spiritual whoredoms And therefore let any indifferent Reader judge whether I proceeded not upon a good ground when I compared the present Catholick Church with the only Church though then confined to one Nation since both are equally furnished by God with sufficient means to preserve Religion and both are equally liable to corruption in their members and if you will believe St. Paul's warning to the Church of Rome the visible Roman Church is more then equally with that of the Jews obnoxious to a grand apostacy and excision There is indeed one difference between the particular members of the Jewish Church under the Law and particular Christians under the Gospel for which the condition of Gods servants under the Old Testament was much harder then ours is under the New For the prescript service of God being of old tied to the Temple at Hierusalem and the people being bound to worship God there when the Temple was shut up and the worship of the Lord wholly laid down as under King Ahaz read 2 Chron. 29. 7. or when the City and Temple were polluted and prophaned with the execrable Altars and Images of Baal of the Sun and of the Host of Heaven and Devil-worship which were set up by Manasseh who required obedience of Priests and People and filled Jerusalem with the blood of them who chose to obey God rather than Man See 2 Chron. 33. 3 9. 2. Kings 24. 4. Gods faithful servants must needs have been in a sad streight between their zeal for Gods House and service and their obligation to their superiors who caused at least urged them to err and to do worse then the Heathen as the Holy Ghost speaks in that story when there was no appearance as this Romanist fondly dreams of a standing Council assistant to the High Priest resident at Hierusalem as a Visible guide in Gods way but the Priest that shewed their heads were all Sycophants and Seducers But now the Service of God being spiritual and not tyed to any one place nor the Law of Christ confined to one Bishops chair only but the Church being spred throughout all nations and every Church that is associated orderly in any Kingdom or Nation or being endowed with a sufficient power of conduct and government in which the Christian Magistrate is concerned if a prevalent party of Governours be not only corrupted in matters of Religion but also so abusive of power that the communion with that Church be unsafe Christians are much more at liberty than the Jews were because by removal of their habitation they may leave a gangrened limb of the Catholick Church and joyn to a sounder part where they may be it in the East or in the West offer a pure oblation and incense unto God with acceptance upon the Altar Christ Jesus This advantage of freedom and safety for the Service of God and working out their own salvation a Christian gains above a Jew by the propagation of the Gospel unto the Gentiles and the settlement of particular Churches in several Territories under several jurisdictions But still the parallel holds between Jews and Christians both in regard of their duty to God and their Governours and in respect also of the provision for their eternal Salvation when the iniquity of the times is such that their Governours will either make the people committed to their charge drunk with the poysoned wine of their fornications or make themselves drunk with the blood of Martyrs But he goes on to tell us that his Queries proceed upon the Representative Catholick Church in a full and lawful meeting of the chief Pastors to teach the Church diffusive what she is to believe as matters of Faith or to reject as errors in Faith when Questions arise about any of them 1. Now Sir again I appeal to your reason 1. whether you did apprehend or could divine or by any thing in those Queries imagine that by the Visible Catholick Church which he supposes must be consulted as the Guide of Salvation is to be understood a truly general Council lawfully assembled But now you may be satisfied that when the Papists make a noyse with crying up the Catholick Church they do not mean the Body of the Christian Church diffusive over the whole earth which though it cannot err in matters of Faith necessary to Salvation for then it should cease to be a Church by not holding the head Christ Jesus yet can not this be a Guide because it cannot be consulted by particular Christians or others who having got an incling of the truth and desirous of Salvation may be inquisitive for a Guide And though every Christian which is a sound member of the Catholick Church by holding the true Faith and being ready to joyn upon every good occasion with all his Fellow members in the worship of God through Christ Jesus according to the Rules of the Gospel be obliged to communicate his Light to any man that wants it yet is not every man that agrees with the Catholick Church an Infallible Guide And less than Infallibility will not serve a papists turn when he talks of a Guide though the poor souls in that Synagogue never see any but such Guides which are confessedly fallible because Infallibility is not the Lot of particular Priests And now being instructed to take their meaning which was a secret not to be foreseen for their saying I hope you have not forgot what you have heard my Lord Falkland often say The Pastors assembled in Council though a governing part are still but a part of the Church Catholick and this may be secured from the gates of Hell though they may be permitted to err in matters of Faith 2. But allowing all due honour of Reverence and Obedience to a truly General Council lawfully assembled in the name of Christ and proceeding sincerely by the assistance of the Holy Ghost I desire you to consider how particular Christians are by this mans explication of the word Church set forward in the way to find that which is pretended to be absolutely necessary to wit an Infallible Guide in matters of Faith and holy Life You know that after the Apostles had finished their course the Church subsisted upon the stock of their doctrine with an ordinary Ministry erected and supported by Christ in several Churches respectively for many years and some ages without a general Council Yet particular Christistians had all that while a sufficiency of certain means for the conduct of their Souls in the wayes of Truth Peace and Holyness unto eternal life And therefore doth it not appear evident that there was Salvation attained without a Church in the sense of this Querist But never was there Salvation out of the Catholick Church I pray marke now who is ignorant of or wilfully mistakes the Argument we treat of the Querist or the Respondent 3. Thirdly I desire you to consider in what a wilderness you are intangled without certain path or issue if once
you be perswaded to forsake your ordinary Guides who lead you not by their own light but by the Lanthorn they hold forth which enables you to judge of their leading and your own walking in the right way and then to look for this Chimerical Guide called the Church For you know 1. General Councils are not standing Guides 2. And how shall particular Christians be infallibly assured and less then that according to the common Hypothesis of Papists will not serve for a ground of divine Faith that a Council when it is assembled is truly a full meeting of only lawful Pastors and that they proceed so as to be assisted by the Holy Ghost since the Learned are not agreed on the Conditions requisite to make the Body of an Assembly fit for the spirit of Infallibility and the unlearned are never able by disquisition to be assured that the Council which pretends to be their Guide is justly qualified to be so 3. Again 3. Remember how silent Councils are in cases of conscience and particular matters of holy life in which there is as much danger if you mistake the way of rushing into Hell as in matters of Faith If reason and ordinary Pastors without any fancy of infallibility can apply Scripture-Light to guide our feet certainly in the way to Heaven why is there more necessity of a Council to teach us matters of Faith than to instruct us in holyness of life Mistake me not I acknowledg the Authority of Councils as useful for the preservation of Peace and for the more vigorous suppression of false teachers which corrupt the truth But I see no absolute necessity of that extraordinary power to teach the Church diffusive the form of wholesome Doctrine established now by the Consent of Ages to the Faith once delivered to the Saints 4. But supposing a general lawful Council to be the only teacher to be trusted how shall particular Christians be infallibly assured of their Doctrine the knowledg whereof is conveyed by no other means but such as are confessedly fallible And therefore you will still be to seek for a sufficient Guide according to the Sense of this Grand-Signior All the objections made against the Holy Scriptures as they are used for instruments to discover the truth and the will of God which certainly they were by God designed to be for the benefit of the People as well as Pastors will be more forcibly urged to the disenabling the Canons of Councils from being a certain Rule of Faith than they can be to the degrading of Scriptures from that dignity in the Church Since the words of a Council in the original cannot be planer nor more expressive of the mind of God then those which the eternal Wisdome and Holy Spirit of God immediately directed the Pen-men of Scripture to endite And their Translations into Vulgar Languages are subject at least to as many uncertainties as the Translations of the Bible And lastly there will still be wanting a living infallible Judg that shall expound and apply the Canons of Councils to particular Christians which may be called with less danger of Blasphemy a Dead Letter and a Lesbian Rule then the Holy Scriptures are when they are defamed by such disparaging Characters fastned upon those Holy Oracles of God by Popish writers who are as the antient Hereticks Lucifugae Scripturarum But notwithstanding his reprehension of me for a feigned correspondence between the Jewish and Christian Church yet at last to maintain the infallibility of general Councils which if granted comes very short of making good his design that we should mistake the Roman Church for the Catholik and the factious Conventicles of Italy packed by the Pope to serve the interest of the Court of Rome for Legitimate Councils He will be an Advocate for the Synagogue And rather then the Successors of the Scribes and Pharisees who imitate their crimes and inherite their woes denounced by our blessed Saviour against them shall lose their priviledg of Infallibility the Jews that in their consistory persecuted David murdered the Prophets set up Idols in the Temple of God corrupted Religion and condemned our Saviour the Truth it self shall have the Gift of Infallibility fined upon them What short-sighted men are other Papists in comparison of this Illuminado who derive the Pedegree of an Infallible Guide from St. Peter when this man deduces it from the Scribes and Pharisees whom Christ calls openly Blind Guides and from the Sanhedrim at Jerusalem who as the Holy Ghost says took counsel against the Lord and against his anoynted Observe what he says viz. If I had proved efficaciously that the High Priest with his forenamed Council taught the people Idolatry or any other breach of Gods Law to be lawful c. I had overthrown the whole fabrick of his Queries Indeed I offered no large proof of it to you Sir whom I know to be so very well versed in the Law and the Prophets that you could not be ignorant of the story and the Sermons which record plainly and reprove sharply the horrid crimes of the Priests and Elders whether in Council or out of Council it matters not since neither place nor company did change their manners in corrupting Religion in seducing the People which certainly was done by doctrine as much as by example and by Authority abused in both in persecuting the Prophets and in complying with Idolatrous Kings to the erecting Idols and Altars to them in the house and City of God to the shutting up of the Temple and extinguishing the Lamps and which is worse than all this to the rejecting of the very Books of the Law that the people might not see that Light which would reprove their deeds of darkness I may ask the Querist as St. Paul did K. Agrippa Believest thou the Prophets But I dare not answer for him as St. Paul did for the King I know that thou believest them For indeed the Prophets assure us that the Priests whose lips should have kept knowledg and should have taught the people the true way of serving God and therefore the people were bound to seek the law from the mouth of Gods appointed Messenger but were not tyed to receive chaff instead of wheat much less poison instead of wine were themselves departed out of the way and caused many to stumble at the Law and broke the covenant of Levi. And notwithstanding their vain presumption controlled by the Prophet Ezekiel which you see is taken up by their successor that the Law should not perish from the Priest yet they that handled the law knew not the Lord the Pastors also were brutish and transgressed against God But though the prevarications of the Priests in the Law and their seductions of the credulous people to their ruine for if the blind lead the blind and none were so blind as Gods servants and messengers were in the Prophet Esays daies that they not both fall into the ditch be
more necessary for Christians then now Little Children keep your selves warily from Idols And Christs Admonition concerns us nearly Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees Since Papists are thus manifestly the heirs and successors of the Scribes and Pharisees let all that love their own souls decline the snares of these travellers to make Proselytes lest while they think to find a new way to Heaven which is called Tradition they be made the children of Hell Here indeed we have set one snare of the Devil before thine eyes the Papists first set it to take Christians captive and set it in secret in chambers whispering in the dark but now what was spoken in the dark and in the closet is brought forth to be examined by the light and I hope that this stratagem of our enemies is defeated by being discovered Indeed it is a happy ignorance not at all to know the depths of Satan but since God hath in his wise and just providence let loose Satan amongst us who can transform himself into an Angel of light and transfigure's his messengers into the Apostles of Christ who spare no pains to vent his delusions we had need to pray heartily that God will be our Sun to enlighten us with the saving beams of his heavenly truth which shine in his written Word and our shield our shelter our shadow to secure us from the snare of the Fowler from the pestilence that walketh in darkness and the destruction the bold faced Devil that wasteth at noon-day And that the Christian Reader may be provided of an Antidote against this noysom pestilence and that he may both see and escape the deceit and destruction of this snare is the end of this publication which God make prosperous to his Glory Amen C. G. First SECTION Containing the PAPISTS QUERIES Five Queries propounded in Religion _1 WHether there is not in all ages a visible Catholick Church 2. Whether out of the visible Catholick Church any can attain Salvation 3. Seeing there are now very many Professions amongst Christians which give themselves out to be either the holy Catholick Church or part of it I desire to know by designation which amongst them all is now the holy Catholick Church 4. Whether the Holy Catholick Church so designed can teach her Children any error as matter of Christian Faith either destructive of Salvation or endangering the attaining of it 5. If the said Catholick Church can teach errors as matter of Christian Faith how any Christian can be infallibly certain that She hath not taught some error in determining the Canon of Scripture and in teaching some Book or Books to be the word of God which is not so and then what certainty any one can have that all those Books are Gods word which Gods Church delivers to be his word A Categorical Answer to these Queries is demanded Second Section containing the Divines Answer 1. THe Queries answered by propounding others reflecting upon the State of the Jewish Church of God to which God had made as ample promises of its continuance till Shiloh came in humility as he made of the Christian Churches perpetuity till the same Saviour come in glory 1. Whether according to the veracity of Gods promises there were not then to be a Visible Church of the Jewes 2. Seeing the Kingdom and Church of the ten tribes pretended to the truth and service of God as well as the House of David with the Priesthood at Hierusalem and even that Kingdom and Priesthood were sometime infected with gross Idolatry and that publickly set up and erected I desire to know by what designation a Jew that was truly inquisitive of the way and means of Salvation should then discern and discover that Church in which he might find it and out of which he could not since as Christ himself affirms John 4. 22. Salvation was then of the Jews 3. Whether the Visible Society of the Jewish Nation that was in covenant with God could not teach her Children any error as matter of Religion that was corruptive of the same and destructive of Salvation 4. If the said Church could teach such errors how any Jew could be infallibly certain that the living Oracles committed to that people were not corrupted or lying legends obstructed under pretence of Holy Scripture 5. If God in that Oeconomie did preserve the Holy Scriptures which were to be the standing Rule of Religion to which private persons were to have recourse for their direction to secure themselves from the seducement of erring Guides Esa 8. 20. and 9. 16. compared and also the Instrument of publick Authority for reformation of a corrupted Church why may not the Scriptures of the New Testament added to the Oracles of the Old be sufficient to make us wise unto Salvation and to enable them who have their senses exercised therein to discern between good and evil If the Querist can frame a good Answer that might satisty the conscience of a Jew then mutatis mutandis the same will be an Answer to his own Queries II. Take this Categorical Answer to the said Queries 1. There was is and shall be till the worlds end ae Catholick Church that in every age is visible by the profession of Christianity to the persons then living 2. Out of this Catholick Church ordinarily there is no Salvation 3. That is the Holy Catholick Church which professeth that One Holy Catholick Faith once for all delivered unto the Saints whereof the Holy Scriptures are the Conservative and Rule 4. That Holy Catholick Church teaches no error destructive of Salvation 5. Therefore cannot so long as it continues so abuse the world by imposing false or forged Scriptures upon it Quere further What reason now from hence can be deduced why any rational person should desert the Church of England that adheres to the acknowledged Rule of Faith the Scriptures and enter into the present Church of Rome which at the threshold requires him to renounce his Senses Reason and Charity and obliges him to the belief of a Creed composed a few years ago at Trent which we desire the Papists to prove was the Catholick Faith of the truly antient and Catholick Church Third Section containing the Papists Reply N. 1. A Categorical Answer to the Queries concerning the Jewish Church I Admit the promises of God here mentioned respectively to Jews and Christians To the first I answer affirmatively The Second commits a fallacy of Ignoratio elenchi The Queries about the Christian Church to which these ought to correspond proceed not upon any particular Kingdom no nor upon any particular Church nor on every one or any particular mumber of the Priests or Pastors of the Church but upon the representative Catholick Church in a full and lawful meeting of the chief Pastors to teach the Church diffusive what she is to believe as matter of Faith or to reject as errors in Faith when questions arise about
or to the ending of frivolous Disputes The Rule of Faith is that publick standard of Christian Religion which includes things of belief and practice both in the service of God and also in conversation with men The adequate Rule of Faith for Christians is the Word of God revealed by Christ or the Gospel which was first preached and then written by the instinct of the same Spirit Rom. 10. 8. 1 Pet. 1. 25 The Gospel in this sence doth include in it the whole Scripture of the Old Testament the divine Authority whereof it affirms and confirms by the harmony of both This Rule is one and immoveable and so entirely delivered by the Apostles that it is uncapable of addition and the attempt of addition or mutilation or any corruption makes the falsifier of this Rule liable to a dreadfull Anothema denounced by St. Paul Gal. 1. 8 9. Now because the holy Scriptures in their fulness contain this Gospel therefore they are usually called by the ancient Fathers both Greek and Latin the straight unerring unswerving Rule of Faith that can deceive none and needs no correction This Rule contains and like a Light holds forth the object of our Faith and is not the less a Rule of Faith because this holy Scripture comprehends many other things of great use for our instruction and spiritual delight as a Carpenters Rule justly carries that name and serves the turn of measuring stuff and work though it be set out with ornamental and useful Tables You may now apprehend what we mean by the Rule of Faith But the Means of Faith signifie another thing For whatsoever by its nature and efficacy doth serve to bring man to the knowledge right understanding and full assurance of the saving Truth comes under this Notion the Means of Faith The holy Scripture as it conveys unto us the Gospel which it contains and preserves is indeed a principal instrument of God to work that faith which is his gift Moreover God hath in his wise government of the World and his Church appointed many means which according to the course of his providence contribute to the working of faith in our hearts There are some outward whereof the chief is the publick Ministry which is compared to a Candlestick that holds forth the light to the houshold of faith And not only Pastors are the means of faith but also Parents and Masters of Families and every good Christian which is as Christ says of his Disciples in general for the twelve Apostles were not then selected out of the multitude the light and salt of the earth by communicating the Word unto others are very often the happy propagators of the faith Besides men some things as Books are instrumental to promote our knowledge and faith There are some inward means of faith as our sense and rat onal faculties in the exercise whereof if there be not an actual certainty allowed the whole frame of civil society will be dissolved into confusion and the foundation of Religion will sink since faith is a reasonable service and was first built upon their sight which were eye-witnesses of the Gospel and now comes by hearing Rom. 10. 17. which two senses are the instruments of Discipline Neither will I exclude Oral or Practical Tradition from being a means to propagate the faith But this is so slippery a way so changeable uncertain and liable to corruption and forgery as appears by the superstitions of Heathens and Jews for the divine Authority of all which Tradition was pretended that without Scripture to support it Tradition is too weak to hold up faith Thus it appears that the Rule of faith can be but one and it must be common to all as the faith and salvation are common and it must have the unmoveable certainty of a Rock for man to build on And this firmness you may call if you please Infallibility for this property of God who is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Tit. 1. 2. Heb. 5. 18. can neither be deceived nor deceive is communicated to his Word which is the Truth it self and therefore the Rule of faith But the term Infallible is a Scholastical Novelty which neither Scripture nor the ancient Fathers used to attribute unto the Church but now it makes such a noise in the world with the incessant ringing of Papists that it stupifies many mens senses and understandings But the Means of faith are manifold which where God himself by his Spirit manages them are effectual to beget a saving faith though many of them are far short of Infallibility though Papists in their confused way of talking require Infallibility in the Ground Rule and Means of Faith equally 2. Again Pray note his unprosperous fraud in the abatement of the Scriptures perfection and all sufficiency to teach us the whole mystery of godliness without setting us to seek out elsewhere for a remnant of faith or an unwritten Word For he confesses the Scriptures to be a profitable but a partial Rule which contains many of the most important points of Religion clearly and expresly enough to satisfie any capacity but wilful pertinacy and for the rest which are not thus expressed it refers us to the Church and the Governors thereof c. For certain the Monarchy of the Pope and the Infallibility of the Church of Rome are the fundamental stones of the Romish Religion and if they could be proved true are of the most importance to the ease of conscience and the peace of Christendom in that sluggish and servile way wherein Papists would lead us and therefore it is no wonder that Papists who are true to their interest contend earnestly for these that are such points as being once admitted they facilitate the reception of all other Doctrines whatsoever Now let the Papists shew these two clearly expressed in Scripture or shew us a good reason why the Apostle should have a greater mind to tell the after-Ages of the Church of his Cloak and Parchments then to inform them of those points which according to their opinion are necessary to preserve the Church in peace especially then and there when St. Paul had it in his design to recount all the grounds motives and means of Christians keeping the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace and yet hath left out the Headship of the Pope and the Magistery of the Infallible Guide the Roman Church What reason imaginable can be given why Christ and his Apostles should not have an equal kindness for all the important points of Religion and an equal care to conserve their memory by writing or indeed what need was there of writing any thing at all of particular points when one Reference of us to the Church for all would have served the turn would not one precept written of Ask the Church that is the governors of it or instead of Search the Scriptures Inquire for the universal Tradition of Christendome have been convenient and sufficient for our
as the giving of the Eucharist to Infants was once held by D. Innocentius 3. as a Doctrine of Faith and a Tradition of the Church but after 600 years practise wore out insensibly and hath been condemned by the Councils of Constance and Trent with an Anathema and to increases also and therefore their Religion is indeed Irregular But concerning Traditions as the word signifies particular points of beliefe or practise in Christian Religion these 3 Rules are worth Observation 1. Whatsoever is offered to us or enjoyned to us in belief or practise under colour of being a Tradition if it be repugnant to the written word of God or destructive of Gods precepts ought to be rejected by Christians Christs reason together with the refutation of Pharisaical Traditions confirms the Truth of this Rule 2. Whatsoever is obtruded upon us under the pretext of being a Tradition that is neither clearly delivered in nor fairly by good consequence deduced out of Gods written word needs not and ought not to be received as a matter necessary to Salvation The manner of conveniency or necessity wherein things which are strangers to Scripture are held is carefully to be taken notice of For several practises have been in early times introduced under shew of conveniency as the Apostle says some bodily exercises carry a plausible shew of wisdome which having once obtained credit by the favourable commendation of eminent persons and custome have been in succession of time adorned with the Title of Tradition and grown up from being thought convenient to be accounted and prest as necessary to Salvation This danger is to be prevented by circumspection And the perfection of Scripture as it is a compleat Rule of Religion proves the truth and usefulness of this second Rule 3. Doctrines of Faith and divine Worship being secured by Gods written word from intrusions of humane inventions if any Rites or Ceremonies can be proved by fair Testimonies of Antiquity to have been practised by the Church universal of primitive times and are still continued by the Authority of Church Governors as tending to edification or the free and open profession of our Faith whether they be called Traditions or no are not lightly to be rejected much less violently opposed by private Christians Thus much for Traditions as meaning Matters of Religion delivered down from former times to posterity But Tradition often bears another sence and is taken formally for the manner of conveyance of matters that concern Religion which is partly oral partly practical The joynt agreement of Doctrine and practice continued by succession of one Age after another whilst one generation derives to another the whole body of Religion is now called Tradition and of late is asserted by Papists in this Kingdom to be the only Principle and Rule of Faith and affirmed to be of its own nature infallible and incorruptible and to be evident by its own light And thus the order of inquiring for the ancient dayes and old wayes is quite inverted for now we need only as they teach mark what the present Church of Rome doth and because Tradition cannot fail nor vary therefore the Popes Court at this day with the Church Altars Pictures Wafers mangled Eucharist adoration of the Virgin Mary Invocation of Angels and Saints offering of a real Sacrifice for Souls in Purgatory and offering of the Masse to God for the honour of Saints is a true Glasse wherein you may see the face of the Church when St. Peter sate Bishop of Rome This is the aim of the Querists Discourse to set up this Tradition instead of Scripture If you will not believe him you may choose because he tels you plainly it is not his work to prove any thing But I will give you a little touch of proving the vanity of this pretence The experience of all Ages before the flood after the flood in the Jewish Nation and in the Christian Churches doth manifestly shew that the derivation of Religion from mouth to ear from hand to hand from Fathers to children from Priests to Successors from Age to Age this course of Tradition which is opposed unto and preferred before the Scriptural way of preserving and propagating and recovering of Religion hath been and may be quickly corrupted often interrupted and hath suffered notorious changes and may do at any time when sloth and sensuality and neglect of the light and vanity of mind set forward by the Devils malice and cunning make men weary of the true Religion But I will add another Argument to another purpose St. Paul by word of mouth taught the Thessalonians what he thought not expedient to write to wit what hindered the Man of sin from being revealed Here was a matter of consequence that concerned the Church delivered by word of mouth which if it had been written as well as that Character of the Man of sin the fame Scripture which preserved and conveyed the one would have also secured the knowledge of the other to posterity If now an eminent Church failed in deriving one point of Doctrine to after Ages which with little difficulty might have been kept and taught but is now lost for not being recorded in Scripture what likelihood is there that the whole body of Christian Religion was or could be traduced entire and pure meerly by oral Tradition without dependance on the Scripture for 1600 years For my part I think still that as the Church of the Jews were either more or less pure and their Religion more or less Hourished in truth and sincerity as the Governors gave heed more or less to the light of the Law written in like manner according to the degrees of Pastors attendance to the holy Scriptures the Tradition of Christianity hath varied Therefore the Scriptures are the only fixed and stable Rule of Religion 7. Lastly Let us allow the Rule of Vincentius Lirinensis Quod ubique quod semper quod ab omnibus non est erratum sed traditum That which hath been taught every where always and by all Pastors of the Church is not an error but a true Tradition If we make Antiquity Universality and Consent twisted together the measure of our faith for certain we shall have a very short Creed and that large Assumentum that new piece of Italian stuff which was woven in the Shop at Trent and by the Popes stitching is added to the old garment of the Church the Constantinopolitan Creed must of necessity be pared off and thrown away But the main thing to be considered at present is the difficulty of applying this Rule for the examination of the Doctrines which pretend to Tradition and the tryal of the Spirits even of all Doctrines before we trust any Teacher is alwayes an act of Christian prudence so long as the world is pestered with false Prophets For can you or any reasonable man imagin that Universal Tradition of the Catholick Church is more evident in it self and more conspicuous to learned
discern a good tree from a bad by the fruit as our Saviour directs us to do then we must first know what is good and bad in fruit and then consider what fruit the tree bears and from thence give a judgement of the tree This is the method which we must take in the enquiring for a true Church Till we know what is Truth and that is the Faith once delivered to the Saints we cannot know what Church brings forth good or bad fruit Profession of faith is bearing of fruit The goodness of this fruit is Truth that is agreeableness to the Word of God It is therefore necessary that we know the Truth before we can know a Church to be true Now though the Truth or the holy Catholick Faith may be under doubt and debate yet hath God set it up in the Scriptures so conspicuously that if the Gospel be hid it is hid to them that perish Therefore I added to the Character of the Church by which I designed it to be known that is the profession of faith the means whereby we may know what the faith is which being professed is the sole certain mark of a true Church For the marks of the Church which Romanists commonly give are separable from the Truth and if they be taken singly without truth are false and treacherous indices whereas the true faith of it self is a sure note of a true Church And I pointed at Scripture which is the Rule of faith on purpose in mine Answer that I might not be thought to send a man to look for a thing in the dark without a light And now Sir do you judge whether I have deserved blame by my designation of the Catholick Church by professing the Catholick Faith But to make mine Answer both applicable to the Question and also useful to you I shall a little explicate and enlarge my sence It is presumed that the enquiry after a Church is made by a Christian that may be distracted in the variety of visible Societies differing one from another but every one equally pretending to be a Church but his distraction is the greater because of all Societies only the Roman Synagogue doth challenge to her self to be the Ark out of which there is no salvation There are three Reasons which may move Christians to enquire for a Church or a visible Society of Christians 1. That they may serve God and offer up the spiritual sacrifices of praise and prayer by Christ Jesus 2. That they may grow in grace and the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ 3. That they may joyn with Gods people and keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace by communicating together in Gods holy Ordinances To compass these ends a Christian is not concerned to enquire where the Catholick Church is for it is confessedly diffused through the Nations but so spread by Gods dispensation of the light that the Sun of righteousness doth not at one time arise to all parts of the world Besides the Candlestick is moveable from any place and the Kingdom of God may be transferred from one Nation to another neither hath God by any the least indication of his will and pleasure encouraged any portion of mankind or part of the world to promise to themselves a perpetual establishment of the Church in that place and in that successive body of men which at some time hath been or is now irradiated with the Gospel It is therefore not at all material to trouble our selves with delineations of the Catholick Church which hath no set or certain limits of extent That which concerns us to know is what Church pretending to be a member of the Church Universal for no men but Papists that can admit contradictions into their Creed will speak such non-sense with deliberation as that is when they call a particular society of Christians combined under one Bishop the Universal Church is fit and safe to be communicated withal that we must reap the benefits of a Christian Congregation Therefore the Question is now whether the Church wherein I was born and baptized and by Gods Providence am seated under its government or another different society of Christians which invite me to their communion be such a company as I may safely joyn with them in all publick offices of Religion For if it be I am bound to communicate with that Church as being a member of the Body of Christ the unity of which Body I am bound to maintain The Truth therefore of the doctrine taught the integrity and purity of the divine worship celebrated and the way of administring Ecclesiastical power must be examined by some Rule and known to be agreeable to the Gospel of Christ before a Christians conscience can be satisfied of the necessity of communion with that Church upon this account because it is a member of a Church Catholick Since then it is the custome to call any publick society of Christians that are compacted together by a frame of political government into one body a Church that particular Church is a member of the Catholick which holds that Faith the profession whereof constitutes the Church Catholick He that sleights this Designation would have dealt kindly with us if he had discovered unto us a better way or a clearer Light by which we might find the Church and discover a true Church from a vain pertender Till he or some other do that office for us we think it best to seek for a Church if we were now to seek by looking for the light of truth in it which alwaies shines in the house of God And because truth and peace are both the legacies of Christ bequeathed unto the Church we may do well to try what society of Christians doth follow peace and edification of the Body of Christ If the Church of Rome that sets up Images of God which are the teachers of lies in their Temples and by her Anathemaes makes divisions in Christendome be tryed by those two marks I leave the event to any one that will impartially pronounce sentence according to the evidence of fact in the whole bulk of their doctrines and Devotions and in their publick Government My fourth Answer hath the same fate with the former to be called not Categorical I must learn new Logick as well as new Theologie to understand this Gentleman But it is charged with defect because it reflects not upon the whole Question and takes no notice of the tail wherein the sting of the Scorpion lies I confess mine Answer comes short in that particular because I did not apprehend then the last clause of his question to be of any moment For I thought it enough that the Church Catholick is secured from any error that is destructive of Salvation But because I am now informed that the main force of the Querie lies in this Whether the Holy Church so designed can teach any error as matter of Faith endangering of Salvation
hand down to posterity the holy Scriptures without any falsification since the Church of Rome at this day doth both accept and impose upon her own Children and would but cannot upon others Apocryphal Books for Canonical I have now shewed that these Queries are not unanswerable by Protestants adhering to their own principles or Axioms I desire you to consider the result of the whole design Except you allow him at first that the Roman Church is in propriety of speech the Catholick Church this disquisition can advance you not an hairs-breadth to a better opinion of the Roman Church for a Guide then you had before For after all the clamour made for resolution of these Queries concerning the Catholick Church the main Question stands as it did Whether the Church of Rome at this day be to be subjected unto as an infallible Guide and to be communicated with all other Churches being abandoned and particularly the Church of England whereof you are now a setled member Till this be resolved you that know the frame of our Church and the module of our Religion may stay safely where you are It remains now that I examine his Answer to my conclusive Querie And I shall briefly note what you may by your own reason or experience discover either absurd or false in it He doth not require you to desert the Reformed Church of England for adhering to the Scriptures as the Rule of Faith For the Roman Church doth that as well as the Protestant as he says If this Querist do not pretend to Infallibility and Authority over you he will out of modesty allow you to examine whether Papists do as well that is as fully and firmly adhere to the Scriptures as English Protestants Certainly they do not well own them for a Rule who accuse them of obscurity and imperfection and make it a point of faith that the defectiveness of Scriptures must be supplied with unwritten Traditions And as certain it is that we who maintain the fulness of Scriptures in delivery of all things necessary to salvation and the perspicuity in that delivery and therefore admit of no point of Religion that is a meer stranger unto the Scripture do more closely stick to that Rule then the Papists But because you are free to examine the adherence of Papists to the Scriptures in particulars by comparison with the English Protestants try whether a mangled Eucharist the real Sacrifice of Christ by a Priest that makes his Maker and eats his God The publick service of God in a forreign and unknown language to the generality of the people that must say Amen to all Pictures of God used in Religious worship the superlative worship of the Virgin Mary Invocation of Saints Purgatory the ease of departed souls by offering of Masses the baptizing of Bels the treasury of superabundant merits of Christ and holy persons c. be as agreeable to the Scriptures as our Liturgy and the 39 Articles agreed on in our Church If you find it otherwise and Papists do not so much as pretend to make Scripture the Rule of these Doctrines and practices what credit can be given to such an impudent boaster But the ground of deserting us he pretends to be this That we will have the sole Rule of faith to be the Scriptures in exclusion of Universal Tradition and the voice of the Catholick Church 1. Suppose the chief Pastors and Doctors of England should dispute in the Schools about the Rule of faith and exclude Tradition and the voice of the Church from that honour which they think due only to the Word of God in Scriptures now since the decease of the Apostles and the unhappy divisions of Christians that make it difficult if not impossible to know assuredly what is delivered by Universal Tradition or taught by the Catholick Church why must you upon that account or any man desert the Church of England where the worship of God through Christ Jesus is celebrated without any mixture of superstition and the means of salvation are offered to you in a sufficient measure for your conduct in the way of truth and peace Let a Papist if he can prove that our making Scriptures the sole Rule of faith makes the communion with our Church unsafe Must you needs run out of our Church as if it were a House visited with the Plague meerly because it relyes only upon the Scriptures for a Religion And if you must do so must you needs then at the next step run into a Roman Assembly that as my Lord Falkland speaks keeps her children from Scripture as a Mother would keep her children from Rats-bane Think of both these because the Gentleman will not be pleased if you desert us but will not come to them He will think himself still a loser if any water go besides his Mill. 2. This calumny thus impudently fastned upon our Church shews this Querist to drive the Devils trade several wayes in tempting by impostures and in falsly accusing the brethren For I challenge any Papist to quote if he can and will cite an Author faithfully and fairly any Article of Religion or Writing of a Bishop or sentence of an Academy wherein we disclaim Universal Tradition or the voice of the Catholick Church For mine own part I do openly profess that if any point in controversie between us and Papists can be proved to have been taught by the Primitive Church as a matter of faith and derived by the voice of the Catholick Church from age to age and this Universal Tradition be manifested by as good evidence as is usually produced for the divine original of the Scriptures which we receive for Canonical I will embrace that Doctrine as the Word of God 3. SIR you cannot but know that we constantly reject many of the Popish opinions obtruded upon the Christian world as Novelties which not only want a sufficient warrant from the Scriptures but also cannot be made credible and acceptable by Universal Tradition Such are the Popes Universal Bishoprick or Occumenical Headship which Pope Gregorie the great called the character of Antichrist the Infallibility of the Church of Rome and many other points of Popish Religion some whereof I recited above and need not repeat We have incessantly required the Advocates for the Papacy to prove the consent and conformity of the present Roman Church in these particulars with the Primitive Church whose voice is the Precentor in the Quire and the first circle in the diffusion of Universal Tradition Thus let due esteem and credit be given to Universal Tradition but you see how little it is in earnest valued by Papists or how far they are from making use of that Rule which they extol so zealously as you hear thereby to prove the truth of their religion In fine you may apprehend the No reason to desert the Reformed Church of England therefore because she makes the Holy Scripture the sole Rule of Religion when indeed she knows no other given
that Infallibility which he did not believe because he saw the contrary the reason why he believed the Scriptures to be preserved in purity and integrity And it is as impertinent to any of my propositions to proceed as he doth that it follows not thence that every private person should find out every particular point of Religion by particular or express proofs out of the written word alone For I neither make nor suppose any such Inference from any thing premised in my fift Querie But Sir I would have you take notice that when we make the Holy Scriptures the Rule of Religion and Instrument to make us wise unto Salvation we do not exclude the Authority of those persons whom Christ hath made dipensers of Holy Mysteries but alwaies suppose the Mynisterie to be a Means appointed for the edifying us in our Holy Faith Again we allow particular Christians that are endowed with the Spirit of understanding which is one of the gifts which Christ received without measure but hath imparted to all his living members according to his good pleasure in a certain measure to try the Spirits and as the Bereans did to examine the agreeableness of their lawful pastors Doctrine to the Scripture And if a Priest though the highest in a Church tells Christians that the Blessed Cup in the Eucharist is not to be given to all them that receive the Holy Bread or that God may be represented by any picture or devise of men in any shape whatsoever or that any meer Creature is to be worshiped with religious worship the Sheep of Christ that know their chief Shephards voice may use their talent of reason to try these doctrines by the touch-stone of truth But we do not affirm that it is necessary for every Christian to deduce and prove every particular point of Religion out of Scripture But since the faith once delivered to the Saints with the rules of Holy Life are now written for our instruction and direction by God himself on purpose that they may be a Light to our feet and make wise the simple and therefore the Testimonies of the Lord are clear sure and plain in all things that are necessary to be believed and practised therefore every one according to the circumstances of his condition and calling is bound more or less to use the means vouchsafed him by Gods providence and may by diligence satisfy his conscience in building his Faith and Obedience upon Scriptum ect It is written Now let us see what our Querist sayes to prove that a Jew was bound to rest upon the Authority of the Priests though they were Idolatrous or infected with Sadducism he endeavors to invalidate my allegations of the Prophet Esay who expressely sayes in the place alledged The leaders of the people caused them to err and they that are lead of them are destroyed Is it not evident that leaning upon their leaders hand and resting upon their Authority was the peoples ruine God therefore not only to secure them from sorcerers as this man restrains the caution but also from all seducers whatsoever who surely would pretend divine warrant to gain credit to their erroneous doctrine for never any one brought false doctrine upon the stage without a vizard advises his people to have recourse to the Law and the Testimony not excluding the Ministerie of the Priest and Levite who were faithful in things concerning God if any such could be consulted with and some such God did reserve in the worst times but giving the people liberty if the Grandees spake not according to that manifest Rule to disbelieve them as destitute of true Light The Prophet indeed doth not forbid men to resort to the present Pastors of the Church but allows them the judgement of Discretion to try the words of their leaders by the Law which shines brightly enough to enlighten their eyes that they may discern Chaff from Wheat and false doctrine from true Let the next Paper if it can shew the contrary for this offers nothing to that purpose Till then and for ever the Law and Testimony written by Gods special design stand for a Rule of Pastors teaching and peoples obeying Next he brings 2 proofs of his assertion out of Deut. 17. 8. 12. Mal. 2. 4. The Devil could find Scriptures to advance his temptations But Consider the violence offered to Gods word by this racking it As to that of Moses there is indeed there an establishment of a High Court without appeal to whose cognizance are referred all important Controversies about the Law of Moses which being in the whole frame of it divine gives a tincture of Religion to those causes that were for the substance Civil or concerned the outward estate or persons of the people In that Court the Priests and Levites who by their office were bound to study the whole Law of God and fit to expound the political Statutes given by the hand of Moses for the government of that Nation but contrived enacted and endited by God himself did sit with the Elders as Judges Now judg you whether the submission required of all Jews being at difference about civil matters to the sentence of that Court signify any thing to enforce upon Jews an obligation to believe and obey the Priests in all things when common reason assured them that their doctrine practise and injunctions were contrary to the Law of God Submission to the sentence of a Supreme Court which was necessary for peace to put a period to contentions did not oblige the party adjudged to believe the sentence to be just though the aggrieved party had no remedy till the judg of all the world appear to do right That those Judges did often turn judgment into wormwood it is evident by the Prophets and it is well known that that Court setled at Jerusalem having taken to themselves the power of judging Prophets did very often condemn the Lords true Prophets Now what Master of reason can ever fairly deduce from the outward subjection which was necessary both for wrath and Conscience to a Supreme Court of Gods institution though the Judges were not infallible in judicature That those Priests were infallible teachers of Religion whose word was to be taken and relyed on without refusal or so much as tryal As to that of the Prophet Malachi it is subtilly done of him to touch it lightly but fraudulently done to cite it imperfectly It is enough that I have already shewed the full sense of the Prophet who declares what the Priests were by their office obliged to do and from their Dignity and Duty aggravates the crime of the debauched Priests of that age who abused both their power and also the people And this sharp reproof is far enough from proving them then to be infallible But this Querist surely presumes you to be a Papist already and of that form that is unlicensed to read the Book of God Else he could not be so stupid as
and unlearned and easier to be applied by particular Christians then the Scripture the study whereof for the discovery of so much as is necessary to be believed and done requires infinitely less pains then is requisite for the certain knowledge of what the Church in all ages and places hath taught as matter of faith necessary to salvation You Sir are pretty well versed in Books and have been inquisitive into Antiquity and I believe you will conclude it much easier to know the mind and will of God which is the measure of spiritual wisdom and the Vnum necessarium the One thing necessary for us to seek after then to learn the sence of the Church that is still according to the Querists Exposition of the chief Pastors in all Ages concerning the points in debate between us To close up this Discourse try whether you find not within your self enough of reason to consent to this resolution he that by attendance on Gods Ordinances dispensed by a faithful Ministry and by private study of Gods Book hath learned the Gospel of Christ and is a good practical Scholar of the saving Grace of God which hath appeared unto all men a Catholick Light common as the Sun teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts we live soberly righteously and religiously in this present world this man I say being * taught of God doth know à priori before-hand and by the very seed and in the first principle what the true Church Catholick holds For that Word of God which lives and abides for ever in Heaven Psal 119. 8 9. in the hearts of believers 2 Cor. 3. 3. 1 Joh. 3. 9. in the Scriptures and in the Church is that incorruptible seed by which the Church Catholick is begotten and by which it lives Since then the Church is no longer or further a Church then as it believes the Gospel and the faithful Pastors in all ages do teach that Gospel it must needs be that whosoever knows the Gospel knows what is the sense of the Catholick Church though he never spend an hour in the reading of history whereas if he spend Methusalahs age in tumbling over the Fathers Schoolmens Ecclesiastical Histories and other Volumes he may weary his flesh and yet notknow by them what was the Faith of the Catholick Church Now to the mans conclusion He acknowledges that a direct fit and true answer to my Queries mutatis mutandis would be an answer to his captious questions which he propounds with the same mind as his admired Masters the Scribes and Pharisees did trouble our Saviour Christ with Interrogatories thinking but in vain that we should be intangled in our ovvn Ansvvers whereas indeed he had been catched if he had given apposite Answers But after mine examination which I resign up to your discretion I desire you to transform your self by the power of imagination for a while into the person of a well-minded Jew that seeks for satisfaction in Religion in a distracted estate of the Church and try whether this Querist being forced to turn Respondent hath fully and fitly answered my Counter-Queries My next Task is to examine his exceptions against my Categorical Answers I shall not contend about words nor much crave excuse for want of accurate expression in that hasty delivery of my Conceptions to comply with your request at that time As to the first he excepts against the term Christianity as dubious to make my Answer acceptable I will insert the Term he desires and say True Christianity But I fear the addition will dispel no mist of doubtfulness if there were any such about the answer For Hereticks alwaies pretend to Truth as much as to Christianity and would be taken for the only true Christians But to satisfy his nice and curious palate I answer as fully as he desires There was is and shall be till the worlds end a Catholick Church that in every age is visible by profession of true Christianity to the persons then living That is to say In all ages God had and will have and preserve some Christians who shall so profess the Truth according to the doctrine of the Gospel that their light of Faith shall shine to the men of their generation respectively But I cannot so easily admit another addition sliely made by the Querist to my Answer viz. in their whole profession Latet anguis in herbâ He that professes true Christianity may build hay and stubble upon the foundation and yet not miscarry in his person whilst he holds fast his profession of the saving truth unto the end though he be saved through the fire and loose his superstructure as St. Paul assures us It is not therefore necessary that any person or Church which maintains true Christianity should profess it in such an absolute purity as that water should never be mixed with the wine It is enough that poyson is not admixed with the liquor of life But because I perceive that there is much ambiguity in the termes of the Query for which it deserves to be called Fallacia plurium interrogationum a sophistical trick of asking many things under one word that hath two faces under a hood I will weigh the vvords over again and mould my answer anevv fitted to his explication of the vvord Catholick In common speech Catholick is no more-than Universal Justin Martyr vvho vvith many others of that age believed a particular Resurrection of some that should rise and reign 1000 years before the end of the World calls the last Resurrection 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Catholick or in plain English Universal Resurrection There is also a Catholick Faith vvhich is common to all Christians and comprises all that is necessary to Salvation And the Church of Christ novv unconfined to any one place or nation but spreading like a fruitful vine her branches throughout the earth is called Catholick that is not National as the old Church of the Jevvs vvas but Universal since the Gospel is preached to all the vvorld indifferently and the voice of the Apostles vvent forth into all the earth and their vvords unto the ends of the habitable vvorld It is not to be omitted that in a secondary and borrovved sense the word Catholick is applied to them that hold the true Faith which is common to all Christians and therefore Catholick In this sense not only a particular Church but also a singular person may be called Catholick meaning one that professes the Catholick Faith But the Querist who hath a peculiar language and though he speaks English yet means Italian hath taught me since I first read his Questions and answered them according to the common usage of the words that he meant by the Catholick Church the Representative Church in a full and lawful meeting of the Priests and Pastors to teach the Church diffusive Now according to this sense of the words Catholick Church I do turn my Affirmative Answer into a Negative and
as I though he doth worse than dissemble his own knowledg that the Popes Bull enjoyns this Creed to be sworn to by all Ecclesiasticks vvhich are more then Teachers in Universities all dignitaries in Churches all Regulars c. and it strictly charges all Clergy-men to endeavour as much as in them lies that all men under their care and charge shall learn and hold this Faith These animadversions I offer to your assistance in the giving a right judgment of the Gentlemans Reply to mine Answers If you please to offer a Copy of my Letter to the unknown person you may do well And if he shall return any thing that you shall think fit to impart unto me I shall peradventure be at leisure to consider it and tell you what sense I have of it as freely and plainly as I have dealt in the examination of the precedent discourse I conclude in St. Pauls words The Lord give you a good understanding in all things So I rest SIR Your very faithful Servant C. G. THe emptiness of this spare Paper tempts me to recite the Exposition of that acute Commentator Maldonate who though a Jesuite expounds our blessed Saviours Precept Mat. 23. 2 3. far otherwise than this Advocate for the Jewish Chairmen doth His words are these Ergo cum jubet servare facere quae Scribae Pharisaei dum in cathedrâ Mosis sedent dicunt non de ipsorum sed de Legis Moysis doctrinâ loquitur Perinde est enim ac si dicat Omnia quae Lex Moyses vobis dixerunt Scribis Pharisaeis recitantibus servate ac facite secundum autem opera illorum nolite facere ut Hilarius Hieronimus videntur intellexisse The sense of his words is this Therefore when Christ bids them keep and do what the Scribes and Pharisees say whiles they sit in the Chair of Moses he speaks not of their own doctrine but of that of the Law and of Moses For it is all one as if Christ say All those things which the Law and Moses have told you when the Scribes and Pharisees recite them do ye keep and perform but do ye not according to their works as Hilarie and Hierome seem to have understood the Text. Mark that this learned Papist is constreyned by the force of truth and uncontrollable evidence of the false doctrines of the Scribes and Pharisees to imply tacitely that those Chairmen could teach a Doctrine far different from that of the Law and of Moses and openly to averr that the Doctrine of the Law and Moses that might then be well known was to be the Object and limit of the Observance and Obedience enjoyned as due to the Ministery of the Scribes and Pharisees The Commentator to justify his Exposition alleges Hilarie and Hierome two ancient and very learned Latine Fathers seemingly at least to have been of his sense in the understanding our Saviours words A Letter of Sir Lucius Carie Lord Viscount Falkland to Mr. F. M. An. Dom. 1636. Frank I Have received not your Letter but your Declamation for I would rather believe that you had a mind to exercise your stile then that you are likely to make Mr. Lees prediction a Prophesie But if it be possible that having carried up Baronius you should be in earnest that you should be moved by the Authority of a Father living 400 years after Christ to the choice of that Religion which I have shewed you in that question of the Chiliasts opposeth seven Fathers the youngest more antient than he and the rest the most antient that are That their Sanctity should move you which not only their own learned Salmeron makes a false Note of the Church but which as I find by their own Authors they have had but so lately that their Piety is but the effect of their Emulation who till we reformed their Doctrine reformed not their lives and owe the purity of their Church to him whom they stile the Author of ours That you should choose them for the convenience of an Infallible Guide when they neither know her Infallibly to be Infallible nor Infallibly what Definitions are hers when those are yet more hard to be understood than to be known and those who have the convenience of so infallible a Director neither agree by what Notes she is to be known nor what Doctrines she teaches and cannot but confess that there are infinite Questions which concern the Duty of our lives of which she is wholly silent and concerning which they are in the same miserable estate in which we are who have none That their Multitude should move you who cannot but know that almost all the world hath been Idolaters and most Christians have been Arrians Indeed if any such Topical Arguments should seem to you worthy to enter the lists with those at least much more apparent Vnreasonablenesses which are in so many of their doctrines as Transubstantiation c. If I say this be possible I doubt not but either at the end of this week or the beginning of the next to say so much more to you as will serve to let you see that those Works of theirs are very weak which may be demolished by a Potgun Till then I pray consider That if God as we say requires our Assent to nothing but to what is apparent to be his Will then there is no necessity of a Guide since those who would deny apparent Doctrines would as well resist an apparent Guide And that they confess that it is Obstinacy in which Heresie consists and which damnation follows and that sure this secret I mean who is guilty of Obstinacy is fitter to be reserved for Him to discover who made the heart then to be judged by them who cannot know it and both parts may keep their Opinions till it shall be made there infallibly appear both whose Opinions are erroneous and whose errors are guilty whereas the subsistence of the Common-wealth will not suffer Criminal matters to stay for so long though a more certain tryal I am in hast for it is late which time I was fain to take lest your Mother should come in Your very affectionate Brother and Servant FALKLAND Pray read Baronius over and carefully Not the Cardinal Baronius whose Annals are compacted to serve the Popes Interest without any regard to truth but a learned Divine of Scotland who hath written solidly De object◠formali fi dei and hath defended his Discourse against Turnbull a Jesuit FINIS * Eph. 4. 14. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 †Apoc. 12 9. Joh. 8. 44. Mat. 13. 38 39. †Mar. 6. 3. Joh. 7. 15. * Mat. 23. 8. See Mark 11. 27. 12. 13. Act. 19. 13. Septem urbs clara jugis toti quae praesidet orbi Propert. Apoc. 17. 9 18. Eph. 2. 20. Luk. 16. 29. 31. They have Moses and the Prophets let them hear these If they hear not Moses and the Prophets neither will they be perswaded if one arise