of Christianity that he who compares the late appearances of it in the world with the model of it laid down in Scripture or the Records of the Primitive Church can hardly believe it the same thing But the particulars are not here to be disputed they have sufficiently been confuted and exposed by Protestant Writers and were by several before excepted against and disclaimed though some suffered severely for so doing and many more we may suppose waited an opportunity to free themselves from their pressure That which I am now most to insist upon is this that if the charge we draw up against these of falshood in judgment gross Superstition or Idolatry in Worship and immorality in manners be true and impartial as we have been ever ready to make good and shall do against all the Artifices of the Defendants Then no Authority whatever regularly founded or unexceptionably conveyed can oblidge us to these against the revealed Will or Word of God the Dictates of our Consciences as we hope carefully and righty informed the sense and reason of mankind and the Belief and practice of the Church in the first and purest Ages Greater cause was there to endeavour by all lawful means to throw off such an usurped power that made so ill use of what it had unjustly gotten and to restore Religion to its primitive beauty in Doctrine Worship and Precepts of Life But alas many difficulties lay in the way of its accomplishment and all possible struglings and contentions by force and policy were used by the adverse Party to prevent its beginning or obstruct it Progress Great was their Interest in every place Strong was the influence they had upon persons in Authority Numerous were their Assistants and Dependants at home and abroad Weighty was their concern which lay at stake and many were the advantages which they had of any that opposed them So that no wonder if a Reformation so long wish'd for and much wanted were so slowly effected It is rather more strange that in so many places it did master these and such like incumbrances and in so short a time made so considerable a progress If in some places it proceeded with less Order Uniformity and calmness then could have been wish'd for in a Religious Reformation Necessity in part with many perplexed difficulties and incumbrances may in some measure excuse what no Law before hand fully warrants IV. But leaving others to answer for themselves in my next particular I am to consider how regularly and sedately it proceeded in the church of England within the bounds of catholick Unity 1. With the concurrence and encouragement all along of the Supreme Power to free it from any but suspicion of Rebellion So it began at first with the breaking of the Papal yoke of Supremacy the Translation of the Bible and some like preparatives to Reformation under Henry the Eight and the united Suffrages of his Parliaments and the Bishops themselves therein It proceeded suitably to a further improvement in most particulars under his Son Edward the Sixth And at last it came to its full settlement and establishment under Queen Elizabeth The beginning and carrying on of the Reformation here was by such loyalty of Principles and Practices that we challenge any Church in the World to a Comparison therein Indeed this was so notorious that her Roman Adversares have turned her Glory into a Reproach by upbraiding her though most invidiously with the name of a Parliamentary Religion because it received all along so much countenance and assistance from those great Assemblies of all the three Estates of the Kingdom under their Head and Soveriagn 2. But farther to clear her of all just imputation from hence it must be added that the whole work was carried on with the advice and mature deliberation of the Clergy assembled in Convocation representing the intire body of them and therein a National Council That they from their Education and presumed Knowledge as well as from their Office and Ecclesiastical Authority are ordinarily fittest to judge debate and determine of Religious matters will be soon granted But that the civil Power may and ought sometimes to remind them of their Duty and restrain them from gross Defections from it may be proved by several Scripture Examples in the Old Testament and the Supereminence of their place But happy is that Order and Unity in which both Powers are joyned together for the service of GOD the security of his Church and promotion of his true Religion as it was here though it could not be expected but the first attempts would meet with several difficulties fierce Debates and Controversies yet still the entire establishment was ratified by the regular determination of the Clergy so assembled as before as well as was after confirmed by the Royal Assent 3 Yet farther to justifie themselves from any affected innovation in such a change all was done with the greatest Reverence Respect and Deference to the Ancient Church to clear their continued Unity therewith 1. In Doctrine The ancient Creeds were taken for the foundation of its Confession the four
and Ceremonies she is sensible when they are too numerous how apt they are to darken the inward and more essential luster of Religion and prove a burden instead of a Relief to its Worship which she takes notice c Preface to the common prayer concerning Ceremonies why some are abolished St. Augustine complain'd of in his time But have since so encreased in the Eastern as well as Western Churches that it must argue a great aw to make the Service look like any thing serious and Sacred However this number alone where the particulars are not otherwise obnoxious tempts some to spend all their zeal therein and diverts them from things more necessary or gives too much occasion to others to quarrel about them Yet withal being apprehensive how needful it would be to maintain Order and Decency She hath kept some though very few and those most plain and unexceptionable in their nature most significative of the end for which they were appointed and most ancient and universal in their Institution and practice hinted in the tittle of our Liturgy as it is changed from the former And to prevent all differences hereabout she hath expressed her sense of them so clearly and explicitely that one would think no peevish obstinacy had room to interpose a scruple however the event hath proved Thus abundantly hath the Church of England vindicated her Reformation from all pretence of Apostacy from the True Ancient Catholick and Apostolick Church and shewed in all instances how careful she hath been to preserve the Vnity of the Spirit in the bond of peace with all the Members thereof Nor hath she been wanting in any respect or reverence due thereunto No Church being more cautious and sparing in its determinations more Canonical in its Impositions more Regular in its Succession and more charitable in its Censures making all necessary provision for her own Children so within the bounds of Catholick Unity that had other Churches observed the like method or measures way had been made for an universal consent a Touto gar en pote tes Ecclesias to kauchema hoti apo ton peraton tes oikumenes epi ta perata microis symbolaiois ephodiazomennoi hoi ex hekastes Ecclesias adelphoi pantas pateras kai adelphous euriscon S. Basil Ep. 198. T. 3. p. 409. and every true Christian where ever he came would have found his own Church wherewith to communicate without hesitancy in all Religious Offices And as b St. Augustin observed in his time he would have needed but to enquire for the Catholick Church and no Schismatick would have darred to divert him to their Conventicles But if after the confusions and disorders of so many Centuries amidst such a depraved state by corrupt manners diversities of opinions and perplext Interests so great a happiness be not to be hoped for now that private person or particular Church will clear themselves before GOD and all good men that do what is in their power towards it and pray to Him to amend what they cannot change and in the mean time make the best use of what means they enjoy Upon which Premises an easie Solution is given to the old cavilling question Where was your Church before the Reformation or that time We answer Just where it is Thereby no new Church was set up no new Articles of Faith brought in no new Sacraments no new order of Priesthood to minister in holy things all which would have indeed required new Miracles and a new immediate Authority from Heaven so attested only the old were purged from impurities in Doctrine Worship and Practice which in passing through so many degenerate Ages they had contracted and that an ordinary Power might suffice to do If we were in the Catholick Church before we are so still and hope to better purpose We are not therefore out of it because there rash Censures have excluded us and then they unreasonably take advantage to argue against us from their own act We never formally shut them out what ever they have done to us What degrees of corruption in Faith or Manners may be consistent with the bare being of a Church or the possibility of salvation therein is needless and dangerous for us nicely to enquire it may be impossible for us to know I am sure it is most safe for us to reform what we know to be amiss and to leave those who do not to stand or fall by their own Master It is a very ill requital of our Charity if it be turned into a weapon of offence to wound or slay us by that by which we shewed our desire of their Cure But they and we must stand another trial and await a finall infallible Sentence which ours here cannot change The best security that we know to meet it with comfort will be to use the most strict impartiality with our selves and the greatest Charity to others Yet our Adversaries glory in nothing more then in the name of the Catholick Church and boast in no Title so much as that of Catholicks which hath had deservedly so great veneration in all Antiquity But their claim here truly examined will prove as fallacious and arrogant as in any other instance For the term Catholick if we respect the notation of the word or the most constant use of it is the same as Vniversal and so joyned to the Church signifies the general Body of all Christians dispersed throughout the World opposed to any distinct Party or separate Communion Thus we find it constantly applied by St. Augustin in all his Tracts against the Donatists St. August de unitate Ecclesiae c 2. T. 7. p. 5. 10. Quaestio certe inter nos versatar ubi sit Ecclesia utrum apud nos an apud illos quae utique und est quam majores nostri Catholicam nominarunt ut ex eo ipso nomine ostenderent quia per totum est Ibid. c. 3. p. 514. Christi Ecclesia canonicarum Scripturarum Divinis certissimis testimoniis in omnibus Gentibus designata est Et c. 4. ab ejus corpore quod est Ecclesia it a dissentiunt ut eorum communio non sit cum toto quacunque ea diffunditur sed in aliqua parte separata inveniatur manifestum est eos non esse in Ecclesia catholica Et. c. 12. p. 533. aliud Evangelizat qui periisse dicit de caetero mundo Ecclesiam in parte Donati in sola Aâ—rica remansisse Item de fide symbolo in eam partem de Ecclesia catholica T. 3. p. 149. Haeretici de Deo falsa sentiendo ipsam fidem violant Schismatici autem discissionibus iniquis a fraterna Caritate dissiliunt quapropter nec Haereticus pertinet ad Ecclesiam Catholicam quae diligit Deum nec Schismaticus quoniam diligit proximum and so opposed to them who went about to shut it up within their own Party and straitned Communion therein too closely imitated by our Adversaries who in spite of name
perfection of it that it ought to have great weight in determining our choice to one Communion before another and is one of the most sensible bands of Unity in the Church Answ 1. The restauration of the Primitive Vigour of this hath been alwayes wished for by our Church as in the Preface to the Commination but the accomplishment is very difficult From the degeneracy of the Age which would hardly bear it He that Governs in a less Sphere will find how oft he must bear with things which he does not approve and much easier it is to find fault with then to amend what sometimes we know to be amiss From the multiplicity of Divisions which weaken all endeavours towards it and then froward men unworthily charge the Church with what they themselves make almost unavoidable whereas if executed it would reach themselves as nearly as any who are now so clamorous against the most tender and charitable endeavours towards it as cruel and inhumane 2. The Pretences to it in the Church of Rome according to general practice so far as it can appear to us and we can judge by nothing else are more dangerous then any of these Omissions when turn'd into a constant circle of sinning private Confession and Priestly Absolution upon the imposition of very insignificant Penance and so over again For hereby men have the Authority of their Church to confirm in them the dangerous presumption that they have thus readily cleared themselves before GOD and so soon perfected their Repentance for such Sins which we find them not so watchfull against afterwards as that ought to suppose or make them Whereas the Church of England commands private Confession for our clearer satisfaction and direction in difficult cases as most needful but cannot truly say that it is an indispensable condition of our pardon which was never so believed or practised in the church for many Centuries If people will not be perswaded to their Priviledge unless they be forced to it by false denounciations they must look to that if they miscarry it lies at their own door while they have no hopes here given them of pardon but upon such an intire Repentance as destroyes the habit of sin and plants the contrary Grace and what need they may have of the Assistance of a Spiritual Guide and other helps in many cases in order to this effect they may best consider 3. However the due administration of Discipline is to be placed among conveniencies and advantages to be wish'd for rather then necessaries we cannot be without and it hath been and will be in all Ages of the church more or less perfect according to a great many contingencies not to be stated before hand The church hath ever judg'd it the best measure of using it so as may most serve the ends of Religion and the general benefit of the community and not that she is bound alwayes up to the strict merit of the persons falling under it and yet after all the strictest care and impartiality there will be room for the final Separation when our LORD shall send his Angels to gather out of his own Kingdom all offences and them which do iniquity If we will shun all communication with these though only in what is good we must flie out of any church that ever yet was or will be so far as we know in this World and so from any hopes in that to come yet scarce any considerable Schism hath appeared in the Church which did not shelter it self under this pretence 4. Father it may be alledged that several restraints may be upon the Church from the Civil Power When this had suffered so much by former Encroachments and Usurpations no wonder if it still retain some jealousie of that Yoke which with so much difficulty it cast off and provide as securely as it can for its future preservation though by suspending sâ—â—e of that outward assistance very conduceable to the due effect of Church censures and sometimes by putting a stop to their sensible progress in some cases where no such danger or necessity required it Men by mistakes or prejudice may strain each power too far Better experience of the Regular management of the Ecclesiastical may in due time encourage the Secular farther to enlarge their Liberty and encourage their proceedings so as may be most subservient to the ends of true Religion and the advancement of the common security of Church and State All the power which the Church pretends to as such is spiritual and that can make no alteration in the Civil Rights of men 5. Yet after all the Church amongst us hath not only sufficient Authority committed to her by CHRIST but reserved and countenanced by the Laws of the Land to testifie her Abhorrence of all notorious Scandals to the shame and confusion of gross Offenders and as a direful earnest of a worse doom that awaits them hereafter not here prevented by a satisfactory Repentance I need not refer to particular instances when we have frequent examples thereof If this be not alwayes exercised by those with whom it is entrusted with all due vigour and sincerity after just abatement for necessity and a favourable allowance for such perplext difficulties of which scarce any private person can make a fair and competent judgment the fault will lie only at their doors whose is the neglect and private Christians shall not fare the worse in the performance of their duty nor fail of the salutary effects of the ordinary means of Grace by GODS own appointment because every publick ministration is not performed with that Religious care which becomes such concerns 6. Little pretence can they have from this Objection that desert the Establish'd National Church and that most advantagious outward Bond of Unity therein in pursuit of private Assemblies and select Congregations where all acts of Discipline must needs be supposed Arbitrary on one side and precarious on the other When he or they who inflict them own no power over them to aw or direct their proceeding or upon just occasion ro reverse their Sentence nor he who falls under them has any other engagement to submission then his own free Act nor can suffer any farther prejudice without it then to be forced it may be to change his Company or place of meeting What ever grave and solemn appearance this may carry at the first setting up of such a new Government it will soon degenerate into Mockery or Confusion Whatsoever destroyes the Unity of the Church overturns the main strength and Foundation of all Discipline the defects hereof we may hope to see repaired with the preservation of that but without that no prospect appears of any overtures towards it 7. To which may be added in the last place whatever want of Discipline any may lay to the charge of the Church of England none can complain of her breach of that Unity therein which all Christian Churches ought to maintain She neither invades
laid for it in mens Minds or constant Provision made for the due Exercise of it all necessary Encouragement given to it and a sutable strict and regular Practice of it observable among them And there are several things which are not at all insisted on by us which they of the Church of Rome boast of as serving to some or all of these puâ—poses which I shall represent as fairly as I can that we may see what there is in that Church that doth answer such great pretences For it is observed that they of the Church of Rome oftentimes insteed of dispute endeavour to work on our People and too often prevail by appealinâ— to matters of Practice visible to every ones Eye an Argument to which men need not use their Reason but their Sense and this will say they sufficiently convince any of the excellency of our way For here are several things used as Instances and Expressions of Devotion very acceptable to God and sutable to a good Christian Temper which are either not at all used in the Church of England or at least not in that Degree and Measure and yet all those that are used in the Church of England say they are used among us For we not only enjoyn and practise constant use of Prayers publick and private together with Reading and Preaching of the Word Sacraments and whatever is used in the Church of England but we have besides several things which are as well proper Expressions of Devotion as Helps and Assistances which are not used among the Protestants The Principal things which they urge are such as these 1. They blame the Reformation in general as well as the Church of England for the want of Monasteries and such other Religious Houses which are so numerous in the Popish Countries where Holy Men and Women being shut up and having bid adiew to the World live as in Heaven in constant Exercise of praising of God Night and Day and of praying to him for the Church and State and particular Christians as well as themselves and who are not only so beneficial to the World by the constancy of their Prayers but also by their Example putting others in mind of Religion and of doing likewise and by the severity of their lives as to Diet Garbe and other Circumstances live in a constant Practice of that self-denyal which is commanded in Scripture and was so practised by Holy Men almost from the begining of Christianity and are as it were constant Preachers of Holiness and Mortification who tho' they do indeed stay here in the World below yet converse not in it but are in some Sense out of it and live above it 2. They sometimes also boast of the extraordinary Charity and Liberality to all good and Holy Uses pressed and practised among them which is but sparingly used say they among the Protestants Especially their excessive Expence and Cost in building and endowing Monasteries erecting Churches Chappels and Crosses their so pompous adorning the places dedicated to the Worship of God besides their Charitable Assistance and relief which they afford to the Bodies of the Living and the Souls of the Dead and no Man can deny but Charity is a certaint Evidence as well as a great branch and duty of true Religion and Devotion 3. Sometimes they glory in the great number of Saints commemorated in their Church and dying in the Communion of it and urge them as a forcible Example to others and a mighty incentive to Devotion they think also it redounds much to the Honour and Commendation of their Church to have had such glorious Members of it and twit us as they think severely when they ask us what Saints we have of our Church and wonder especially that we should observe so few Festivals and Holidayes whereas the very many dayes set apart in their Church in memory of their several Saints they think not only afford proper Occasions for all Acts of Religion but are a sign of their being less addicted to this World when so great a part of their time is spent in the Service of God and that Piety and Devotion are a considerable part of their Business and Imployment 4. They urge also the multitude of Pictures and Images of several Famous Men and Women who have in an eminent manner served and pleased God and been instrumental in converting the World as very proper assistances of a Mans Devotion instructing some they being the Books of the Unlearned and sensibly affecting and alluring all to the Imitation of the Persons whom they represent 5. Sometimes they commend their Church for the Fastings and other Acts of severity and Mortification used not only by the Monks and Regulars but by all sorts of Men according to the Rules of their Church on set dayes of the Week or Seasons of the Year as well as such Austerities as are enjoyned by their Confessors by way of Penance their going bare-foot and bare headed in Processions their whipping and lashing themselves their drawing great Chains and Weights after them as great and proper Instances of Self-denial and Devotion 6. They place also a great Deal of Religion in Pilgrimages which the more Devout sort take and spend their Estates and sometimes their Lives in to Jerusalem Rome Loretto Mount-ferrdt to St. Thomas at Canterbury St. Winefrid's Well or some such other places where some extraordinary Person hath lived or some strange Relique is left or where they reckon God hath on some Occasion or other wonderfully manifested himself and they reckon that the very visiting or kissing these are either an Argument of truly Devout Minds or that which will make them so And their Manuals or Books which their Priests give into the peoples hands do not fail by all the art imaginable to endeavour to screw up Mens Devotion even to rapture and extasie in Commendation of these Practises and Orders even as if they would have us believe that there is no true Religion and Devotion without these and that where there are these things practised it is a certain sign that the mind is affected as it ought Piety flourisheth in the highest Degree And besides these Matters of Practice their are also several Doctrines and Opinions peculiar to themselves which they reckon do naturally tend to the advancement of true Devotion As 7. Their Doctrine concerning the Intercession of Saints for us and the Advantage of Invocation or prayer to them and that we of the Church of England want one of the greatest Encouragements to Prayer and Devotion that can be who neither own nor make use of these Helps and therefore that we cannot have such hope of Success and Blessing as they have 8. Their Doctrine concerning the Merit of Good Works and Supererogation is of the same Nature in their esteem For the more Worth you suppose in any Action the greater Incouragement is there to the performance of it and therefore surely it must be a most irresistible motive to
not any Provision made or so much as a supposition of such Monastries or religious Houses or publick places of Retirement for devout People as they are called being again ever setled among us For tho' we are not so rash as utterly to abhor and throw away every thing that at any time had been abused to superstition yet we are very well contented that Monastries should never be rebuilt among us For we do not look on the Life of Monks as any great help to Devotion or an instance of true Religion prevailing where they are found much less that they are necessary in the Christian Church For it is evident that the first and purest Ages of the Church did not know any thing of them Almost three Centuries passed without any mention of them in Ecclesiastical History Antony and Paul in the Dioclesian Persecution being taken notice of as the first of that Way We read indeed of some that did lead a more then ordinary severe Course and denied themselves much of the perhaps lawful Pleasures of this Life in respect to Religion and the other Life but these were not Monks or the modern Asceticks tho' it hath been the way of the Church of Rome in more instances then this to impose some new thing on the World upon the Reputation of some good and reverend Old Name For the Lives of the ancient Asteâ—icks or mortified Men differed much from the present Monks of the Church of Rome We find not that they engaged themselves in a solemn vow distinct from or above that of their Baptism For whatever their general Course of Life was they would take the Liberty to break their Rule sometimes in order to extraordinary Charity or when an occasion offered it self of doing more good as is recorded particularly concerning Spiridion a Bishop in Cyprus Nor do we find that they always continued in the same State of Life but took such a severe course on themselves at some particular times and on some special occasions as the Nazarites of old did to humble and bring their Bodies under and as St. Paul adviseth the married but not to continue always so lest Satan should tempt them and they reckoned it in an higher degree praise worthy for every Act of Mortification to be voluntary then that they should once for all force themselves to it And therefore still retained a Power to themselves and did vary from this Method sometimes and on occasion would indulge themselves a greater tho' still a lawful Liberty They took not on them the Vow of Poverty nor placed Perfection in Beggery but reckoned every Creature of God to be good and even the outward good things of this Life to be the Gift and Grace of God if they be well imployed according to 1 Pet. 4. 10. And remembred that Saying of our Blessed Saviour Acts 20. 35. It is more blessed to give then to receive Nor did they vow what the Church of Rome now calls Chastity but reckoned themselves as chaste in Wedlock and as for Obedience the third part of the Monks Vow they thought it sufficient to obey the Commands of God and knew not of any other Obedience due from them but only to their Governours in Church and State whose lawful Commands they reckoned themselves obliged to in order to the more regular Administration of Affairs and the more peaceable Government of the World much less had they any distinct Rules to be set up in Competition with the Laws of God and urged as necessary to Salvation making even the Commandments of God of none effect as many of the Monks Rules apparently do as might be easily made to appear Such religious Men as these there were in the first Ages who practised a stricter Devotion then others that God's Name might be the more hallowed by them the more it was profaned by the rest of the World and who were more then ordinary instant and constant in Prayers for a Blessing on the Church and State of which they were Members and by the Strictness and Severity of their Lives made some amends for the Negligence and Viciousness of the Age in which they lived And many such as these we doubt not are now among us who yet utterly dislike the Popish Monkery And if by the Monastick Life all this were done and nothing else designed It were justly to be commended For let Men deny themselves as much as they will and use their Christian Liberty to the Restraint of themselves by a voluntary Self denial and Mortification to keep their bodies under and thereby get a better Temper of Mind But all this will not suffice in the Church of Rome For it is not enough for a man to live so strict and holy a Life unless he enter into a Vow particularlie to this purpose Nay though a man do take on him all these Vowâ— of Chastity Poverty and Obedience and tho' they be made to his Bishop or Confesâ—or who one would think were the properest persons in the Case yet still it is not sufficient he cannot be said to be in this religions State unless he vow Obedience to another kind of Spiritual Jurisdiction So that it is neither the living so strictly nor vowing to live strictlie as the most severe Monks but it is their being of a particular Order and living under such and such Rule that is so meritorious so that by Monkery indeed Monkerie is encouraged and some politick and Secular Designs answered but the Advancement of Piety and Devotion is not principally designed or intended But to discourse more distinctly of it In a Monastick Life these three things are especiallie remarkable First The secluded and perhaps Eremetical way of living which they lead Secondly The Constancy and Regularity of Devotions practised there Thirdly The severity of their Rules and Austerity of their Lives But I must needs say that there is little of true Devotion that I can discover in any of these First Their being shut up from the World or living in Desarts is no very proper Instance of their Devotion or agreeable to the Design of Christianity For a man should converse in the World else he cannot so well understand it what is amiss or wanting in it nor how even to apply and place the Emphasis of his Prayers A man that lives in a Wilderness or shut up alwayes in a Monastery it is possible that he may keep himself free from the Difilements of the World but yet it must be looked on as much more noble and commendable to converse in the World and yet to avoid the Pollution of it And tho' by such a secluded Life he may escape one kind of Temptation yet still he will be at least as liable to the two others that arise from the Devil or his own Flesh and Temper as ever And if he avoid some Sins yet still he will be more subject to others Sowerness Moroseness Melancholly Censoriousness spiritual pride and other sins of as high a Nature
pretence to Charity yet I have too much reason on many accounts to think very meanly of all that which is practised in the Church of Rome For whatever hath been given to that Church under the Name of charity and is now enjoyed by it hath for the most part been ill gotten and is as ill imployed And here I will not treat of the temporal Power of the Pope himself and of the several Principalities which he stands possessed oâ— in Italy and France for they cannot be ranged under the Head of charity according to my acceptation of the Word though it might be easily made to appear that they have generally been gotten by unjust and unlawful or at best by harsh and cruel Means and such as one would not expect from the Successor of St. Peter But I concern my self with smaller and more private Benefactions and Gifts though these are so considerable that generally a third part often half the Lands of a Countrey are the Propriety of the Church Now all this is gotten chiefly from men that are dying who can keep their Riches no longer and therefore who do not so much give this from themselves as from their Heirs And is especially as it were to buy Heaven and a man must have a most despicable esteem of Heaven who will not give all the good things of this Life when he can no longer use or enjoy them for the Purchase of it And what is given from so bad a Principle is commonly applyed to as bad a purpose It is a common Observation that in all the Popish Countries the Poor are the most miserable in the World and their Secular Priests too are generally in a sad condition notwithstanning the infinite Riches of that Church And so the Regulars only have any considerable advantage by them they also as it were club together to set up one great Man as Cardinal or Head of their Order in mighty Pomp and State and heap Riches and preferments on him till he can hardly bear them So that one can scarcely suppose so great Riches as that Church is in common endowed with to be gotten into fewer Hands or do less Good then it doth amongst them Let them not therfore boast of their Charity whilst amidst so great Plenty they suffer the poor to want so extreamly and yet to make a Shew build a fine Hospital in two or three of their chief Towns For perhaps no where in the World do the rich exalt themselves and tyrannize over the Poor no where is there a greater inequality of Conditions no where is there so much given to the Church and Charity and no where is the Estate of the Church engrossed into so few Hands to maintain Grandeur rather then to be a Relief to Poverty For the Cardinals not above Seventy in number are maintained out of the Church-Revenues and yet are by their Creation equal to Kings and superiour to Princes Now if this be Charity to have a Prodigious Revenue for the Maintienance of the Church and Poor and yet to imploy this to the Luxury of a few and to let the rest perish I will acknowledge the Church of Rome to be the most charitable Church in the World And if it be said that a great deal indeed hath been given to good and truly charitable uses but is now perhaps misimployed I answer it is possible it may be so yet still I have some reason to question it For their Doctrines of Merit and of buying Souls out of Purgatory c. are enough to spoil their works of Charity and make them to be rather esteem'd a Bargain of Sale then a free Gift And yet their Donations run commonly in this Form I give this to such a Monastry for the good of my Soul or of the Souls of other persons deceased or for the Honour of such a Saint But seldom for the good of the Poor the Maintenance and Support of true Piety and Religion or for the Glory and Honour of God And yet in my Opinion such as these are the ends for which a Gift ought to be esteemed charitable or will be accepted by God as such But now on the other side though the Church of England own not either Purgatory or any other of their Pick-pocket Doctrines yet charity urged by us from truly Christian Principles hath had more force and done more good then all their Tricks and Devices put together For so Dr. Willet hath in part shewn and it might be more fully demonstrated that in these last 120 or 130 Years since the settling of the Reformation among us there hath been more and greater Churches Schools and Hospitals built and endowed better Provision made for the Poor more and better care taken not only for the Maintenance but especially for the Instruction of the ignorant and meanner sort of People In short all parts of Charity more fully exercised then can be shewn in any the like number of Years since Christianity came into this Countrey Indeed the general Strain of our Peoples Charity runs to the doing of more good and is more properly expressed then theirs is The Papists build Monastries in which Provision is made for a few people to live in Idleness and Luxury under pretence of Devotion and Retirement Ours relieve the Sick and Needy tho' not Regulars and think it better Charity to preserve a poor Family from starving of which so many thousands die in Popish Countreys then to maintain an idle Monk or Nun or to make a Present to the Lady at Loretto or offer Candles and Tapers to the Image or Saint of the Town in which we live We by so bestowing our Charity both honour God and do good to Men. They do neither but do Homage to a Saint that neither knows them nor receives any Good by the Honour which they give them It is in deed confessed that our Churches are not so adorned as they ought sometimes But that is no Fault of our Church but of the Iniquity of the Times and of those Dissentions which they raise among us but generally they are decently grave and as well fitted to assist a devout mind without Distraction as can be We love to have our churches neat and handsome to shew we do not grudge whatever may be required to make them in some measure a sit place for Divine Worship but we see not any necessity of having them so splendidly rich and fine we think it would rather divert mens minds from the Business of the place then assist them in the Duties of it In short in no part of Charity can they pretend to exceed us considering our circumstances unless it be in that of Prayer for the Dead when they hire so many Masses to be said for them but we think not this so much charity to the person deceased as to the Priest for he doubtless receives most benefit from it Thirdly And whatever they pretend the great number of Saints canonized and commemorated among them
their Addresses to one Saint rather then to another according as in this World they were famous either for some eminent Grace shining in them or for some strange cure or extraordinary deliverance wrought by them but onlie that they believe and trust that those who did such great things on Earth are much more willing and able to do them now they are in Heaven where while other Graces cease Charity and Beneficence are perfected and abide for ever Thus because St. Roch was signally Charitable in assisting those who were infected with the plague therefore do they call upon him in times of infection because St. Appollonia had all her Teeth struck out for her undaunted Confession of the Faith of Jesus therefore do they fly to her for ease against the Rage of Teeth because St George was by profession a Souldier and renowned for wonderful Atchievements therefore have they recourse to him for assistance against Enemies 'T is true was it Lawfull to Address to any at all this might be a sufficient reason why they Address to this rather then to another Saint because his or her former actions or sufferings do best suit and befit their present case but being not sure that these and such like Canoniz'd Saints of the Romish Church are Saints in Heaven being sure if they are they can't hear us nor know our particular State much less bestow health and deliverance upon us whilest we Love and Honour the Memory of Saints indeed we ought to call only upon God who only is a present help in time of need and the Saviour of them that put their trust in him But to put this out of doubt it will not be amiss to set down some of their forms of Devotion to Saints departed And here not to rake for them in some obscure Authors that have privately stole into the World I shall need go no farther then the present Roman Breviary Corrected and Published by the Decree and Order of the Council of Trent The blessed Virgin is there Invocated in the Feast of the Assumption For strength against Enemies and in the Hymn frequently used in her Office she is not only called the Gate of Heaven but intreated to loose the bonds of the Guilty to give light to the blind to drive away our evils to obtain good things for us and to shew her self to be a Mother that is as the Mass-Book of Paris 1634 interprets it * O foelix puerpera nostra pians scelera jure matris impera Redemptori Dall de cultu Latin lib. 3. c. 4. p. 359. Not denied by Natalis Alexander though he answers this Citation of Dalle only sayes Nec est ab ecclesâ—â— probata quibusdam tantâ—m missalibus â—lim inserâ—â— est Hisâ— Eâ—â—l sec 5. dissert 5. p. 343. 347. in right of a Mother to command her Son In another place she is sued to for help to the Miserable for strength to the Weak for comfort to the Afflicted and that all that Celebrate her Festivals may feel her assistance And but that I said I would not hunt for matter I could send you to Authors of theirs and not of the least note where we may read such Blasphemy as this †Biel. in Can. mis sect 80. That God hath given the Virgin Mary half of his Kingdom * Salmeroâ— in Tim. 1. 2. disc 8. That the Prayers made to and by all Saints are better then those made by Christ †Carol. scrib in Amph. hon Com. p. 29. Châ—â—â— exemp Invocat Sanct. p. 146. That the Mothers Milk is equally to be esteemed with the Sons Blood This you may take for a tast of that Hyperdulia that super-refin'd service which they put up to the blessed Virgin and yet that to the Apostles and other Saints of less magnitude comes not much behind it St. Peter is intreated by the power given to him To hear their prayers to unty the bonds of their iniquity and to open the Gates of Heaven all the Apostles to absolve them from their sins by their command to heal all their spiritual maladies and to encrease their vertues St. Andrew is supplicated for patience to bear chearfully the Cross of Christ St. Francis for deliverance from the drudgery and bondage of sin St. Brigit for Wisdom against the snares of the World St. Nicholas for courage against the assaults of the Devil St. Agnes for the chiefest of Graces that of Charity and St. Catharine for all Graces We are taught to pray to be delivered from Hell and to be made partakers of Heaven by their merits to fly to them as our Patrons and Advocates to put confidence in their intercessions Breviar â—â—ss and to ascribe our mercies and deliverances to their Power and Interest in God In the office of Visitation of the Sick the Priest laying his right hand upon Rituâ—l de Visit Infirm the head of the Sick Person prayes that Jesus the Son of Mary and Saviour of the World would for the Merits and Intercession of his Apostles Peter and Paul and all saints be gracious Merciful to him in another place in the same office that through the intercession of the blessed Virgin all saints he might obtain Eternal-Life these are enough but I Merits and intercessione S. S. Ritual Rom. de Sacram. poenit cannot omit one more which is a flower indeed in the office about the Sacrament of Penance there is found this remarkable Prayer The Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ the Merits of the blessed Virgin Mary and of all saints and whatsoever good thou hast done and whatsoever Evil thou hast suffered be to thee for the remission of sins the encrease of grace and the reward of Eternal Life And now let the Reader judge if this be not to give the Creature that Worship that 's due only to the Creator and to seek to obtain those blessings from finite Beeings and through their procurement which only Almighty God and his blessed Son Christ Jesus can give unto Men. 3. 'T is the Doctrine of the church of Rome that Mental Prayers as well as Vocal are to be put up to Voce vel mente Supplicare Saints departed So the Trent-Council decreed so their Bishops and Pastors are enjoyned to teach the People and so they practise this being a form of Prayer to Saints in frequent use amongst them With the desire of our Hearts we pray unto you regard the ready service of our minds So that according to them Saints departed do not only hear our Prayers but know our Hearts also and indeed this is necessarily implied in every Prayer that 's made to them viz. That they not only hear the Prayer but know the disposition of the Heart from whence it proceeds otherwise the Hypocritical Supplicant must be supposed as likely to obtain their favour as the Sincerest Votary 4. They not only Pray to them with Mental and Vocal Prayer but They confess their sins to
Credulity is certainly a fault as well as Infidelity And he who said blessed are they that have not seen and yet have believed hath no where said blessed are they that have seen and yet have not believed much less blessed are they that believe directly contrary to what they see To conclude this Discourse By what hath been said upon this Argument it will appear with how little truth and reason and regard to the interest of our common Christianity it is so often said by our Adversaries that there are as good arguments for the belief of Transubstantiation as of the Doctrine of the Trinity When they themselves do acknowledge with us that the Doctrine of the Trinity is grounded upon the Scriptures and that according to the interpretation of them by the consent of the ancient Fathers But their Doctrine of Transubstantiation I have plainly shewn to have no such ground and that this is acknowledged by very many learned men of their own Church And this Doctrine of theirs being first plainly proved by us to be destitute of all Divine Warrant and Authority our Objections against it from the manifold contradictions of it to Reason and sense are so many Demonstrations of the falsehood of it Against all which they have nothing to put in the opposite Scale but the Infallibility of their Church for which there is even less colour of proof from Scripture then for Transubstantiation it self But so fond are they of their own Innovations and Errours that rather then the Dictates of their Church how groundless and absurd soever should be call'd in question rather then not have their will of us in imposing upon us what they please they will owerthrow any Article of the Christian Faith and shake the very foundations of our common Religion A clear evidence that this Church of Rome is not the true Mother since she can be so well contented that Christianity should be destroyed rather then the Point in question should be decided against her FINIS A DISCOURSE Concerning the ADORATION OF THE HOST As it is Taught and Practiced in the CHURCH of ROME Wherein an Answer is given to T. G. oâ— that Subject And to Monsieut Boileau's late book De Adoratione Eucharistiae Paris 1685. EDINEVRGH Re-printed by John Reid Anno DOM 1686. A DISCOURSE OF THE ADORATION Of the HOST c. IDolatry is so great a Blot in any Church what ever other glorious Marks it may pretend to that it is not to be wondred that the Church of Rome is very angry to be charged with it as it has alwayes been by all the Reform'd who have given in this among many others as a just and necessary Reason of their Reformation and it must be confessed to be so if it be fully and clearly made good against it and if it be not it must be owned to be great Uncharitableness on the other side which is no good Note of a Church neither as grievous Slander and most uncharitable Calumny which will fall especially upon all the Clergy of the Church of England who by their Consent and Subscription to its Articles and to the Doctrine of its Homilies and to the Book of Common Prayer do expresly join in it For it is not the private Opinion only of some particular and forward men in their Zeal and Heat against Popery thus to accuse it of Idolatry but it is the deliberate and sober and downright Charge of the Church of England of which no honest man can be a Member and Minister who does not make and believe it I might give several Instances to shew this but shall only mention one wherein I have undertaken to defend our Church in its charge of Idolatry upon the Papists in their Adoration of the Host which is in its Declaration about Kneeling at the Sacrament after the Office of the Communion in which are these remarkeable words It is hereby declared that no Adoration is intended or ought to be done either unto the sacramental Bread and Wine there bodily received or unto any corporal presence of Christs natural Flesh and Blood for the Sacramental Bread and Wine remain still in their natural substances and therefore may not be adored for that were Idolatry to be abhorred of all faithful Christians Here it most plainly declares its mind against that which is the Ground and Foundation of their Worshipping the Host That the Elements do not remain in their natural Substances after Consecration if they do remain as we and all Protestants hold even the Lutherians then in Worshipping the consecrated Elements they worship meer Creatures and are by their own Confession guilty of Idolatry as I shall shew by and by and if Christs natural Flesh and Blood â—e not corporally present there neither with the Substance nor Signs of the Elements then the Adoring what there is most be the Adoring some things else then Christs body and if Bread only be there and they adore that which is there they must surely adore the Bread it self in the opinion of our Church but I shall afterwards state the Controversie more exactly between us Our Church has here taken notice of the true Issue of it and declared that to be false and that it is both Unfit and Idolatrous too to Worship the Elements upon any account after Consecration and it continued of the same mind and exprest iâ— is particularly and directly in the Canons of 1640. where it sayes a Canon 7. 1640. about placing the Communion Table under this head A Declaration about some Rites and Ceremonis That for the cause of the Idolatry committed in the Mass all Popish Altars were demolish'd so that none can more fully charge them with Idolatry in this point then our Church has done It recommends at the same time but with great Temper and Moderation the religious Gesture of bowing towards the Altar both before and out of the time of Celebration of the Holy Eucharist and in it and in neither a Ib. can 7. 1â—40 Vpon any opinion of a corporal presence of Christ on the Holy Table or in the mystical Elements but only to give outward and bodily as well as inward worship to the Divine Majesty and it commands all Persons to receive the Sacrament Kneeling b Rubric at Communion in a posture of Adoration as the Primitive Church used to do with the greatest Expression of Reverence and Humility tropo proskynesios kai sebasmatos St. Cyrill of Hierusalem speaks c Cyril Hierosolym Catech. Mystag 5. and as I shall shew is the meaning of the greatest Authorities they produce out of the Ancients for Adoration not to but at the Sacrament so far are we from any unbecoming or irreverent usage of that Mystery as Bellarmine d Controv. de Eucharist when he is angry with those who will not Worship it tells them out of Optatus that the Donatists gave it to Dogs and out of Victor Vticencis that the Arriaâ—s trod it under their Feet
Dead after this Life Heaven and Hell the first for good the latter for evil Men one for the Beliver the other for the Infidel Heaven is for him whose sins are remitted and Hell is for him whose siâ—s are retained Indeed some Ancient Doctours did seem to doubt what that place was which the Souls of Men did abide in till they should be reunited to their bodies in the Resurrection supposing for a while they lay under the Altars But afterwards the Church of Rome found it more profitable to build for them this place of Purgatory a place wherein she pretends the Souls of Men are cleansed by Burning and made fit for Heaven For as soon as the World was put into a great Fright about purgatory then came in the sale of Indulgences which the subtile Priests put off for securities against the vain fears and dangers to be met withall in this place This indeed is a Doctrine of good advantage to the Church of Rome but most disgracefull to the Christian Religion for what can be more so then to defraud Christ himself of the Title and Merit which he ever had of being The only Redeemer of Mankind as if he had not by his Sacrifice on the Cross fully satisfied the Divine Justice but that this great work was to be done by Pope's Bulls Indulgence and Masses But for all this we will oblidge our selves to believe the Roman Consessours if they can from Scripture Reason or untainted Tradition shew us where God hath told Men tha he is pleased with these things and is resolved to accept of them instead of a good and Christian Life For this was alwayes the Faith of the Primitive Church that the state and condition of a Man into which he passeth after Death shall never be changed this I could prove out of Justin Martyr ad Orthodoxos and out of St. Cyprian ad Demetrianum but my Design is not to fill this brief Discourse with Quotations and indeed there is no necessity for it because we have Scripture the common sense of Mankind and the Faith of the best and purest Ages on our side Wherefore in the third place I will shew what our Belief ought to be in this matter We all know very well that we are to believe as the Scripture directs and herein we are taught that Heaven and Hell are fixed for the two Eternal States of good and bad Men who if after this Life they had any hopes of gaining the first or escaping the latter by the Prayers or the Gifts of their surviving Friends this expectation would in a great measure frustrate the intent of Christ's coming into the World which was to teach Men how in this present Life they must work out their Salvation how through patient continuance in well doing they must here be brought to goodness and real vertue the practice whereof in all probability woud be quite laid aside if they should depend upon such foolish hopes as these are If we do but consider the reason of these promises and threatnings which GOD makes use of in Scripture to reclaim the Disobedient we must be convinced that there can be no such place as Purgatory For promises and threatnings are made use of in Scripture to work upon our hopes and fears two the most prevailing passions of the mind we have the promise of present assistance to encourage our endeavours in a vertuous life and to make this work the more easie we have the assurance of a future reward Whereas Religion would be thought in its strictest duties to be a burthen too heavy for Men to bear if so be they should once entertain the hopes of getting Heaven by such cheap and easie methods as the Church of Rome prescribes Persons that are her Proselytes will not be wrought upon by that fear which is the proper product of the threatnings of the Gospel when the most dreadfull condition that can be feared hereafter may be avoyded as they think by the charms of Masses or some legacy to the Church But these are cunningly divised Fables which the Scripture warns us of which Gospel because of the terrours of it is said to be the mighty power of God to salvation For great fear makes difficulties easie it awakens all our powers and quickens all our motions it turns our feet into wings and enables Men to doe many things with ease which without so strong a motive they would never be perswaded to attempt The lively apprehension of the danger of their Souls and the sad issues of a wicked life is enough to make the most profane Man stop his course it will incite him to summon all his powers to resist so great a mischief as will undoe him for ever Besides the Commands of God are exceedingly sweetned by Love by all the imaginale obligations of Kindness when we have considered how undutifully we have demeaned our selves towards him who is the great Benefactor of our life who hath recovered us from eternal destruction with how much long suffering he hath expected to our amendment what means he hath used to reconcile us to himself by sending his onely Son to dye that we might live to be made a Spectacle of misery and contempt that he might bring us to happiness and glory he onely hath delivered us from Wrath and the Tormentour when we lay open to the revenge of God's Justice If we have any sense of benefits we cannot chuse but love and obey him who hath done so much to oblidge us for his whole Religion presents such arguments and considerations to us as are apt to stir up all those passions in our hearts which are the great instruments to action these are our hope fear and love But the workings of these passions must needs be stifled by a lazy superstitious devotion I mean that devotion of the Papists which is produced by a belief of such dreams as Purgatory Let us therefore that are Protestants consider that the main work we are to doe in the time of this life is to prepare for our immortal state for the time of this life is the day of exercise wherein we are to make tryal of our strength and with all our powers to labour for Heaven the way to which place ly right before us it is strait and narrow so that we must use some care and diligence that we turn not to the right nor to the left the wayes of Popery are like the paths of sin crooked and full of windings through Cells and Cloysters in long Processions and Pilgrimages wherewith Men are rather perplexed then their minds are improved or their lives made better by the practice of these things they are brought off from the true meaning of the Christian Religion and learn at last to content themselves with pompous shews instead of living righteously godly and soberly in this present World For how can the ends of Religion be accomplished by this course when in the place of justice honesty and goodness
this there is a constant use of Confession and Absolution too in the Church of England in every dayes Service which though they be both in general terms as they ought to be in publick Worship yet every Penitent can both from his own conscience supply the generality of the confession by a remorseful reflection upon his own particular sins as well as if he did it at the knees of a Priest and also by an Act of Faith can apply the general Sentence of Absolution to his own Soul with as good and comfortable effects as if it had been specially pronounced by his Confessor But this publick confession doth not please the Romanists neither and they know a Reason for their dislike namely because this doth not conciliate so great a Veneration to the Priest-hood as when all men are brought to kneel to them for Salvation Neither doth this way make them to pry into the secret thoughts of Men as Auricular confession doth wherein the Priest is not only made a Judge of mens estate but a Spy upon their behaviour and is capable of becoming an Intelligencer to his Superiours of all the Designs Interests and even constitutions of the People Moreover the church of England allows of private confessions also as particularly in the Visitation of the sick which office extends also to them that are troubled in Mind or conscience as well as to the afflicted in Body where the Minister is directed to examine particularly the state of the Decumbents soul to search and romage his conscience to try his Faith his Repentance his Charity nay to move him to make a special confession of his sins and afterwards to absolve him upon just grounds Nay farther yet if besides the case of sickness any Man shall either out of perplexity of Mind scrupulosity or remorse of conscience or any other devout consideration think it needfull to apply himself to a Priest of the church of England for advice ease or relief he hath incouragement and direction so to do in the first Exhortation to the Holy communion and may be sure to find those who will tenderly and faithfully as well as secretly administer to his necessities So that I see not what defect or omission can be objected to this church in all this Affair or what Temptation any Man can have upon this account to go from us to the church of Rome But all this will not satisfy them of the Church of Rome they are neither contented with publick confession nor with private no nor with secret neither if it be only occasional or voluntary It is the universality and necessity of it which they insist upon for it is not with them a Matter of Ecclesiastical Discipline to prevent the Scandal of the Society to conserve the Reverence of the Church or to restrain men from sinning or much less an Office of Expediency and Prudence to be resorted to upon exigencies or such as may accidentally become necessary upon emergency as suppose upon the â—trocity of some fact committed the scandalousness of some persons former life which may make him more doubtful of his Pardon the weakness of his Judgment the Melancholy of his Temper or the Anxiety of his Mind or any such like occasion but it must be the standing indispensable duty of all men as the condition of the Pardon of their Sins in one word it must be a Sacrament of Divine institution and of Universal Obligation For so the Council of Trent determines Sess 4. canon 1. Si quis dixerit in Ecclesia catholica poenitentiam non esse vere proprie Sacramentum pro fidelibus quoties post Baptismum in peccata labentur ipsi Deo reconciliandis a Domino nostro institutum Anathema sit i. e. Let him be accursed who shall affirm that Penance is not truly and properly a Sacrament instituted and appointed in the Universal Church by our Lord Christ himself for the reconciling those Christians to the Divine Majesty who have fallen into Sin after their Baptism And in the Doctrinal part of that Decree they teach and assert more particularly First That our Saviour instituted this Sacrament expresly Joh. 20. 22. 2. That this Sacrament consists of two parts viz. The Matter and the Form the matter Sess 14. Cap. 2. of the Sacrament or quasi materia as they cautiously speak is the act or acts of the Penitent namely contrition confession and Satisfaction the Form of it is the act of the Priest in these words Absolvote 3. That therefore it is the duty of every Man cap. 3. who hath fallen after Baptism as aforesaid to confess his sins at least once a year to a Priest 4. That this confession is to be secret for publick cap. 5. confession they say is neither commanded nor expedient 5. That this confession of Mortal sin be very Ibid. exact and particular together with all circumstances especially such as speciem facti mutant alter the kind or degree of sin and that it extend to the most secret sins even of thought or against the 9th and 10th Commandment Ibid. 9. That the Penitent thus doing the Absolution of the Priest here upon pronounced is not Cap. 6. conditional or declarative only but absolute and judicial Now in opposition to this Doctrine and Decree of theirs and the practice of that Church pursuant thereof as well as in defence of the Doctrine and practice of the Church of England in that particular I will here endeavour to make good these Three things 1. That our blessed Lord and Saviour hath neither in his Gospel instituted such an Auricular Confession as aforesaid nor much less such a Sacrament of Penance as the Church of Rome supposes in the recited Decree 2. That Auricular Confession hath not been of constant and universal use in the Christian Church as the Romanists pretend much less looked upon as of Sacramental and necessary Obligation 3. That Auricular confession as it is now used in the Church of Rome is not only unneceslary and burdensome but in many respects very mischievous to Piety and the great ends of Christian Religion If the first of these appear to be true then at the worst the want of such an Auricular confession in the reformed Churches can be but an irregularity and no essential defect If the second of these assertions be made good then it can be no defect at all in those Churches that use not such a Rite but a novely and imposition on their parts who so strictly require it But if the third be true it will be the corruption and great fault of the Church of Rome to persevere in the injunction and practice of it and the excellency and commendation of those Churches which exclude it I begine with the first that it doth not appear that our Saviour hath instituted such an Auricular Confession of such a Sacrament of Penance as the Church of Rome pretends and practises I confess it is a Negative which I
much to her Honour to be singular where there was so much Prudence and Piety to have inclined her to Uniformity However this is gained which is my point that the Church of Rome is noâ— countenanced in her practice of private and clancular confessions by the general usage of the Church as they pretend 3. I observe concerning this Office of Penitentiary that as it was erected upon prudential considerations so it was upon the same grounds abolished by the same Authority of the church which first instituted it and that after about Two hundred years continuance in the time of Nectarius as we have seen and therein he was followed saith Sozomen by almost all the Bishops and Churches in the World this therefore was far from being thought either a Divine or Apostolical constitution Petavius would here perswade us that it was only publick confession and not private which was upon this occasion so generally laid aside as we have seen but this is done by him more out of tenderness of Auricular Confession then upon good reason and Valesius goes beyond him and will needs perswade us that neither publick nor privat Confession were put down in this juncture but only that the lately erected Officer of Penetentiary was cashier'd but I must crave leave to say there is no sufficient reason for either of these conjectures but on the contrary plain Evidence against them for Socrates who is the first and principal relater of this whole story saith he was personally acquainted with this Presbyter Eudaemon who gave the advice to Nectarius to make this change in the Discipline of the Church and that he had the aforesaid relation of it from his own Mouth and expostulated with him about it giving his reasons to the contrary and suggested his suspicions that the state of Piety would be much endamaged by this change and in plain words tells him that he had now â—erest men of assistance in the conduct of their Consciences and hindred the great benefit men have or might have one of another by priâ—â—â— advice and correption Now this fear of his had been the absurd est thing in the World if upon this counsel and advice of his only one certain Man in the Office of publick Confessioner had been laid aside but both the use of publick and privat Confessions had been kept up and retained But after all for ought appears the Church of Rome kept her old Mumpsimus she tenacious of her own customs especially of such as may advance her Interest and Authority complies not with this Innovation or Reformation be it for better or worse but her Priests go on with their Confessions and turn all Religion almost into Clancular Transactions in despight of the example of other Churches It may be she met with opposition sometimes but she was forced to disemble it till the Heriock Age of the School-Men and then those lusty Champions with their Fustian-stuff of vidâ—t ur quod sic probatur quod non make good all her pretensions After them in the year 1215 comes the Fourth Lateran Council and that decrees Auricular Confession to be made by every body once a year at the least and last of all comes the Council of Trent and declares it to be of Divine Institution necessary to Salvation and the constant and universal custom of the Christian Church And so we have the Pedegree of the Romish Auricular Confession Sect. 4. I come now to the third and last Stage of my undertaking which is to shew that Secret or Auricular Confession as it is now prescribed and practised in and by the Church of Rome is not only unnecessary and burdensome in it self but also very mischievous to Piety and the great ends of Christian Religion For the former part of this charge if it be not evident enough already it will be easily made out from the Premises for they cannot deny that they make this kind of Confession necessary to Salvation at least as necessary as Baptism it self is supposing a Man hath sinned after Baptism now if it be neither made so by Divine Institution nor acknowledged to be so by the constant Opinion of the Church what an horrible imposition is here upon the Consciences of Men when in the highest and worst sense that can be they teach for Doctrines the commandements of Men and make Salvation harder then GOD hath made it and suspend mens hopes upon other terms then he hath done if it was prescribed by the present Church as a matter of Order and Discipline only or of convenience and expediency we should never boggle at it upon this account or dispute the point with them or if it was only declared necessary pro hic nunc upon extraordinary emergency by the peculiar condition of the Penitent his weakness of Jugdment the perplexity of his Conscience his horrible guilt or extreme Agonies we would not differ with them upon that neither but when it is made necessary universally and declared the indispensable duty of all men whatsoever who have sinned after Baptism when GOD hath required no such â—hing but declares himself â—atisfied with true contrition and hearty remorse for what is past and sincere Reformation for the time to come this I say is an intolerable Tyranny and usurpation upon the consciences of Men. And that is not all neither for besides its burdensomness in the general it particularly aggravates and increases a Mans other burdens for insteed of relieving perplexed consciences which is the true and principal use of confessions to men this Priestly confession as it is prescribed by the Council intangles and afflicts them more for that enjoyns that the Penitent lay open all his sins even the most secret although but in thought or desire only such as against the Ninth or Tenth commandement according to their Division of the Decalogue now this is many times difficult enough but that 's not all he must also recount all the circumstances of these sins which may increase or diminish the guilt especially such as alter the species and kind of sin Now what sad work is here for a Melancholy Man All the circumstances are innumerable and how can he tell which are they that change the species of the Act unless he be as great a School-man as his Confessor Besides all his it may be he is not very skilful in the distinction between Venial and Mortal sins and if he omit one Mortal sin he is undonâ— therefore it is necessary for him by consequence to confess all Venial sins too and then where shall the poor Man begin or when shall he make an end Such a Carnificina such a rack and torture in a word such an holy Inquisition is this business of Auricular confession become And that eminent Divine of Strasburgh of whom Beatus Rhenanus speaks seems very well to have understood both himself and this matter who pronounces that Scotus and Thomas had with their tricks and subâ—ilties so perplexed this plain