from what hath been now said That there being so little credit to be given to the Roman Church onely we cannot receive those Doctrines of Truth which that Church now presses upon our belief upon the account of Tradition For instance That the Church of Rome is the Mother and Mistriss of all other Churches That the Pope of Rome is the Monarch or Head of the universal visible Church That all Scriptures must be expounded according to the sense of this Church That there are truly and properly seven Sacraments neither more nor less instituted by our blessed Lord himself in the New Testament That there is a proper and propiciatory Sacrifice offered in the Mass for the quick and dead the same that Christ offered on the Cross In short the half communion and all the rest of the Articles of their New Faith in the Creed published by Pope Pius IV. which are Traditions of the Roman Church alone not of the Universal and rely solely upon their own Authority And therefore we refuse them and in our Disputes about Traditions we mean these things which we reject because they have no foundation either in the holy Scripture or in universal Tradition but depend as I said upon the sole Authority of that Church which witnesses in its own behalf For whatsoever is pretended to make the better shew all resolves at last into that as I intimated in the beginning of this Discourse Scripture and Tradition can do nothing at all for them without their Churches definition Though their whole infallible Rule of Faith seem to be made up of those three yet in truth the last of these alone the Churches definition is the whole Rule and the very bottom upon which their Faith stands For what is Tradition is no more apparent then what is Scripture according to their Principles without the Authority of their church which pretends an unlimited power to supply the defect even of Tradition it self In short as Tradition among them is taken in to supply the defect of Scripture so the Authority of their Church is taken in to supply the defect of Tradition But this Authority undermines them both because neither Scripture nor Tradition signifie any thing without their Churches Authority Which therefore is the Rule of their Faith that is they believe themselves To which absurdity they are driven because it is made evident by us that there have been great diversities of Traditions and many changes and alterations made even in things called Apostolical c. And therefore they have no other way but to fly to the judgment of the present Church to determine what are Traditions Apostolical and what are not by which Judgment all mankind must be governed that is we must believe them and they believe themselves which they would have done well to have said in one word without putting us to the trouble of seeking for Traditions in Books and in other Churches But they would willingly colour their pretences by as many fair words as possible and so make mention of Scripture Tradition Antiquity which when we have examined they will not stand to them but take fanctuary in their own Authority saying They are the sole Judges what is Scripture and what Tradition and what Antiquity nay have a power to declare any new point of Faith which the Church never heard of before This is the Doctrine of Salmeron and others of his fellows That the Doctrine of Faith admits of additions in essential things For all things were not taught by the Apostles but such as were then necessary and fit for the Salvation of Believers By which means we can never know when the Christian Religion will be perfected but their Church may bring in Traditions by its sole Authority without end Nay some among them have been contented to resolve all their Faith into the sole Authority of the present Roman Bishop according to that famous saying of Cornelius Mussus promoted by Paul the Third to a Bishoprick upon the fourteenth Chapter to the Romans To confess the truth ingenuously I would give greater credit to one Pope in those things which touch the mysteries of Faith then to a thousand Hierom's Austin's Gregory's to say nothing of Richard's Scotus's c. For I believe and know that the Pope cannot erre in matters of Faith Which contemptuous Speech he would never have uttered to the discredit of those greatmen whom they pretend to reverence if he had not known more certainly that the Tradition which runs among the ancient Fathers is against them then he could know the Pope to be infallible There is no Tradition I am sure for that nor for abundance of other things which rest merely upon their own credit as is fairly acknowledged in two great Articles of their present Creed by our Countrey-man Bishop Fisher with whose words I conclude this particular Many perhaps have the less confidence in Indulgences because their use seems to have been newer in the Church and very lately found among Christians To whom I answer that it doth not appear certainly by whom they began to be first delivered For the Ancients make no mention or very rare of Purgatory and the Greeks to this very day do not believe it nor was the belief either of Purgatory or of Indulgences so necessary in the Primitive Church as it is new And as long as there was no care about Purgatory no body sought for Indulgences for all their esteem depends upon that If you take away Purgatory to what purpose are Indulgences Since therefore Purgatory was so lately known and received in the Catholick Church who can wonder that there was no use of Indulgences in the beginning of our Religion Which is a full Confession what kind of Traditions that Church commends unto us things lately invented their own private Opinions of which the ancient Christians knew nothing In one word their Tradition is no Tradition in that sense wherein the Church alwayes understood it IV. And what hath been said of them must be applied to other particular Churches though some have been more sincere then they None of them hath any Authority to commend any thing as an Article of Faith unto Posterity which hath not been commended to them by all foregoing Ages derived from the Apostles For Vincentius his Rule is to guide us all in this That is Catholick and consequently to be received which hath been held by all and in all churches and at all times V. Which puts me in mind of another thing to be briefly touched that the Ecclesiastical Tradition contained in the Confessions or Registers of particular Churches in these days wherein we live is not received by us nor allowed to have the same Authority which such Tradition had at the time of the Nicene Council for the conviction of Heresie The joynt consent I mean of so many Bishops as were there assembled and the unanimous Confessions of so many several Churches of several Provinces as were there delivered hath not
miraculous signs of their Apostolical Office And if they had not had such Assurance themselves and could not have given proof to others of their mission there would have been a defect in the first promulgation of the Gospel and such as could not afterwards have been amended That which at first had been delivered with uncertainty would with greater uncertainty have been conveighed down to after Ages and Men who in process of time graft error upon certain Truth would much more have grafted error upon uncertain Opinion Ever since the Apostles times there has been True Faith and the Profession of it in the Catholick Church And it will be so till Faith shall expire and Men shall see him on whom they before believ'd For a Church cannot subsist without the Fundamentals of Christianity And Christ hath Sealed this Truth with his promise that there shall be a Church as long as this World continues * S. Mat. 28. 20. I mean by a Church a visible Society of Christians both Ministers and People for publick Worship on Earth cannot be invisible But the True Faith and the Profession of it is not fixed to any place or to any succession of Men in it God's Providence has written the contrary in the very Ashes of the Seven Churches of the lesser Asia Neither is any particular Church though so far infallible in Fundamentals as to be preserved from actual error an infallible Rule to all other Christians If they follow the Doctrine of it they erre not because it is true but if they follow that Church as an unerring Guide or Canon they mistake in the Rule and Motive of their Faith For that particular Church which Teacheth Truth might possibly have err'd and the Church which erres might have shined with the True Light But the whole Church cannot erre in any Age for then the very being of a Church would cease Neither doth it hence follow that the Faith of the Roman Church when Luther arose was the only true and certain Doctrine For that Church was not then the only visible Church on Earth The Greek Church for instance sake was then more visible than now it is and more Orthodox The Rich Papacy having much prevailed upon the necessities of it by Arguments guilded with Interest That Church did not erre in Fundamental Points the Article of the Procession of the Holy Ghost from the Father by the Son which the Romans accuse of Heresie being easily acquitted of it if Men agreeing in the sense forbear contention about the Phrases Besides if our Fore-Fathers under the Papacy embraced the True Faith we have it still the Faith not being removed but the Corruption Their Question therefore Where was your Religion before Luther is not more pertinent amongst Disputers than this amongst Husbandmen Where was the Corn before it was weeded We have seen that necessary Faith is perpetual and it is as Prop. II manifest that wheresoever God requireth the belief of it he vouchsafeth sufficient means for information and unerring Assent Of all he does not require this belief for to all the Gospel is not preached and where it is preached there are Infants and Persons of Age so distempered in Mind as to remain unavoidably Children in understanding And though thâ— same sum of Doctrines is generally necessary to Salvation yet the Creed of all men is not of equal length seing they have unequal capacities But wheresoever there is a particular Society of Men who call themselves a Church yet erre actually in the necessary Articles of the Faith it is certain they were not forced into that error for want of external means For the Just Judge of the World would never have required Unity in the Faith upon pain of his Eternal displeasure if he had not given to Men Power sufficient for such Unity No Tyranâ— on Earth has been guilty of such undisguised injustice as that is which maketh a Law for the punishment of the Blind because they miss their way The Articles of Christian Religion come not to the Mind by natural reason but by Faith and Faith comes by hearing or reading and where these means are not offered a Man is rather an Ignorant Person then an Unbeliever Wherefore our Saviour told the perverse Jews * Joh. 15. 22 23. that if the Messiah had never been revealed to them they had not been answerable for the Sin of Infidelity But that since he was come to them and by them despised their Infidelity was blackned with great aggravation The means then are sufficient wheresoever the end Prop. III. is absolutely required but whatsoever those means are the Act of Assent is to be utlimately resolved into each Mans Personal reason For no Man can believe or assent but upon some ground or motive which appears credible to him He could not believe unless he had some reason or other why he believed When all is done said Mr. Thorndike * To the Reader of the Dis of Govern of Churches Men must and will be Judges for themselves I do not quote the saying because it is extraordinary but because that Learned Man said it who was careful to pay to Authority its minutest dues If a man believe upon Authority he hath a farther reason for the believing of it He is not willing to take Pains in examining that which is proposed to him or he thinks himself of less Ability in understanding then those from whom he borrows his Light If he desireth another to judge for him his choice is determined by the Opinion he hath conceived of him Every Man has his reason though it be a weak one and such as cannot justify it self or him Something at last turns the Ballance though it be but a Feather This the Romanists own as well as the Reformed till it toucheth them in the case of a new Convert To induce a Man of another particular Church to embrace their Communion they submit these weighty points to his private Judgement What is a True Church and which are the marks of it What is the Roman Church And whither the marks of the True Church do only belong unto the Roman What Men or what Books spâ—â—k the sense of that Church They tell us †R. H. Guide in Controv. in Pref. p. 3. That the Light of a Man 's own reason first serves him so far as to the discovery of a Guide Also that in this discovery the Divine Providence hath left it so clear and evident that a sincere and unbyassed quest cannot miscarry But when once this Guide is found ouâ— the Man is afterwards for all other things that are prescribed by this Guide to subject and resign his reason As if it were not as difficult to judge of such a Guide as of his direction It seems the Roman Church is like a Cave into which a Man has Light enough to enter but when once he is entred he is in thick Darkness But how subservient soever our reason may be
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
pretends to be a part of GOD's Word were delivered to us by as universal uncontroulled Tradition as the Scripture is we should receive it as we do the Scripture But it appears plainly that such things were at first but private Opinions which now are become the Doctrines of that particular Church who would impose her Decrees upon us under the Venerable Name of Apostolical Universal Tradition which I have shewn you hath been an ancient Cheat and that we ought not to be so easie as to be deceived by it But to be very wary and afraid of trusting the Traditions of such a Church as hath not only perverted some abolished others and pretended them where there hath been none but been a very unfaithful preserver of them and that in matters of great moment where there were some and lastly warrants those which it pretends to have kept by nothing but its own infallibility For which there is no Tradition but much against it even in the Orignal Tradition the holy Scriptures which plainly suppose the Roman Church may not only erre but utterly fall and be cut off from the Body of Christ as they that please may read who will consult the Eleventh Chapter to the Romans v. 20 21 22. Of which they are in the greater danger because they proudly claim so high a Prerogative as that now mentioned directly contrary to the Apostolical Admonition in that place Be not high minded but fear CONCLUSION I Shall end this Discourse with a brief Admonition relating to our Christian Practice And what is there more proper or more seasonable then this While we reject all spurious Traditions let us be sure to keep close to the genuine and true Let us hold them fast and not let them go Let us not not dispute our selves out of all Religion while we condemn that which is false nor break all Christian Discipline and Order because we cannot submit to all humane Impositions In plain words let us not throw off Episcopacy together with the Papal Tyranny We ought to be the more careful in observing the Divine Tradition delivered to us in the Scripture and according to the Scripture because we are not bound to other While we contend against the half Communion let us make a conscience to receive the whole frequently It looks like Faction rather then Religion to be earnest for that which we mean not to use In like manner while we look upon additions to the Scripture as vain let us not neglect to read and ponder those holy Writtings When we reject Purgatory as a Fable let us really dread Hell-fire And while we do not tye our selves to all usages that have been in the Church let us be carful to observe first all the substantial Duties of Righteousness Charity Sobriety and Godliness which are unquestionably delivered to us by our LORD himself and his holy Apostles and secondlie all the Ordinances of the Church wherein we live which are not contrary to the Word of GOD. For so hath the same Divine Authority delivered that the people should obey those that are their Guides and Governours submitting themselves to their authority and avoiding all contention with them as most undecent in it self and pernicious to Religion which suffers extreamly when neither Ecclesiastical Authority nor Ecclesiastical Custom can end disputes about Rites and Ceremonies Read 1 Thess 5. 12. Heb. 13. 17. 1 Cor. 11. 16. and read such places as you ought to do all the other Scriptures till your hearts be deeply affected with them For be admonished in the last place of this which is of general use and must never be forgotten because we shall lose the benefit of that Coelestial Doctrine which is delivered unto us if we do not strictly observe itâ— That as this Evangelical Doctrine is delivered down to us so we must be delivered up to it Thus St. Paul teaches us to speak in 6. Rom. 17. where he thanks GOD that they who formerly had been servants of sin did now obey from the heart that form of Doctrine unto which they were delivered So the words run in the Greek as the Margin of our Bibles inform you cis bon paredothnie This is the Tradition which we must be sure to retain and hold fast above all other as that without which all our belief will be ineffectual This is the very end for which all Divine Truth is delivered unto us that we may be delivered and make a surrender of our selves unto it Observe the force of the Apostles words which tell us first that there was a certain form of Christian Doctrine which the Apostles taught compared here to a mould so the word Typos form may be translated into which Mettal or such-like matter is cast that it may receive the figure and shape of that mould 2. Now he compares the Roman Christians to such ductile pliable matter they being so delivered or cast into this form or mould of Christian Doctrine that they were intirely framed and fashioned according to it and had all the lineaments as I may say of it expressed upon their souls 3. And having so received it they were obedient to it for without this all the impressions which by knowledge of Faith were made upon their souls were but an imperfect draught of what was intended in the Christian Tradition 4. And it was hearty obedience sincere compliance with the Divine Will such obedience as became those who understood their Religion to be a great deliverance and liberty from the slavery of sin before spoken of into the happy freedom of the service of God 5. All which lastly he ascribes to the grace of God which had both delivered to them that Doctrine and drawn them to deliver up themselves to it made their hearts soft and ductile to be cast into that mould and quickned them to Christian Obedience and given them a willing mind to obey chearfully All this was from God's grace and not their merits and therefore the thanks was to be ascribed to him who succeeds and blesses all pious endeavours Now according to this pattern let us frame our selves who blessed be God have a form of Doctrine delivered to us in this Church exactly agreeable to the holy Scriptures which lie open before us and we are exhorted not onely to look into them but we feel that grace which hath brought them to us clearly demonstrating that we ought to be formed according to the holy Doctrine therein delivered by the delivery of our selves to it By the delivery of our mind that is to think of God and our selves and of our duty in every point just as this instructs us And by the delivery of our wils and affections to be governed and regulated according to its directions And when we have consented to this we find the Divine grace representing to us the necessity of an hearty obedience to what we know and believe and have embraced as the very Truth of God To this we are continually drawn
Imprimatur February 15th 1686. Jo. Edinburgh A COLLECTION OF DISCOURSES Lately Written by some DIVINES of the CHURCH OF ENGLAND AGAINST THE ERROURS and CORRUPTIONS OF THE Church OF Rome To which is prefix'd a Catalogue of the several Discourses EDINBVRGH Re-Printed by John Reid for Thomas Brown Gideon Schaw Alexander Ogston and George Mosman Stationers to be sold at their Shops Anno DOM. 1687 THE CATALOGUE Of the DISCOURSES contained in this Book I. A Discourse concerning the Guide in Matters of Faith with Respect especially to the Romish pretence of the necessity of such an One as is infallible Page 1 II. The Protestants Resolution of Faith being an Answer to three Questions First How far we must depend on the Authority of the Church for the true sense of the Scripture Secondly 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 Thirdly Whither the Church of England can make out such a Visible Succession Page 31 III. A Discourse about the Charge of Novelty upon the Reformed Church of England made by the Papists asking of us the Question Where was our Religion before Luther Page 57 IV. A Discourse about Tradition shewing what is mean'd by it and what Tradition is to be Received and what Tradition is to be rejected Page 82 V. A Discourse concerning the Vnity of the Catholick Church maintained in the Church of England Page 117 VI. A Discourse concerning the Object of Religious Worship or a Scripture proof of the unlawfulness of givng any Religious Worship to any other Beeing besides the One supreme GOD. Page 158 VII A Discourse concerning the Celebration of Divine Service in an unknown Tongue Page 212 VIII A Discourse concerning the Devotions of the Church of Rome especially as compared with those of the Church of England in which is shewn that what ever the Romanists pretend there is not so true Devotion amongst them nor such a Rational Provision for it nor encouragement to it as in the Church established by Law among Vs Page 250 IX A Discourse concerning Invocation of Saints Page 295 X. A Discourse against Transubstantiation Page 345 XI A Discourse concerning the Adoration of the Host as it is taught and practised in the Church of Rome wherein an Answer is given to T. G. on that subject and to Monsuer Boileau's late Book de Adoratione Eucharistiae Paris 1685. Page 375 XII A Discourse against Purgatory Page 421 XIII A Discourse concerning Auricular Confession as it is prescribed by the Council of Trent and practised in the Church of Rome With a Postscript on occasion of a Book lately Printed in France called Historia Confessionis Auricularis Page 447. FINIS A DISCOURSE CONCERNING A GUIDE IN MATTERS OF FAITH THE design of this Discourse is the Resolution of the following Query Whither a Man who liveth where Christianity is The Question professed and refuseth to submit his judgment to the Infallibility of any Guide on Earth and particularly to the Church or Bishop of Rome hath notwithstanding that refusal sufficient means still left him whereby he may arrive at certainty in those Doctrines which are generally necessary to the Salvation of a Christian Man Satisfaction in this Inquiry is of great Moment For The moment of this Question it relateth to our great end and to the way which leads to it And it nearly concerneth both the Romanists and the Reformed If there be not such a Guide the Estate of the Romanists is extreamly dangerous For then the Blind take the Blind for their unerring Leaders and being once misled they wander on without correcting their Error having taken up this first as their fixed Principle that their Guide cannot mistake the way On the other hand If God hath set up in his Church a Light so very clear and steddy as is pretended the Reformed are guilty of great presumption and expose themselves to great uncertainty by shutting their Eyes against it Now there lyes before Men a double Temptation to a belief The Temptations to believe the Affirmative part of this Question of the being of such a Guide in the Christian Church Sloth and Vitious Humility of mind Sloth inclineth Men rather to take up in an Implicit Faith then to give themselves the trouble of a strict Examination of things For there is less Pain in Credâ—lity then in bending of the Head by long and strict Attention and severe Study Also there is a Shew of Humility in the deference which our understandings pay unto Authority especially to that which pretends to be under Christ Supreme on Earth Although in the paying of it without good reason fiâ—st understood Men are not Humble but Slavish But these Temptations prevail not upon honest and considerate Minds which inquire without prejudice The true Resolution of the Query after Truth and submit to the Powerful Evidence of it Such will resolve the Question in the Affirmative and they may reasonably so do by considering these propositions which I shall treat of in their order First The Christian Church never yet wanted nor shall it ever want either the Doctrines of necessary Faith or the Belief and Profession of them Secondly Wheresoever GOD requireth the Belief of them he giveth means sufficient for Information and unerring Assâ—nt Thirdly Whatsoever thâ—se means are every Man 's Personal reason giveth to the Mind that last Weigh which turneth Deliberation into Faith Fourthly The means which God hath given us towards necessary Faith and the ceâ—â—ainâ—y of it is nâ—t the Authority of any infallible Guide on Earth Yet Fifthly All 〈…〉 is not to be rejected in our pursuance of the 〈…〉 in the finding out or â—â—ating of which it is a very 〈…〉 Sixthly By the 〈…〉 to us the Holy Scriptures in the 〈…〉 â—â—ans sufficient to lead us to certainty 〈…〉 to â—iâ—e Eternal First 〈…〉 and Profession of the nâ—â—essâ—r 〈…〉 Faith are annexed Prop. I 〈…〉 the Chriâ—â—â—â—â— Church There â—â— but 〈…〉 and accâ—â—â—ing â—â— he saying of Leo the great * Nisi 〈…〉 Fides non est â— M Ser. 2â— If 〈…〉 at all For it cannot be contrary â—â— it seâ—â— And though it be 〈◊〉 â—et Men oâ— diâ—â—ering Creeds â—ret 〈…〉 it as the Merchants of Reliâ—â—s in the Church of 〈◊〉 shew in several places the one â—â—amless Coat of Christ †â—ee Ferrand l. 1. c. 1. Sect 4. disquis Relig. This one Faith never did nor ever shall in all places fail The Apostles were themselves without error both in their own assent to the Fundamentals of the Christian Faith and in the delivery of them They heard the Oracles of Christ from his own mouth and they were Witnesses of his Resurrection And they spake * Act. 4. 19 20. what they had seen and heard And they gave to the World Assurance of the Truth by the
Truth which when they find they will be induced to build upon them In this sense likewise though not in this alone Apostolical Men were called Lights and Pillars In the Book of the Revelation * this promise is made to â—iâ— who persevereth in his Christianity Rev. 3. 12. notwithstanding the cross which it brings upon him Him will I make a Pillar in the Temple of my God and I will write my name upon him and the name of his God and the name of the City of his God which is new Jerusalem or the Christian Church And St. Chrisostom †In 1 Cor. 9. 2. To phoâ—on Eccesion ho Themelios tes pisteos ho Stylos c gives St. Paul the Titles of the Light of the Churches the Foundation of the Faith the Pillar and Ground of Truth The Governours of the Church do ministerially exhibit Christian Truth they do not by mere Authority impose it Among the Places which are said to prove by good consequence that there is â— living Guide of Faith that in the eighteenth of St. Matthews Gospel * S. Mat. 18. 15 16 17. is the Principal There our Saviour requireth his Followers if their Brethren persisted in their offences to tell it to the Church and to esteem them no longer Members of their Society if they despised the Sentence of it From whence they conclude with strange Inadvertence that such a Decree is therefore infallible But our Lord speaks of their Brothers Trespasses against See Deut. 17. 6. them and not of his Heresie And of the Discipline and not of the Doctrine either of the Synagogue or the Church In which case if we submit even where there is error in the Sentence for Peace sake and because we are come to the last Appeal We worthily sacrifice private Good to publick Order And such Submission is sate in point of property though not in point of Doctrine for we may without Sin depart from our property but not from our Faith Now much of this that has been said in order to the explication of the foregoing places might have been well omitted if I had designed this little Discouâ—se for the use only of such Romanists as had been conversant with the writings of the Fathers For then I should have needed only to have cited those Ancients and shewed that their sense of these several places was plainly different from the modern interpretations of the Church Men of Rome And by this way of arguing they are self condemned For they fall * Launoy in Epist ad Carol magistruÌ„ ad Jacob. â—evil ad Guil. Voell ad Raeim Formentinum in S. par Epi. according to their own Rule of expounding Scripture by the unanimous consent of the Primitive Fathers who with one voice speak another sense Those who doubt of this may receive satisfaction from the Learned Letters of Monsieur Launoy If God had promised an infallible Guide or told us be had given one to his Church he would doubtless Consid III. have added some directions for the finding of him For to say in general you shall have a Star which will alwayes Guide you withâ—ut all dangerous error and not to inform us in what parâ— of the Firmament it is to be seen is to emuse rather then to promise Now God hath no where given us such direction He hath no where pointed us to this Church or that Council to this Person or that Local succession of Men. He hath not said the Guide is at Antioch or Hierusalem at Nice or Constantinople at Rome or Avignon You will say he hath directed us to St. Peter Answer no more than to the rest of the Apostles to whom he gave equal power in their Ordination * Joh. 20. 21. All of whom he made equally Shepherds of the Flock◠†S Mat. 9. 36. C. 10. 6. 2. Pet. 5. 2. to all of whom he gave equal Commission to make Proselytes of all Nations * S. Mat. 28. 16 17 â—8 19. And in this sense St. Chrysostom †S. Chrys in 1 Cor. 9. 2. Ten oikoymenen hapasan egkecheirismenos c. affirmed concerning St. Paul that the whole World or the World of the Roman Empire was his Diocese You will reply that he promised on him particularly upon this Rock or Stone this Kipha a Syriac Word of the Masculine Gender †See R. H. Guide in Controv. Dis 1. p. 5. and Socin in Loc. this Peter to build his Church I answer the Ancients took the Word as Feminine * S. Hil. de Trin. â— 6. dixit Petras Tu es filius Dei c. super hane igitur Confessionis Petram Ecclesiae edificatio est v. Launoy in Epist ad Voellum and understood it rather of his Confession then of his Person If it was spoken of his Person it was spoken by way of Emphasis not Exclusion for there were twelve Foundations †Revel 21. 14. Ephes 2. 20. of these he might be called the first having first preached the Gospel to Jews and Gentiles * Act. 2. 14. 41 47 IV. Consid the Eleven standing up with him and he speaking as the Mouth of the Apostolical Colledge We cannot by the strictest ennumeration find out any living infallible Guide existing in any Age after St. Peter in the Christian Church 1. This Guide could not be the Church diffusive of the first Ages For the suffrages of every Christian were never gathered And if we will have their sense they must rise from the dead and give it us 2. This Guide cannot be the Faith as such of all the Governours of all the Primitive Churches The sum of it was never collected There were anciently general Creeds but such as especially related to the Hereâ—ies then on foot and who can affirm upon grounds of certainty that each Bishop in the World consented to each Article or to each so expressed 3. This Guide is not a Council perfectly free and universal For a Guide which cannot be had is none If such a Council could assemble it would not erre in the necessaries of Faith or there cannot be a regular Flock without a Shepherd and if all the Spiritual Shepherds in the World should at once and by consent go so much astray the whole Flock of the Church Catholick would be scattered And that would contradict the promise of Christ the Supreme Faithful Infallible Pastor But there never was yet an universal Council properly so called Neither can we suppose the probability of it but by supposing the being of one Temporal Christian Monarch of the World who might call or suffer it In the Councils called General if we speak comparatively there were not many Southern or Western Bishops present at them It was thus at that first Occumenical Council the Council of Nice though in one sacred place as Eusebius †Euseb l. 3. vit const c. 7. 8. p. 487â— hath noted there were assembled Syrians and Cilicians Phoenicians and Arabians
we had more of their History and more of their Writings we should find more of their errors They have shewed both ignorance and extravagance in opinion and error in the Faith it self There are not perhaps weaker or more absurd passages in any Ecclesiastical Writer than we may find in the works of Pope Innocent the third who was called the Wonder of the World * Mat. par A. 1217. stupor mundi He saith of Sub-deacons that they represented the Nethinims †Ezra 8. 20. â— or Nathinnims as he calls them and that Nathaniel was one of that Order * Innoc. 3. Myst missael 1. c. 2. fol 15â— That the Pope does not use a Pastoral rod because St. Peter sent his Sâ—â—ff to Eucharius the first Bishop of Treves to whom Maternus succeeded who by the same Staff was raised from the dead †Iunoc 3. ibid. c. 62 fol. 165. That the People have seven Salvations in the Mass in order to the expelling the seven deadly Sins and receiving the seven fold Grace of God * Ibid. l. 2. c. 24. fol. 170. That an Epistle signifying in Greek an Over-sending or supererogation the word agrees very well to the Apostolical Epistle which are supperadded to the Gospel a Ibid. c 29. fol. 171. He allots to each Article of the Apostolical and Constantinopolitan Creeds a particular Apostle and finds the mystery in all things that are twelve in number For example sake in the twelve loaves of Shew-Bread in the twelve Tribes twelve hours twelve Moneths He gives this reason why Water is by the Bishop mixed with Wine in the Holy chalâ—ce because it is said in the Revelation that many Waters signify many People and that Christ shed his Blood for the People b Ibid. c. 58. fol. 177. He saith that Judas was not at the Sacrament c Ibid. l. 4. c. 13. fol. 189. because he was not to drink it new with Christ in his Kingdom which priviledge he had promised to all the partakers He teached that Mice eat only the Shews of consecrated Bread d Ibid. c. 16 fol. 190. He professeth rather to venerate Sacraments then to prie into them e Ibid. c. 19. because it is written in Exodus the twelfth concerning the Pafchal Lamb Eat not of it raw nor sodden at all with Water but rost with Fire I have not narrowly ransacked the plaits of the Popes Vestments for this is obvious enough and so were a great many other sayings of equal weakness but I am weary of the folly of them There have been other Popes also injudicious even to Duncery Eugeniout the third approved of the Prophesies or Enthusiastick Dreams of Hildegardis in the Synod of Tryers as Inspirations Pope Zachary judged the true Doctrine of Antipodes to be heretical in the case of the more Learned and Knowing Virgilius a Epist Zach. p. ad Bonifac. inter op M. Velseri in l. 5. Rer. Boic p. 148. deperversa autem Virgilii DoctrinaÌ„ quam contra Dominum animam suam locutus est quod scil alius mundus alii homines sub terra sint aliusque Sol Luna si convictus fuerit ita confiteri hunc accito Concilio ab EcclesiaÌ„ pelle Sacerdotii honore privatum Herein the Pope commited a greater error than the poor Priest who Baptized in nomina Patria Filia Spiritus Sancta b Velser op Ibid. p. 147. and whose lack of Latin Boniface the German Apostle would have punished by the Rebaptization of his Proselytes if the said Virgilius had not by application to that Pope prevented it It is true Virgilius was accused as an Heretick who had set up another Sun and another Moon as well as another world of Men whose feet were oposite to ours But Velserus himself c Vels Ibid. p. 149. hath the ingenuity to confess this was meant only of the Sun and Moon as shining to our Ant-podes as well as to us And that the accusation was framed by ignorant Men who had not the acuteness to understand the Globular form of the Earth and the scâ—eme of the propâ—ser Neither had Pope Zachary himself sagacity enough to disceâ—n the nature of this ridiculous charge He who can mistake Truth for Heresie may mistake Heresie for Truth Now that Popes have erred not only in lesser things but even in Matters of Faith is plain from History I will instance only in Vigilius and Honorius forbearing to speak of Liberius and divers others who swerved from the truly Ancient Catholick Faith Pope Vigilius framed a constitution in favour of the three chapters or Nestorian-Writings of Ibas Bishop of Edessa Theodorus of Mopsuestia and Theodoret Bishop of Cyrus This Constitution was published by Cardinal Baronius †Baron Anal. A. 553. N. 48. ed. colon p. 486. out of an Ancient Manuscript in the Vatican Library And he calls it a Decree * Id. Ibid. N. 218. p. 419. in defence of these chapters In this Decree the Pope doth not only justify these Heretical Writings but with the Followers of Theodorus he falsly chargeth upon the council of Chalcedon the Epistle of Ibas * Id. An. 553. N. 292. p. 511. and calls it Orthodox This charge the Fathers of the fifth general Council a Conc. Constant 2. colat 6. shew to be unjust and false That Council condemneth those three Chapters as Heretical And together with them it condemneth b Defin. conc col 8. Pope Vigilius and others under the name of Sequaces or Followers of Nestorius and Theodorus Baronius himself acknowledgeth that the decree of that council was set up against the decree of that Pope c Baron Annal. 553. N. 212. p. 417. Actumque est ut apparet adversus Vigili constitutum licet prae reverentiaÌ„ ipsum non nominaverint These Chapters had not been condemned if they had not contained in them the Nestorian-Heresie The Epistle of Ibas does in particular manner extoll Theodorus And the council affirmeth concerning his Creed that the father of lies composed it And it denounceth a curse against both the composer and the Believers of it Yet doubtless these writings were in themselves inconsiderable enough But the council opposed them with such rigour because the Faction had made them very popular and advanced them into the Quality of a kind of Bible of the Party For Pope Honorius he fell into the Heresie of the Monotholites * Dezall Hist mon. scrut 5. p. 192. 193. Altera phrasis Honoriana longe difficilior Minimè tamen dissimulanda ea est quod dicat aperte Unde unam voluntatem fatemur Dom nostri Jesu Christi That is of those who held that there is but one Will in both the Natures of Christ This Doctrine he published in his Epistles This he declared in the sixth General Council †Syn 6. Act. 13. See Richer Hist conc General vol. 1. p. 569 c. he is in the
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
excepting the Dispute between the Latin and Greek Church about the Filioque or the Holy Spirits proceeding from the Father and the Son received by all catholick churches to this day which is as compleat and perfect Succession as any Doctrine can have therefore when the Church of Rome asks us Where was our Religion before Luther we tell them it was all the World over all Catholick churches believed what we do though we do not believe all that they do they themselves did and do to this Day own our creeds and Articles of Faith excepting such of them as are directly opposed to their Innovations So that we are on a â—ure Foundation our Faith has been received in the catholick church in all Ages But now the church of Rome cannot shew such a Succession for her new Doctrines and Articles of Faith which were unknown to the Primitive church for many Ages which were rejected by many flourishing churches since the first appearance of them which never had a quiet possession in her own communion and were never formed into Articles of Faith till the packt conventicle of Trent This I think is a sufficient Answer to this Paper and it pities me to see so many well-meaning Persons abused with such transparent Sophistry FINIS A DISCOURSE About the Charge of NOVELTY Upon the Reformed CHURCH OF ENGLAND Made by the PAPISTS Asking of us the Question Where was our Religion before LVTHER LONDON Printed and Edinburgh Re-printed by J. Reid for T. Brown and G. Schaw and A. Ogston and G. Mosman Stationers in the Parliament Closs 1686. A DISCOURSE About the Charge of NOVELTY Upon the Reformed Church of England made by the Papists c. THe Christian Doctrine was once by the way of trust delivered by Christ and his Apostles unto the Saints Men of Care and Honesty and who should preserve it in its first purity and Spiritual intention only to prescribe methods unto Men by Faith and an Honest conversation how they might arrive at Heaven that this Religion might make a deeper impression upon their minds and memories and be more faithfully kept it was set down in plain and significant Terms and reduced into 2 Tim. 1. 13 14. Rom. 6. 17. 1. Tim. 6. 20. short summaries called a form of sound words that good thing that Form of Doctrine a depositum or trust and by the Church afterwards a creed That it might be believed and valued it was in its own Nature of the greatest importance confirmed with variety of the best of Arguments Miracles Prophecies innocent carriage and Death of its numerous Disciples and severe curses denounc'd against any that should add to or take from it till Gal. 1. 8. 9 Rev. 22. 18. their great Master And its Author Jesus should come from Heaven again Yet notwithstanding all this by the Malice and Subtility of the Devil the Designs and Passions of Men the Ignorance and Negligence of some the Cunning and Industry of others this plain and simple Religion began by degrees to be corrupted by the mixtures of Philosophy and niceness by the Rules of Stat Craft and Policy by idle Traditions and Inventions by the Melancholy of some and the gayety of others and the natural Face of it was so strangely changed that it seem'd another Gospel and you might seek Christianity in the Christian World and yet scarce find it Many Kingdoms and People were to blame in this being Teacherous to their Master and false to their trust suffering so Pure and chast a Religion to be corrupted 2. Cor. 11. 2 or Stolen away but the Church of Rome seems the most Guilty of them all especially upon her own grounds her Bishop being the Infallible Vicar of Jesus to whom are committed the Oracles of GOD once indeed renowned Cyp. Epist Ox. Edit p. 5. 6. Rom 18. Platina vitâ— Bon 7. p. 159. vide quaeso quantum degeneraverint c. for her Faith and Pious Governours but now as famous for their Degeneracy as well in Religion as in their Lives Whose Ambition or Interest prostituted the Faith to those Designs and made it Earthly and Sensual or their Negligence and Stupidity suffered the Enemy in the night of Ignorance to sow the tares which so grew up and choakt the Wheat that Faith was turn'd into Fables and Lyes Foppery and Superstition were Nick-nam'd Devotion Ridiculous Gestures and Habits past for Repentance and Mortification the Bible was shut up and contemned and the Legends open'd and praised Honest and Good Men were butchered and unknown Persons and Malefactors canonized Saints with their Pictures and Reliques were made Rivals to Christ in Mediation and Intercession Good Works were spoiled by Merit and Arrogance or done by way of composition for vices the fear of Hell was abated by the invention of Purgatory Christ was fetch from Glory by the Magick of a Priest and put into a Wafer or into a more sordid place riddles and quirks of their Schools were made Articles of Faith in short old truths were rooted up and new errors grafted on them Power and Profit were Stiled the church the court of Rome was brought into the Temple and called the Holy of Holies Such errours as these in the christian Faith came from Rome and infected our Ancient British church not at first planted by the Labours of the Romish Bishops of old but corrupted by their later Emissaries and lasted a long time among us being supported by Power twisted with Interest sutable to the pleasures and vices of Men incorporated into the Government having put out Mens reason to try and discern between Truth and Error and at length became Fashionable Legal Terrible with Fires and censures which made us Sick unto death absolute almost and beyond recovery Such was our condition here of Slavery and Ignorance but it pleased him that dwells between the Golden Candlesticks to dispel our Darkness and restore the Ancient light of Primitive Christianity His Wisdom and Goodness improving the passions and inclinations of some in temporal changes and concerns to Spiritual purposes encouraging the secret groans and desires of others putting many more upon search and enquiry after Truth and infusing courage for it at length came to a resolution of Arguing and Debating the Errors of the Romish Faith and manners of reforming the abuses in Discipline and Devotion and to call back True Christianity again and being dispossest of the Spirit of Rome which oft tore them and rent them till they foamed again are now cloath'd and in their Wits once more upon this account the Friends of Rome call us Hereticks Schismaticks and Innovators Discharge Censures and Excommunications and Eternal Damnation against us are full of Wrath and indignation and to shew a little Wit in their Anger And pretended reason pertly ask the Question where was our Religion before Luther This is the common and trite objection against our Religion very frequent not only in the Mouths of their Bellarmine Campian Smith more Ordinary
but had great numbers of Disciples a visible Society of Christians who followed their Judgements Some of these sadly bewailed the degenerate state of the Roman church others petitioned for and advised not only the correction of the abuses of good Doctrines and innocent Institutions but the Reformation of gross Errours and scandalous Additions to the christian Faith and others in great Authority promised an amendement and to reduce the whole frame of christianity to its Primitive sense Model And the famous council of Trent was promis'd and begun to rectifie Errours and Abuses creept into the Romish Faith and Government yet after a long Sitting it fatally concluded confirming those corruptions which was hop'd after so many complaints and addresses with strong reasons for them should have been throughly redrest and reform'd The Original of their barbarous Inquisition will be a standing record of the frequent and stout oppositions that were made against the Romish Innovation in the christian Faith And so long as the Blood of the numerous Albigenses and Waldenses cryes to Heaven for Vengeance against the Papal cruelty we have a cloud of Witnesses for this Truth who resisted unto Death the new Doctrines of Rome The carriage of old Wicliff and his Followers tells us plainly in story that the corruptions of Rome had no such quiet possession but ever and anone some or other inconsiderable numbers did endeavour to eject them out of their hold though they paid dear for it And so long as the Treachery of their council of Constance about the safe conduct granted to poor Huss and his Disciples in number above forty thousand remains upon record never to be forgotten or forgiven so long we have clear evidences of strong resistance made to the Romish Religion before the times of Luther And in most Countries and times where and when the Romish corruptions began from small and obscure beginings to be gross and plain some or other in greater or lesser numbers began to Renounce and Protest against them What though some of these early Reformers might hold some erroneous Opinions which we our selves condemn yet however they opposed the Romish Church in her corruptions and these tended to a Reformation which was compleated only by degrâ—eâ—â— and 't is no wonder some Stumbled in such a night of Ignorance And have not the Agents of Rome destroyed the Papers and Records disguis'd their Adversaries and falsify'd their Opinions to serve the power and Interest of their great Mistriss They therefore branded the Waldenses with the name of Manichaism and that they affirmed two Principles or Originals of all things because they asserted that the Emperour was independent of the Pope and that they denyed CHRIST to be the Son of GOD because they could not believe a crust of Bread to be CHRIST And they have fram'd as lewd stories against many excellent Men of the latâ—r Ages who withstood the approaches of their Doctrine and Government which we certainly know and the more ingenuous among them confess to be notoriously false Though we have reason to believe because of the severity and industry of the Romish Factors ever warm against those who opposed her Practises a great number of Honest and Learned Men as those Ages would afford are buried in obscurity and their names unknown there being an Expurgatorian Index for the merits of such Men as well as Books and Editions yet we have a sufficient Catalogue of them who kept up the Title and claim of old Christianity would not suffer their new Errors to plead prescription 2. By shewing what Errours and Mistakes are included in the Question 1. That these new Errors of Rome are absolutely necessary to the being of a Christian Church For though we believe all that Christ and his Apostles taught all things that are contain'd in the Holy Scriptures all things that undoubted Tradition or good Reason proves to drive themselves from both or either yet because we do not assent and Subscribe to the new Articles of Faith that Rome hath invented for us we cease to be a Christian Church are mark'd for Hereticks which are worse than Pagans with them and must be certainly damn'd Nay should we embrace all the other Doctrines of Rome and deny only the Popes Authority and Supremacy that Epitome of their Christianity it would avail us little we are Heathens still Should we reject but one Article of Pope Pius's Creed suppose the Doctrine of Purgatory or Merit yet because this questions Infallibility the centâ—e of all their Religion we are in the state of Damnation still Should we receive their Doctrines as probable and in a larger and more favâ—urable meaning yet because we do not entertain them as Articles of Faith in the sense of the Church our case is not mended we shall meeâ— with Fires here and hereafâ—er for our reward Should we wink and swallow them all down with a good Catholick stomach yet iâ— the Bishop of Rome should give out a new Edition of Faith enlarged with many more monstrous Doctrines and Opinions yet if we boggle and kick at them all our former Righteousness shall not not be remembred we are Apostates worse than Truks and Infidels and who can tell what this Infallible and powerful Guide of â—â—â—â—stendom will do For when things obscure or of an indifferent Nature when things wherein they differ among themselves and only serve a temporal Interest when Opinions which they can dispense withal upon occasion when only the modes and manner of Truth when Contradictories and Doctrines directly leading unto impiety and things Barbarous and Blasphemous have been christened Articles of Faith and Fundamentals of Religion have we not just reason to suspect as ill or worsé may be done again And the intrigues of Trent may be acted once more and as many new Articles of Faith as Titular Bishops by the same Spirit moving in the same manner were not the first and early Christians sound Members of Christs Body though they never thought of such wild Opinions as these and publish'd truths directly contrary to them And could I suppose them to have known these Innovations out of Zeal and Fidelity to their trust would have detested and abhor'd them Was Christ negligent in the discharge of his mighty Office and his Apostles defective in their Duties and Ministry not to acquaint the first Christians with these great truths and were they reveal'd in the Tridentine Council only to us upon whom the ends of the world are come These Primitive Disciples of Christ thought themselves secure of Heaven by this short Creed that Jesus was the Christ the Son of God And the contrary was the character of the Man of Sin that denied that Jesus was come in the Flesh that he was the God incarnate and the true Messiah and were scandalized at his meanness and obscurity S. Paul told the Jaylor that certainly he would be saved if he believed that Jesus was the Christ all other Fundamentals of Christianity one
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
glorious with arrogant Titles and borrow'd Names Search into the Pedegree of Romes Religion we do not find Christ or St. Peter or any of his Apostles to be the Authors of it but Pride Interest and Design old Vices indeed but new Fathers of a Christian church which brought in a late and new generation of Opinions and additions to Christs Religion clothing them with the venerable Names of Primitive and Apostolical Where was the Romish Religion before the Council of Trent concluded onely about the year 1563. of a latter date then when Luther first began which legitimated all their Innovations the issue of Scholastick Wranglings pretended Dreaâ—â—s and Visions forc'd and unnatural Senses of Scripture Ambition and Profit the Fxchequer of Rome to be made Sons of the Church and Fundamentals of the Christian Faith Many of their own Writers confess that for 1400 or â— 500 years the Pope was not believ'd to be infallible till of late some of their flaming Zealots have vested him with infallibility whereby the Roman Church is sick unto death and no cure is to be applyed because she is so certain and sure that she is well Their lewd Doctrine of Transubstantiation was not made an Article of Faith till the Council of Laâ—eran under Innocent the third above 1200 years after Christ and many of their own Writers are still dissatisfied about it The Title of Vniversal Bishop was obtained by Pope Boniface the Third not till about 600 years after Christ fearing a powerful Rival the Constantinopolitan Bishop who affected the same and therefore by the Popes themselves was declaimed against as proud and Antichristian but now by Hypocrisie and base compliance with the wicked Phocas who was guilty of Treason and Murder against the Emperour Mauritius Rome gained the delicious point and has made it a fundamental Article of her new Religion though the Popes came not up to their swaggering temper and Power of Hectoring Christian Princes some hundred of years afâ—erwards The Doctrine of Purgatory which some derive from the Platonick Fancies of Origen the Montanism of Tertullian pretended Visions and Pagan Stories Rhetorical Flourishes and doubtful Expressions of the later Fathers yet it was not positively affirmed till about the year 1140. and not made an Article of Faith till the Council of Trent then indeed a good Estate became a surer way to Heaven then a good Life and Conversation The use of indulgences was the Moral to the Fable of Purgatory and began to grow much what about the same time though it came not to the height and perfection till Pope Leo the Tenths time when Luther so stoutly opposed them then Heaven was set to sale and the best Chapman was the greatest Saint though they boast of the second Council of Nice for the Antiquitie of their Image Worship And if it will do thern any good so they may of Simon Magus who was of an elder date and a very fit Patron of Acts 11. 13 such an Opinion yet the Council of Frankfurt condemned it and the purest times did not so much as allow the making of Images And it was not the Catholick Doctrine in France for almost 900 years after Christ nor in Germany till after the 12th Câ—â—tury then indeed such a Doctrine might be very proper when true Religion was turned into Pageantry and a form of Godliness The number of the seven Sacraments is now an Article of the Romish Faith yet the Council of Florence ended in the year 1439 was the first Council and Peter Lombard the first man that precisely fixt that number That the Laity ought to receive the Sacrament of the Lords Supper onely in one kind was never made an Article of Faith till the Council of Constance concluded in the year 1418 then indeed that Council with the greatest insolence and a direct Invasion of the Authority of CHRIST took the Cup from the Laymens mouths notwithstanding as it was then acknowledged the Institution of CHRIST to the contrary and they may as well Christen the Laicks Children only in the name of the Holy Ghost leaving out the Father and the Son by the way of concomitancy it being as Lawful to Baptize as Communicat by the halfes For what cannot such a pretended Power do The prohibiting of Priests to Marry was not in perfection as 't is now till Pope Gregory the Sevenths time Let them tell us where 't is said by Christ or his Apostles or any of the truly Ancient Writers of the christian Church that Pennance is a Sacrament or that Auricular Confession is necessary to Salvation or that Prayers ought to be made in an unknown Tongue or that good works are strictly meritorious or where can they find the many Impieties and absurdities of their Mass in those early times of Antiquity And since they are fond of asking us this Question we might ask them many more about the many Fopperies and Innovations in their Faith and Devotion and many they are and large is the inventory almost as many as are the Christian Truths in direct opposition to them or prevarication from them But they seem to confess the newness of their Religion when they arrogantly set up a Power in their Church to frame new Articles of Faith and many things only Opinions and Notions at first have grown up by degrees to Fundamental Truths and having once slipt into errour they are bound to maintain it for the Reputation and Autâ—ority of Holy Church And who knows how many of this Nature are upon the Romish forge ready to be put into their Creed and where must we end not till it be believed that consecrated Feathers and Holy Water can convey Divine Grace to us and drive away wicked Spirits and the Weathercocks of our Churches be thought Pâ—illars of it Would the Champions of Rome speak out they would tells us as their Eckius did the Duke of Bavaria That the Doctrine of Luther might be overthrown by the Fathers though not by the Scriptures 't is a plain confession that we have the truest Antiquity on our side and in the beginning it was not so But we add that we have the Fathers also on our side for otherwise what mean their Expurgat orian Indices of the Fathers and other Ancient Writters but that they very well know that these are old Enemies to Pope Pins's new Creed and the Truth in them confounds their errour Such an account as this about the Original and Progress of their new Additions to the old Faith was convenient to be given not because the Nature of the thing did necessarily require it for it had been sufficient only to have prov'd that these Romish Additions to the Christian Faith are contrary to the Word of GOD and no where to be found in any of the Divine Writings the only Infallible Rule of Faith and that they have no power of minting new Articles Fundamental to Salvation but because the Disciples of Rome so frequently ask us the Question and
lay so much stress upon it Bellar. Tom. 2. p. 286. if these are Innovations creept into their Church who was the first Author of them when did he begin in whose Reign and in what place did he live who did oppose him what company believ'd on him and what his new Opinions were as they instance in Arrianism and other Heresies And because they fancy we cannot make all these particulars so absolutely plain therefore they say we have falsely charged the Romish Church with new errours and that their Faith is truly ancient and by an uninterrupted Succession of Infallible Bishops hath been convey'd down from Christ and his Apostles in its full purity to this present Age. To satisfie their curiosity the defenders of the Reformation have done this but suppose they could not have been so particular about the birth of these new Errours or had made some mistakes in the compass of time yet however the charge of Innovation against the Romish Church stands firm and good upon these accounts 1. That Reformation carries not so much a respect to the Errour when it began as to the Errour it self Not whither it be sooner or later but whither it be an errour contrary to the true Christian Faith It may serve some honest purposes to know the who and the when the where and the how and other circumstances of its begining and proceeding but the necessity of Reformation springs from the nature of the Errour which came from the invention of men and not the Authority of Christ And matters not much whither Simon Magus who was contemporary with the Apostles was the first Author of it or Pope Hildebrâ—â—d at so great a distance 'T is enough that we are certain and sure that the Popish Doctrines which we condemn by comparing them with the Scriptures are not Christs and his Apostles have none of their Images or Superscriptions upon them who only had full Authority to make them current and true Articles of Faith They have indeed indeed Christianity among them but like Joseph's coat so dipt in blood so over-laced with Fopperies and undecent Ceremonies and so many new pieces stitch'd to the old Cloath that the old Fathers if alive would scarce know it to be the true Joseph's and would not trouble themselves so much to ask the time when this came to pass as lament the sadness of the change And the Apostles did not so much care to tell the punctual time to the Disciples when Antichrist should discover himself as to make them stand upon their guard to defend that Faith which he would invade where and whensoever he should come or whosoever he was 2. The difficuity of knowing the precise and punctual times when Errours first began In many sorts of Changes or Innovations 't is hard to know the nice time of their beginning but some latitude of Judging is allow'd and why not in things especially relating to Religion Are there not wild Opinions left upon Record among the Pagan Writers whose Authors are either unknown or which are fasely fathered upon others and as hard to be known as the head of Nile Can the nicest Romanist tell us what Rabbi and in what place and age first superinduc'd the several false Glosses and Senses to the Law of Moses yet our Saviour though he knew them well thought it sufficient to tell them that in the beginning it was not so and by comparing the Mosaick Religion it plainly appears they were new additions to the good old way And how many Errours sprung up in times of Christianity of whose Original and other Circumstances both the Romanists and our selves are yet uncertain And how many things of this nature more near our own times are we puzled about and the difficulty of knowing them ariseth principally from this twofold account 1. From the subtilty of the contrivers of Errours Which many times are the cunning and the wise in their Generation which the necessity of their cause requires Truth being strong and Errour nuturally weak and that slie deceiving Spirits lends it his utmost assistance to serve the design Such men know how to disguise new Falshoods in the old habits of Truth to make them look ancient and venerable they feel and know the temper of the age and fit their Opinions to the interest and pleasure of it They prepare their errours to be received by degrees and one part must draw on the other and the whoâ—e must be insâ—â—sibly swallowed down So it hapned in the adoration and invocation of Saints and Images and the whole structure of the Romish Religion which by severall steps and in many ages advanc'd to its mighty bulk The cunning knew the consequences of their own positions how far theâ— would reach which the vulgar eye discern'd not they well foresaw how their Hey and Stuble variety of Phrases and changes of Syllables would at â—ength fire the Foundation of Religion yet being invented at first by the Angelical Doctours and leaders of an Age for fame and reputation sake they their followers first defended them for bare Truths afterwards for Sacred and Fundamental ones and things at first only piously believed soon after have been adopted into a Creed and men of Rashness and Superstition only great in Place and Office have vented opinions whose fatal conclusions they at first we hope did not know yet the cunning many times have hatcht what they left and improv'd it fatally to Religion the greatness of the man whither an Innocent or an Hildebrand gave the errour its first reputation and the cunning of others its strength and argument Many of the great and knowing heads of the World being corrupted unto the Roman side to defend those errours which had got footing in the Church But how can we unlock the secret methods of Rome or describe the wayes and policies by which the mystery of Iniquity works Yet we are sure it 's carried on by the windings and turnings of the Serpent and men that he imploys upon design to ruin truth for when the Apostle describes the sad Apostacies and defections from the Faith they are said to be wrought by men of Skill Eph. 4. 14. and Art who lie in wait to deceive 2 From the Passions and Infirmities of other men These give the false and busie deceiver an easie Victory When Opinions are so contriv'd as to serve the designs of Pride and Covetousness Ambition and Lust and other Vices they easily pass for mighty Truths their Original is not enquir'd into the Judgment is brib'd and they bear the title of ancient and Primitive or what the deceiver pleaseth For these Passions have effeminated the mind made it soft and slugâ—ish and any bold errour shall slip down rather then be at the charge of a farther search and enquiry to know whither these things be so or no. The Roman Religion being so well cut out in its different Doctrines to hit mens Vices and Passions Gaiety or Melancholy Enthusiasm or Fury
so far from having any true authority that counterâ—eit Testimonies and forged Writings have been their great Supporters Besides the plain drist of them which is not to make all men better but to make same richer and the manifest danger men are in by many of them to be drawn away from GOD to put their trust and confidence in Creatures As might be shewn if this Paper would contain it in their Doctrines of Papal Supremacy Purgatory Invocation of Saints Image Worship and diverse others Concerening which we say as Saint Cyprian doth to Pompeius about another maâ—ter If it be commanded in the Gospels or in the Epistles of the Apostles or in their Acts that they should not be baptized who return from any Heresie but only be received by imposition of hanâ—s LET THIS DIVINE and HOLY TRADITION BE OBSERVED The same say we if there be any thing in the Gosples in the Epistles in the Acts concerning Invocations of Saints concerning the praying Souls out of Purgatory c. Let that divine that holy Tradition be observed But if it be not there What obstinacy is this as it follows a little after in that Epist l. 24. what presumption to prefer human Tradition before the Divine Disposition or Ordinance A great deal more there is in that place and in others of that holy Martyr to bring all to the source the root the original of the Divine Tradition for then human errours ceases which original Tradition he affirms to be what is delivered in the holy Scriptures which delivering to us the whole Will of GOD concerning us we look after no other Tradition but what explains and confirms and is consonant to this For we believe that what is delivered to us by the Scriptures what is delivered by true Tradition are but two several waves of bringing us acquainted with the same Christian Truth not with different parts of that Truth And so I have done with the first thing the sum of which is this We do not receive any Tradition or Doctrine to supply the defect of the Scripture in some necessary Article of Faith which Doctrines they of Rome pretend to have one and the same Author with the Scripture viz. God and therefore to be received with the same pious affection and reverence But cannot tell us where we may find them how we shall discern true from false nor give us any assurance of their Truth but we must take them purely upon their word Now how little reason we have to trust to that will appear in the second thing I have to adde which is this 11. That we dare not receive any thing whatsoever merely upon the Credit of the Roman Church no not that divine that holy Tradition before spoken of viz. the Scripture Which we do not believe onely upon their testimony both because they are but a part of the Church and therefore not the sole Keepers of Divine Truth and they are a corrupted part who have not approved themselves faithful in the keeping what was committed to them Let our People diligently mark this That Traditions never were nor are now onely in the keeping of the Roman Church and that these things are widely different the Tradition of the whole Church or of the greatest and best part of it and the Tradition of one part of the Church and the least part of it and the worst part also and most depraved What is warranted by the Authority of the whole Church I have shewn before we reverently receive but we cannot take that for current Tradition which is warranted only by a small part of the Church and we give very little credit to what is warranted only by that part of it which is Roman Because 1. First This Church hath not preserved so carefully as other Churches have done the first and orginal Tradition which is in the Scriptures but suffered them to be shamefully corrupted Every one knows that there is a Latin Vulgar Edition of the Bible which they of that Church prefer before the Original none of which they preserved heretofore from manifest depravations nor have been able since they were told of the faults to purge away so as to canonize any Edition without permitting great numbers in their newest and most approved Bibles Isidore Clarius in his Preface to his Edition complains that he foâ—nd these holy Writings defaced with innumerable errours Eight thousand of which that he thought most material he saith he amended and yet left he knew not how many lesser ones untouched After which the Council of Trent having vouched this Vulgar Latine Edition for the onely authentick Pope Sixtus the Fifth published out of the several Copies that were abroad one which he straightly charged to be received as the onely true Vulgar from which none should dare to vary in a tittle And yet two years were scarce passed before Clement the Eight found many defects and corruptions still remaining in that Edition and therefore published another with the very same charge that none else should be received Which evidently shews they have suffered the holy Books to be so fouly abused that they know not how to amend the errours that are crept into them nor can tell which is the true Bible For these two Bibles thus equally authorized as the onely authentick ones abound not only with manifest diversities but with contradictions or contrarieties one to the other Whereby all Romanists are reduced to this miserable necessity either to make use of no Bible at all or to fall under the curse of Sixtus if he make use of that of Clement or the curse of Clement if he use the Bible of Sixtus For they are both of them enjoyned with the exclusion of all other Editions and with the penalty of a Curse upon them who disobey the one or the other and it is impossible to obey both This might be sufficient to demonstrate how unfaithful that Church hath been in the weightiest concerns Whereby all the Members of are plunged beyond all power of redemption into a dismal necessity either of laying a side the Scriptures or of offending against the sacred Decrees as they account them of one or other of the heads of their Church which some take to be infallible and being accursed of them 2 But for every one 's fuller satisfaction it may be fit farther to represent how negligent they have been in preserving other Traditions which were certainly once in the Church but now utterly lost There is no question to be made but the Apostles taught the first Christians the meaning of those hard places which we find in their and other holy Writings But who can tell us where to find certainly so much as one of them And therefore where is the fidelity of this Church which boasts so much to be the Keeper of sacred Traditions For nothing is more desirable then these Apostolical Interpretations of Scripture nothing could be more useful and yet we have no hope to meet with them
and mightily moved and if we would shew our thankfulness for it let us follow these godly motions and conform our selves in all things to the heavenly prescriptions of this Book being confident that if we do we need not trouble our selves about any other model of Religion which we find not here delivered For if you desire to know what form of Doctrine it is to which the Apostle would have us delivered it is certain it is a Doctrine directly opposite to all vice and wickedness For herein the grace of God was manifested he tells the Romans in that it had brought them from being slaves of sin heartily to obey the Christian Doctrine which taught that is Vertue and Piety Now to this the present Romanists can pretend to adde nothing All the parts of a godly life are sufficiently taught us in the holy Scriptures And if we would seriously practise and follow this Doctrine from the very heart we should easily see there is no other but what is there delivered For whatsoever is pretended to be necessary besides is not a Doctrine according unto godliness as the Apostle calls Christianity but the very design of it is to open an easier way to Heaven then that laid before us in the holy Scriptures by Masses for the dead by Indulgences by Sanctifications and the merits of the Saints and several other such like inventions which have no foundation in the Scriptures nor in true Antiquity That is a word indeed which is very much pretended Antiquity they say is on their side but it is nothing different from what hath been said about Tradition And if we will run up to the true Antiquity there is nothing so ancient as the holy Scriptures They are the oldest records of Religion and by them if we frame our lives we are sure it is according to the most authentick and ancient directions of Piety delivered in the holy Oracles of God So both sides confess them to be And if the old Rule be safe that is true which is first we are safe enough for there is nothing before this to be our Guide and there can be nothing after this but must be tried by it According to another Rule as old as Reason it self The first in every kind is the measure of all the rest And as sure as that there is a Gospel of GOD'S grace they that walk after this Rule this Divine Canon peace shall be upon them and mercy they being the true Israel or Church of God THE END A DISCOURSE Concerning the UNITY OF THE CATHOLICK CHURCH Maintained in the CHURCH OF ENGLAND EDINBURGH Re-Printed by J. Reid Anno DOM. 1686. THE UNITY OF THE CATHOLICK CHURCH Maintained in the CHURCH of ENGLAND WHosoever with an impartial eye and a truly religious concern for the Honour of GOD the Credit of the Gospel and the Salvation of Men looks into the estate of Christendom he will scarce find any greater cause of sorrowful Reflections then from the many Divisions and Animosities which have distracted and separated its parts These have opened the mouths and whet the tongues of profest enemies to reviling Invictives and profane Scoffs against our Blessed Lord himself and his holy Religion and stifled the first thoughts of admitting the most convincing Truths to a debate among Jews Turks or Pagans and stopt their ears against the wisest Charms To no one cause can we more reasonably impute the small progress which Christianity hath made in the World for a thousand years past The same contests have as pernicious influence at home upon the Faith or manners of those within the Pale of the Church Men are hereby too soon tempted into some degrees of Scepticism about very material Points of Christian Doctrine in which they observe so many to differ among themselves Others are the more easily seduced to seek and make much of all Arguments whereby to baffle or weaken the clearest evidences for their conviction and they seldom continue long in the same perswasion with those with whom they will not maintain the same Communion Thus Schisms have generally ended in Heresies As mischievous are the effects of these Distractions upon the manners of Christians There are many vitious and disorderly passions such as Anger Wrath Hatred Revenge Pride Censoriousness c. which take Sanctuary therein and under that shelter put in their claim for the height of Christian Graces and the most holy zeal for GOD and his Cause Every where they break or loosen the Discipline of the Church which should guard its children from doing amiss or restore them after it when the last and most capital punishment of being thrust out of its Communion is like to be little dreaded where many voluntarily desert it with the higest pretences of better advantage elsewhere Now though this matter of fact confirmed by woful experience be a subject too sad for a long meditation or passionate enlargement yet is it no more then what might have been foreseen without a Spirit of Prophesie to follow from the corrupt nature and depraved estate of mankind not otherwise rectified Wherefore we must suppose that our ever blessed Saviour in the Foundations of his holy Institution made all needful provision to prevent these fatal miscariages By the sufficient Revelation of all Fundamental Articles of Belief By the as full Declaration of all the necessary precepts of a good life By inculcating frequently and pressing most emphatically those commands concerning Love Peace Unity Good Order Humility Meekness Patience c. directly opposed to those contentions in every Page of the New Testament These it may suffice but to name It will soon be granted after the best provision of Rules and most convincing Arguments and Motives to strengthen them that there will be need of some Government to encourage all in their performance to restrain some from offering violence to them and to provide for many emergencies Our Blessed LORD and Master therefore for the better security of his Truth and the safer conduct of those which adhere to it establish'd a Society or Church in the World which he purchased with the most inestimable price dignified with the highest Priviledges encouraged with the largest Promises back'd with the most ample Authority and will alwayes defend with the strongest Guard against all Power or Policy on Earth or under the Earth so that as he hath told us the Gates of Hell shall not prevail against it But now where this Church is to be found and what are the measures of our Obligation to it hath been a long and great debate especially between us and the Romanists In most of their late Controversial Books they have seemed ready to wave disputes about particular points in hopes of greater advantage which they promise themselves from this venerable name and that bold though most false and presumptuous claim which they lay to the thing it self even exclusive to all others which will appear from the true but short and plain state of the case
dâ—aught which none surely will say of the Body of CHRIST And afterwards he adds by way of explication it is not the matter of the bread but the word which is spoken over it which profiteâ—h him that worthily eateth the Lord and this he sayes he had spoken concerning the typical and Symbolical body So that the matter of bread remaine hâ—m the Sacrament and this Origen calls the typical and symbolical body of CHRIST and it is not the natural body of Christ which is there eatâ—en for the food eaten in the Sacrament as to that of it which is material goeth into the belly and is cast out into the draught This testimony is so very plain in the cause that Sextus Senensis suspects â—his place of Origen was depraved by the Heâ—eticks Cardinal Pâ—rron is contented to allow it to be Origens but rejects his testimony because he was accused of Heresie by some of the Fathers and sayes he talks like a Heretick in this place So that with much ado this testimony is yielded to us The same Father in his * cap. 10. Homilies upon Leviticâ—s spâ—â—ks â—hus There is also in the New Testament a letter which kills him who doth not spiritually understand these things which are said for if we take according to the Letter that which is said EXCEPT YE EAT MY FLESH AND DRINK MY BLOUD this Letter kills And this is also a killing Testimony and not to be answered but in Cardinal Perron's way by saying he talks like a Heretick St. Cyprian hath a whole Epistle * Ep. 63. to Cecilius against those who gave the Communion in Water only without Wine mingled with it and his main argument against them is this that the bloud of Christ with which we are redeemed and quickened cannot seem to be in the cup when there is no Wine in the cup by which the Bloud of Christ is represented And afterwards he sayes that contrary to the Evangelical and Apostolical Doctrine water was in some places offered or given in the Lords cup which sayes he alone cannot express or represent the bloud of Christ. And lastly he tels us that by water the people is understood by Wine the bloud of Christ is shewn or represented but when in the cup water is mingled with wine the people is united to Christ. So that according to this Argument Wine in the Sacramental cup is no otherwise chang'd into the bloud of Christ then the Water mixed with it is changed into the People which are said to be united to Christ. I omit many others and pass to St. Austin in the fourth Age after Christ And I the rather insist upon his Testimony because of his eminent esteem and authority in the Latin Church and he also calls the Elements of the Sacrament the figure and sign of Christs body and bloud In his book against Adimantus the Manichee we have this expression * Aug Tom. 6. p. 187. Edit basil 1569 our Lord did not doubt to say this is my body when he gave the sign of his body And in his explication of the third Psalm speaking of Judas whom our Lord admitted to his last supper in which sayes he ‡ enarrat in Psal Tom. 8. p. 16. he commended and delivered to his Disciples the figure of his body Language which would now be censur'd for Heresie in the Church of Rome Indeed he was never accus'd of Heresie as cardinal Perron sayes Origen was but he talks as like one as Origen himself And in his comment on the 98 Psalm speaking of the offence which the Disciples took at that saying of our Saviour except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his bloud c. He brings in our Saviour speaking thus to them †Id. tom 7. p. 1105. ye must understand spiritually what I have said unto you ye are not to eat his body which ye see and to drink that bloud which shall he shed by those that shall crucify me I have commended a certain Sacrament to you which being spiritually understood will give you life What more opposite to the Doctrine of Transubstantiation then that the Disciples were not to eat that Body of Christ which they saw nor to drink that bloud which was shed upon the Cross but that all this was to be understood spiritually and according to the nature of a Sacrament For that body he tells us is not here but in heaven in his Comment upon these words me ye have not alwayes * Id. Tract 50. in Johan He speaks sayes he of the presence of his body ye shall have me according to my providence according to Majesty and invisible grace but according to the flesh which the word assumed according to that which was born of the Virgin Mary ye shall not have me therefore because he conversed with his Disciples fourty dayes he is ascended up into Heaven and is not here In his 23. Epistle †Id. Tom. 2. p. 93. if the Sacraments sayes he had not some resemblance of those things whereof they are Sacraments they would not be Sacraments at all but from this resemblance they take for the most part the name of the things which they represent Therefore as the Sacrament of the body of Christ is in some manner or sense Christs body and the Sacrament of his bloud is the bloud of Christ so the Sacrament of faith meaning Baptism is faith Upon which words of St. Austin there is this remarkable Gloss in their own Cannon Law †De consecr dist 2. Hoc est the heavenly Sacrament which truly represents the flesh of Christ is called the body of Christ but improperly whence it is said that after a manner but not according to the truth of the thing but the mystery of the thing signified So that the meaning is it is called the body of Christ that is it signifies the body of Christ And if this be St. Austin's meaning I am sure no Protestant can speake more plainly against Transubstantiation And in the ancient Canon of the Mass before it was chang'd in complyance with this new Doctrine it is expresly call'd a sacrament a sign an Image and a figure of Christ's body To which I will add that remarkable passage of St. Austin cited by * De consecrat dist 2. sect Vtrum Gratian that as we receive the similitude of his death in baptism so we may also receive the likeness of his flesh and bloud that so neither may truth be wanting in the Sacrament nor Pagans have occasion to make us ridiculous for drinking the bloud of one that was slain I will mention but one Testimony more of this Father but so clear a one as it is impossible any man in his wits that had believed Transubstantiation could have utter'd It is in his Treatise * Lib. 3. Tom. 3. p. 53. de Doctrina christiaua where laying down several Rules for the right understanding of Scripture he gives this
simple and plain vertues the People are brought up to shew so many tricks and to act over so many mimical postures of Worship But thanks be to God we have not so learned Christ we came not into the World to be idle Spectatours therein to be slothfull and unprofitable Monks to gratifie our senses feed our lu 〈…〉 or to live at ease but to pay a reasonable service to God and to promote the publick good not to advance our own advantages and designes but the common interest and benefit of Mankind And as we are not to neglect our duty upon which the saving of our Souls depends in expectation that after this life is ended we may get out of Purgatory into Heaven so we must not mistake our time of doing our duty but begin it as soon as we come to the use of our reason and understanding that assoon as our rationall powers begin to move Religion also may shew it self at the same time with all the brightness and majesty of truth and vertue Therefore Men do mightily abuse themselves when they are led aside by erroneous opinions concerning their future state and so lose the happy occasion of advancing their true interest this they do who put off their living well to the last who defer their Repentance with groundless hopes of having the same good success as the Penitent Thief had or who neglect all those good means that would make them sound and good Christians out of a false perswasion that their sufferings hereafter will be but Temporary and then they shall be as happy as the best Men are Some Philosophicall Persons are mistaken in this matter for they will tell you that they would rather chuse not to be at all then be placed in such a condition of Life as that they shall be in danger of everlasting punishment if they difobey the Laws of God Surely this cannot be the desire of a good or a wise Man as if a Man had better chuse to live in the Woods in a wilde state of confusion and anarchy then be subject to the Laws of a Just and Mercifull Ruler under whom he may lead an happy and quiet life meerly because he shall be punished if he do amiss We are beholding to the infinite bounty and goodnes of God for that he hath given us all a Being and when we were made it was abfolutly necessary that we should carefully observe and keep the Laws of Almighty God but such is the degeneracy of Mankind that they would never doe this unless there were severe penalties to be suffered for the violation of them which penalties are eternal upon impenitent Sinners for this reason among others because the goodness and mercy of God is eminently shewn towards Men both in threatning and inflicting these punishments for hereby they may behold his severity against fin and so break off the practices of it that they may escape the punishments of the future state which are inflicted because Men have been unreclaimable either by the mercies or severities of God towards them in this life The suffering these punishments God may accept of as a â—ull satisfaction to his Law if they be such as tend to break men off from sin assert 〈…〉 's Right and vindicate his honour to the World for we must know that the end of punishment is not the satisfaction of anger in God as a desire of revenge but the design of it is to vindicat the honour and rights of the injured person by such a way as himself shall judge most satisfactory to the ends of his Government But the misery of any Creature cannot be an end to us much less to the Divine nature because an End supposes something desirable for it self so that God neither dâ—â—h nor can delight in the miseries of his Creatures in themselves but as they are subservient to the ends of his Government and yet such is his kindness in that respect too that he uses all means agreeable thereto to make them avoid being for ever miserable For there is a vast dâ—fference between the end of punishment in this Life and in that which is to come the punishments in the life to come are aflicted because Sinners have been unreclaimable by either the mercies or punishments of this Life and they are intended to deter Men from commiting those sins which will expose them to the wrath to come Let us therefore alwayes laud and bless the Name of God in whâ—m we live move and have our Beeing for that he hath raised us out of nothing to be not onely Living but Rational Creatures Now we are bound to act according to the dâ—gnity of our Natures if we do not we degenerate into the lower Rank of Animals and very deservedly pull God's vengeance upon us for disappointing the end of our Creation which was to serve our Creatour in all Faithfulness and Truth it being a fault never to be forgiven for any Creature to say that he is not beholding to God for giving him a Beeing unless he may be freed from the dreadfull apprehensions of that everlasting punishment which is due against all such as wilfully offend so good and wise so holy and just a God Wherefore let no vain expectations of escaping the wrath to come betray us into so great a soâ—tishness as to put off our Repentance or to defer making provision for Eternity to be throughly regenerate is a harder taâ—k then to mumble over so many Pater Noster's or Ave Mary Prayers I fear those ignorant People whose Religion hangs on a string of Beads and whose Prayers are set upon Tallies understand very little what true Sanctification imports what reconciliation with the naturâ— will and mind of God signifies unless we are thus qualified for the enjoyment of God no Flames of Purgatory will ever prepare us for it Now therefore is the time of working out our Salvation the next World will be the time of giving an account of what we have done either good or evil as this Life leaves us so eternal Life will find us what advantages then we have to day of knowing the will of God and of learning his statutes let us make use of them that we may be able to stand before his Judgement Seat and receive the rewards of good and faithful Servants in order to the acquitting of our selves well at this Bar we have the direction of the holy Scripture which we may search as curiously as we please we have all God's institutions to guide us we have the assistance of GOD'S Spirit to help and encourage our endeavours and the promises of the Goâ—pel to assure us that ouâ— labour shall not be in vain These are the benefits of the present time but what warrant have we from Scripture that those duties may be performed hereafter which are now neglected No we are told the quite contrary because I called saith GOD and ye would not answer I will then laugh at your destruction and mock
Church and Christian will be both lost which would be as if a Prince should knock all his Subjects on the Head to keep them quiet 'T is true this would be an effectual way to procure it but by these means he must lose his Kingdom and make himself no Prince into the bargain 'T is no doubt but if Men were ignorant enough they would be quiet but then the consequences of it would be that they would cease to be Men. Lastly They frustrate the effects of real Religion by their Pretences to extraordinary Power and Priviledges that is they pretend to make that lawfull which is unlawfull Bellarmine saith that the Pope may declare vice to be vertue and vertue vice by this practice they attempt to change the reason of things which all Mankind agree to be unalterable By this pretended Power they can turn attrition into contrition that is they can make such a consternation of mind as fell upon Judas when he went and hanged himself to be contrition by the Priest's Absolution they can mâ—ke bodily Pennance to be of equal validity with an inward change of mind and true Repentance they pretend they can produce by I know not what magical force strange spiritual effects by vertue of Holy Water and the Cross they are also much puff't up with a Power they assume of Absolving Men from solemn Oaths and Obligations They boast much of the efficacy of Indulgences for the pardon of sin and for the delivery of Souls out of Purgatory by which Invention they detract from the efficacy of God's Grace as if it were not sufficient to prepare us for and at last to bring us to Heaven unless we pass through this imaginary Purgation after Death by which also they themselves are deceived whilst they couple prayer for the Dead and Purgatory together as if the one did necessarily suppose or imply the other But they doe not for though the sins of the Faithfull be privately and particularily forgiven at the day of Death yet the publick promulgation of their pardon is to come at the day of Judgment Christians then may be allowed to pray for this consummation of Blessedness when the Body shall be reunited to the Soul So we pray as often as we say Thy Kingdom come or come Lord Jesus coâ—â— quickly this is far enough from being a Prayer to deliver them out of Purgatory besides the Roman Church is not able to produce any one Prayer publick or private nor one Indulgence for the delivery of any one Soul out of Purgatory in all the Primitive times or out of their own ancient Missals or Records All these things before mentioned are not to be justified but thus the Papists have endeavoured to spoil the best Religion that ever was made known unto Men. Whereas the Christian Religion as it is professed in the Reformed Church is quite another thing for it doth neither persecute nor hold any principâ—es of faction or disturbance but only those of peace and obedience to the Laws of God and Man if there be any agitatours of Miscief and Treason it is the fault of particular parties and not to be charged upon the Reformed Church which Church holds the Worship of God and all other offices of Religion to be performed in the Vulgar Tongue so that Knowledge may be thereby had and promoted which Knowledge of Religion if any Man doth abuse for the ends of Pride Rebellion or Heresie he doth it at his own peril and God will judge him for it But St. Paul is so far from allowing any Service to God in an unknown Tongue that he calls it a piece of madness 1 Cor. 14. 23. If the whole Church be come together into one place and all speak with divers tongues and there come in the unlearned will not they say that you are mad that is they may justly say so Now a Man would wonder that any society of Men retaining the Name of Christians should zealously press that to be necessary for the Christian Church which St. Paul hath said to be a piece of madness The same Reformed Church owns the free use of the Scriptures both in publick and private calls upon Men as our Savâ—our did to search them for these make the Man of God perfect and do richly furnish him for every good work and by their help we are able to render a reason of the hope that is in us We do declare that the Preachers of the Church ought not to take away the Key of Knowledge from the People as our Saviour charges the Pharisees or as St. Augustine saith They do not command Faith in Men upon peril of Damnation to shew their superioritie but they appear as Officers do direct and give Counsel not with Pride to rule but in Compassion to lead others into the way of Truth and to recover them out of mislakes In short we tell the People that the Scripture is the only rule of their faith that it is full and perspicuous in all matters necessary for good life and practicâ— so that if they use diligence and mind them well they may easily understand them and be satiâ—fied we never demand any implicite Faith from them neiâ—her do we expect that they should resign up their Faculties as others believe blindfold and withâ—ut reason Therefore the Reformed Church is honest in all its dealings doth not deceive Men â—e any wâ—yes of fraud or faâ—shood such as the whole Doctrine of Merit â—s and the Relieving of Souls out of Purgatory by Massâ—s But there is a plâ—ce in the World where Coelum est venale Deusque Heaven and God himself is set to sale The premisses considered we may conclude that the Church of England had good reason to declare in her twenty second Aâ—â—cle that The Romish Doctrine concerning Purgatory Pardons Worshipping and Adoration as well of Images as of Reliqâ—es and aâ—so Invâ—â—ation â—â— Saints is a fond thing vainly invented and grounded upon no warraâ—â—â— of Scripture but rather repugnant to the word of God For the whole Scripture is against Purgatory wheâ—ein wâ— reaâ— 1 Joh. 1. 7. That the bloud of Jesus Christ cleanseth us from all sin that the Children of God who die in Câ—â—ist do rest from their labours that as they are absent from the Lord wâ—â—â—e theâ— aâ—â— in the body so when they are absent from the body â—hey aâ—e present with the Lord Joh. 5. 24. They come not into Judgemenâ— but pass from Death to Life The same Doctrine is taughâ— bâ—â—â—â— ancient Fathers of the Chuâ—châ— Tertullian Tertul. lib de patien ch 3. sayes it is an Injury to Christ to maintain that such as be called from hence by him are in a Cyprian de Mortali sect 2. edit Goulart state that should be pitied Thus St. Cyprian affiâ—ms the Servants of God to have Peace and Rest as soon as they are withdrawn from the storms of this lower World And Hilary observes in the Gospel Hilar. in Psal 2. of the
time to tell us that the matter so pretended to be instituted is no less then absosolutely necessary to the Salvation of Sinners 2. The second of these will easily be resolved by considering what we observed before from the Sess 14. C. 3. Council of Trent viz. that this Sacrament of Penance consists of Matter and Form the Form is the Priests Absolution but the Matter or Materials of this Sacrament are Contrition Confession to a Priest and Satisfaction or Performance of the Penance enjoyn'd by him now it is evident that not only Auricular Confession of which we have spoken hitherto but also Contrition and Satisfaction are wholly omitted and past over in silence by the Evangelist in this passage of Scripture from whence they fetch their Sacrament of Penance and is it not a wonderfully strange thing that our Savionr should be supposed to institut a Sacrament without any Materials of it at all Surely therefore this must be either a very Spiritual Sacrament or none at all Let us guess at the probability of this in proportion to either of the other undoubted Sacraments Suppose our Saviour instead of that accurat form in which he instituted the Eucharist had only said I would have you my Disciples and all that shall believe on my Name to keep a Memorial of me when I am gone Or suppose he said onely as he doth John 6. 55. My Flesh is Meat indeed and my Blood is Drink indeed would any one have concluded here that our Saviour in so saying had appointed Bread and Wine to be consecrated to be received in such a manner and in a word that he had without more ado instituted such a Sacrament as we usually celebrate No certainly and therefore we see our Saviour is the most express and particular therein that can be for he takes Bread blesses it breakes it gives it to them saying Take eat this is my Body c. and after Supper he takes the Cup blesses it gives it to them saying Drink ye all of this for this is the New Testament in my Blood c. and then adds Do this in remembrance of Me. Now who is there that observes this accuracy of our Saviour in the Eucharist can imagine that he should intend to institute a Sacrament of Penance and that as necessary to Salvation in the Opinion of the Romanists as the other only with this Form of words Whosoever sins ye remit they are remitted c. and without the least mention of Confession Contrition or any other Material or necessary Part or Circumstance of it 2. But in the third and last place let us suppose that our Saviour had in the Text before us instituted Penance and had appointed particularly all those things which they call the Material parts of it as it is evident he hath not yet even then and upon that Supposition Penance would not have proved to be a Sacrament properly so called I confess according to a loose acceptation of the word Sacrament something may be said for it for so there are many things have had the name of Sacrament applyed to them Tertullian somewhere calls Elisha's Ax the Sacrament of Wood and in his Book against Marcion he stiles the whole Christian Religion a Sacrament St. Austin in several places calls Bread Fish the Rock and the Mystery of Number Sacraments for he hath given us a general Rule in his Fifth Epistle viz. That all signs when they belong to divine things are called Sacramentâ— And in consideration hereof it is acknowledged by Cassander that the Number of Sacraments was indefinite in the Church of Rome it self until the times of Peter Lombard But all this notwithstanding and properly speaking this Rite of Penance taking it altogether and even supposing whatsoever the Romanists can suppose to belong to it cannot be reputed a Sacrament according to the allowed definitions of a Sacrament delivered by their own Divines Some of them define a Sacrament thus a Hugo de S. Vict. lib. de Sacram. Sacramentum est corporale elementum foris sensibiliter propositum ex similitudine repraesentans ex institutione significans ex Sanctificatione continens invisibilem gratiam And the b Magist Sent. lib. 4. dist 1. Master of the sentences himself describes it somewhat more brieflie but to the same effect in these words Sacramentum est invisibilis gratiae visibilis forma ejusdem gratiae imaginem gerens causa existens both which definitions are acknowledged and applauded by the Jesuite c Becanus Tract 2. de Sacramentis Becanus And the plain truth is a Sacrament cannot be better exprest in so few words then it is by St. d Aug. c. Faust Lib. 19. c. 16. Austin when he calls it verbum visibile a visible Word or Gospel For it pleased the Divine Wisdom and Goodness by this institution of Sacraments to condescend to our weakness and thereby to give us sensible Tokens or Pleges of what he had promised in his Written word to the intent that our dulness might be relieved and our Faith assisted forasmuch as herein our Eyes and other senses as well as our Ears are made Witnesses of his gracious intentions Thus by Baptismal washâ—ng he gives us a sensible token and representation of our regeneration and the washing away of our sins by the Blood of Christ and by the participation of Bread and Wine in the Lords Supper we have a Token and Symbol of our Union with Christ our Friendship with God and communion with each other But now it is manifest there is no such thing as this in their Sacrament of Penance as even Bellarmine himself confesses For they do not say or mean that the Absolution of the Priest is a Token or Emblem of God's forgiveness but that the Priest actually pardons in God's stead by Vertue of a Power delegated to him So that according to them here must be a Sacrament not only without any material parts instituted but also without any thing Figurative Symbolical or Significative which seems to be as expresly contrary to their own Doctrine in the aforesaid definitions as to the truth it self Nay farther to evince the difference of this Rite of Penance from all other proper Sacraments it deserves observation that whereas in those other acknowledged Sacraments the Priest in God's Name delivers to us the Pledges and Symbols of Divine Grace Here in this of Penance we must bring all the material parts and Pledges our selves and present them to God or to the Priest in his stead My meaning is that whereas for instance in Baptism the Priest applies to us the Symbol of Water and in the Eucharist delivers to us the consecrated Elements in token of the Divine Grace contrary-wise here in Penance we must on our parts bring with us contrition confession and satisfaction too in which respect we may be rather said to give Pledges to God then he to us which is widely different from the Nature of other
it is common with those of the church of Rome to lay hold of all such sayings as were intended to perswade to and incourage publick confessions and to apply them to Auricular or clancular confessions thus particularly the aforesaid Author does by Tertullian in his citation of him 4. And Lastly Whereas it is also true that several Id. lib. 3. c. 6. of those Holy Men of Old do in some cases very much râ—â—â—â—mend confession of secret sins and perswade some sorts of Men to â—he use of it namely those that are in great perplexity of conscience and that needed Ghostly Counsel and Advice or to the intent that they nâ—ight obtain the assistance of the Churches Prayers and make them the more ardent and effectual on their behalf whereas I say they recommend this an expression of Zeal or a prudent expedient or at most as necessary only in some cases pro hic nunc These great Patrons of Auricular confession do with their usual artifice apply all these passages to prove it to be a standing and universally necessary duty a Law to all Christians this is a very common sault amongst them and particularly St. Cyprian is thus misâ—pplyed by the same forementioned Writer lib. 3. cap. 7. Hitherto inquiring into the most Ancient and Purest Times of the Church by the Writings of the Fathers of those times we have not been able to discover any sufficient ground for such an Auricular confession as the Church of Rome pretends to much less for a constant and uninterrupted succession of it But now after all I mâ—st acknowledge there is a passage in Ecclasiastical Sâ—craâ— Hist Lib. 5. cap. 19 S. â—â—â—nen Lib. 7. C. 16. History which seems to promise us satisfaction wherein and 〈…〉 by nâ— me◠〈…〉 slâ—ghtly passed over 〈…〉 it is the famous story of Nectâ—rius Bishop of Constantinâ—ple and Predecessor to St. Chrysostom which happen'd something loss then Four hundred years after our Saviour The Story as it is related by the joint Testimony of Socrates and Sozomen runs thus In the time of this Nectarius there was it seems a custome in that church as also in most others that one of the Presbyters of greatest Piety Wisdom and Gravity should be chosen Penitentiary that is be appointed to the pecullar Office of receiving confessions and to assist and direct the Penitents in the management of their Repentance Now it happens that a certain Woman of Quality stricken with remorse of conscience comes to the Peneâ—entiary that then was and according to custom makes a particular confession of all such sins as she was conscious to her self to have commited since her Baptism for which he according to his Office appointed her the Penance of Fasting and continual Prayers to expiate her Guilt and give proof of the Truth of her Repentance But she proceeding on very particularly in her confessions at last amongst other things comes to declare that a certain Deacon of that church had lien with her upon notice of which horrid Fact the Deacon is forthwith cashier'd and cast out of the church By which means the miscarriage takes Air and coming to the knowledge of the People they presently fall into a mighty commotion and rage about it partly in detestation of so foul an Action of the Deacon but principally in contemplation of the Dishonour and Scandal thereby reflected on the whole Church The Bishop finding the Honour of the whole Body of his Clergy extreamly concern'd in this accident and being very anxious what to do in this case at last by the Council of one Eudaemon a Presbyter of that Church he resolves thenceforth to abolish the Office of Penitentiary both to extinguish the present flame and to prevent the like occasion for the future and now by this means every Man is left to the conduct of his own Conscâ—ence and permitted to partake of the Holy Mysteries at his own peril This is the matter of fact faithfully rendered from the words of the Historian but this if we take it in the gross and look no farther then so will not do much towards the deciding of the present controversie we will therefore examine things a little more narrowly by the help of such hints as those Writters afford us perhaps we may make good use of it at last and to this purpose 1. I observe in the first place that though at the first blush here seem to be an early and great example of that Auricular Conâ—â—ssion which we oppose forasmuch as here is not only the Order of the Church of Constantinople for Confession to a Priest but that to be made of all sins committe â— after Bapâ—ism and this to be made to him in secret notwithstanding upon a more thorough view it will appear quite another thing from that pleaded for and practised by the Church of Rome and that especially in the respects following First In the Auricular Confession in the Story there is some remainder of the ancient Discipline of the Church whose Confessions used to be open and publick as I have shewed in that here a publick Officer is appointed by the Church to receive them such an one as whose Prudence and Learning and Piety she could confide in for a business of so great nicety and difficulty and it is neither left to the Penitent to choose his confident for his Confessor nor at large for every Priest to represent the Authority of the Church in so ticklish an Affair as that of Discipline but to a publick Officer appointed by the Church for this purpose so that Confession to him cannot be said to be private seing it is done to the whole Church by him To confirm which Secondly This Penitentiary it seems was bound as there was occasion to discover the matters opened to him in secret to the Church as appears in the Crime of the Deacon in the Story there was no pretence of a Sale of Confession in this Case as in the Church of Rome by Vertue of which a Man may confess and go on to sin again secretly without danger of being brought upon the Stage whatsoever the atrocity of his Crime be and indeed without any effectual course in Order to his Repentance and Reformation Again Thirdly This Confession in the Story doth not pretend to be of absolute necessity as if a Mans sins might not be pardoned without it but only a prudent Provision of the Church to help Men forward in their Repentance to direct the Acts and Expressions of it and especially to relieve perplexed and weak Consciences and to assist them in their preparations for the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper and this appears amongst other things by the account which the Historian gives us of the consequence of abolishing it viz. That now every Man is left to his own conscience about his partaking of the holy Mysteries but it is not said or intimated that he was left under the guilt of his Sins for want of Confession To which