Romish Church But for the Papist the happy man that has had the good luck to hit into this true Church they have so many tricks and quirks to secure him in his life at his death and after it that let his faults be what they will it s very strange if he miss of Heaven at least after he has taken Purgatory in his way if he was very poor for rich men may easily escape that too or get soon out of it if they 'l follow the Priests directions Such fine devices they have to give men a lift to Heaven without putting them to the trouble of walking in that narrow way of serious holiness which alone leads thither So that I cannot but say and without any prejudice or partiality I speak it notwithstanding all that noise and talk of holiness in the Church of Rome nothing but Holy Mother Church Holy Father the Pope Holy Altars Holy Images Holy Water Holy Crosses Beads Agnus Dei's Reliques and a thousand holy trinkets more yet I think there is as little true holiness of life and conversation to be found amongst them as in any Church of the world Yea we shall often find that when those of that way are told of the holy Lives of many Protestants or are themselves exhorted to strictness and piety of life as that wherein true Religion chiefly consists they will be ready presently to make a puff at it as if this was of no value in comparison of being of the true Church of the infallible Catholick Church as they fondly call their own Sect as if being in a good Church would secure a bad man when we are so plainly taught that without holiness no man shall see God let him be of what Church he will Wherefore to conclude this remember that since in the Church of England the holy Gospel is most purely taught and the holy Sacraments duly administred according to our Saviours own institution and the members of it are neither required to profess any falshood or practise any evil in order to their communion with it but on the contrary are most strictly enjoyned to be holy in all their conversation and do here enjoy all manner of helps and advantages thereto therefore I say this is such an Holy Church as that you may and ought to hold communion with it Proceed we now to the following Marks of the true Church CHAP. III. Of the third mark of the true Church that it's Catholick L. THE next mark he lays down of the true Church is that its Catholick And here they make great boasting and triumphing for they say none else call themselves Catholicks but they nor as they pretend have any reason so to do since they tell of vast numbers belonging to their Church in all places of the world far and near and how they convert Heathens whilst Protestants they say are but a little handful here and there in corners amongst a multitude of Catholicks T. As to what they call themselves it matters little for be sure they 'l give themselves good words Neither is it true that none but they lay claim to that name for we of this Church do esteem our selves true Catholick Christians as professing the ancient Catholick faith of Christ and so do frequently stile both our selves and our Doctrine and with good reason as I doubt not to demonstrate As to their great numbers compared to other Christians suppose what they alledge were true as it is most false yet is this no sufficient argument of their being true Catholicks for that 's to be judged by the truth of their Doctrines and not by the number of Professors For if we should at this rate go to the Poll and judg of truth by most votes then might the Mahometans carry it from Christians And heretofore the number of the Arrians was said to be greater than of the Orthodox But that 's to be accounted a true part of the Catholick Church which professes the Catholick faith even the same Christian Religion which all good Christians in all ages former as well as latter and of all Nations have ever constantly profest And by this rule you will find that the Church of England is a most true and sound part of the Catholick Church as professing this same Christian faith contain'd in the Gospel and summ'd up in the Apostles Creed Here you may remember what I have before told you that it is most vain and unreasonable for any one particular Church to stile her self the whole Catholick Church as if there were no Christians in the world but themselves And yet in this sense doth the Church of Rome stile her self Catholick the absurdity of which I have before shewed And there needs nothing more to manifest it than this single consideration that there are thousands and millions of Christians in several parts of the world who neither now do nor ever did own the Supremacy of the Bishop of Rome which is the great fundamental article of their faith to pass by all others at present and yet all these whilst they embrace the whole Christian Doctrine taught in the holy Scriptures are to be lookt on as true Catholick Christians though they do not believe the Bishop of Rome to be Christs Vicar upon earth invested with Supremacy over all Christian Churches for this is a Doctrine which our Saviour never taught his Disciples Now without owning this false Doctrine a man cannot be of the Church of Rome according to the Decrees of their Popes and Councils and yet without this I say a man may receive the whole Christian Religion as it was delivered by Christ and his Apostles and therefore he may be a true Catholick Christian though he be not of the Romish Church nor yields subjection to it L. This seems to me very plain and clear T. But it will appear yet more plain if you consider what is a most certain truth that there can be no manner of good evidence given that the Church of Christ for some hundred years after our blessed Saviours time did ever receive this Doctrine of the Popes Supremacy or his Infallibility Nay our learned men assert that there is not so much as any one Christian Writer for at least three hundred years after that time some say four or five that did ever so much as teach any such strange Doctrine as this How then I beseech you can the owning of it now be necessary to make a man a Catholick when the whole Catholick Church for some ages after its first Plantation was a meer stranger to it L. I think there is no appearance of reason for it T. To this add that the whole Greek which was much larger than the Romish before it was over-run by the Turks ever disown'd these same new opinions of the Popes Supremacy and Infallibility with many others of the same stamp neither do they generally embrace them to this day though sometimes the Romanists have used all manner of arts and devices
there is little of true devotion in their worship so they have done much by other false Doctrines of theirs to destroy righteousness truth peace and charity from amongst men to pass by their Doctrines of Equivocation and mental reservation many of great note in their Church have taught that no faith is to be kept with Hereticks and it s well known they have sometimes put it in practice They exempt their Clergy from obedience to the Civil Magistrate and teach that it is in the power of the Pope to Excommunicate and Depose Heretical Princes and to absolve their subjects from Allegiance to them who after this by their principles may lawfully rise up and rebel against them Yea in some of their Councils they have decreed that the Rulers who will not root out Hereticks as they account all that are not of their Church shall be deprived of their Dominions And when they have had power in their hands they have exercised the most barbarous cruelty upon those they call Hereticks that ever was heard of in the world both in our own and other Nations especially where their bloody Inquisition is allow'd They burn their bodies and censure their souls to Hell and this is Popish charity This is the Church that boasts so much of her holiness and good works But should I go about to tell you what is the Divinity of many of their famous Casuists especially of the Jesuits as it 's laid open by some of their own Church and is to be seen in their Books and in the present Popes condemnation of some of their grossest Doctrines if this I say should be laid open you would be amazed to find how there is scarce any sin but with one distinction and evasion or other you might be allow'd to commit it scarce any duty but you might have a colour for the neglect of it Amazed one may well be to find men calling themselves Christians yea Doctors of the Church to allow and defend such practices as a sober heathen would abhor Yet this is the Church that is to be known by her Holiness above all other Churches L. Many of these things which you object against their Church I find my Author afterwards to vindicate but in the mean time he says we Protestants have no holiness in our Church that the first Reformers were very wicked men and so are their followers and a great many ill things he says of those he calls Sectaries as guilty of Rebellion Murders Adultery Sacriledg c. T. As to those who have been really guilty of these or the like crimes let them bear all the blame which they most justly deserve As to our own Church it s no way concerned in this charge no but let the shame light upon that Church which first taught and practised Treason and Rebellion Plots and Conspiracies murdering of Kings and massacring of their Subjects under pretence of Religion And if any that are called Protestants have been guilty of such Villanies they may in respect of these practices and the principles whence they flow justly be stiled the Jesuits Disciples whatever abhorrence they may pretend for other points of Popery L. But he says we take away all fear of God and obedience to his commands and all good Doctrine with more to that purpose T. A plain sign it is that they themselves have no fear of God before their eyes whilst they are guilty of such malicious slanders and reproaches Some good pretence they might have for these censures if we took away the Scriptures from the people wherein all good Doctrine and Gods holy commandments are contain'd and instead of these should put into their hands lying Legends devised by idle Monks full of feigned miracles and ridiculous stories which tend to nourish superstition and error But on the contrary it s well known that we not only allow to common people the use of holy Scripture but do most earnestly exhort them to be diligent and constant in the reading and meditation of it How then dare they say that we take away all good Doctrine And is not this the chief design of the Sermons so plentifully preached amongst us to explain these holy Scriptures to shew the people thence their duty both to God and man and to enforce the same upon them To this same end are also written many excellent Books by the Divines of our Church Yea some done by the more devout Writers of their Church which do chiefly aim at the promoting of good life have been translated into our language are commonly read and well esteemed among us such as Thomas à Kempis Drexelius Sales and others Nothing is more frequently prest upon us than that above all things we ought to live in imitation of our Blessed Saviour and his holy Apostles in the exercise of true devotion and piety to God of righteousness truth and mercy to one another and of purity and sobriety in our own persons which we look upon as the very summ of Religion and the great design of the Gospel according to Tit. 2. 11 12. With us is taught the great obligation that lies upon all men whether Clergy or Laity to be obedient to the King as supreme and to all that are in authority under him That we ought to love our neighbours as our selves keeping faith and truth with all men whether good or bad Orthodox or Heretical avoiding all equivocation and mental reservation With us is taught the excellency and necessity of charity both in doing good to all that need our assistance and in forgiving those who have done evil to us if ever we hope for mercy and forgiveness from God And as many publick good works have been done in this Kingdom since the Reformation as can be shewn within the same compass of years in times of Popery though upon better principles In our Church we are taught to flie from whoredom drunkenness and all riotous sensual courses and that not as slight and venial faults but as most dangerous and deadly vices And for the more effectual promoting of holiness our Religious worship is framed according to the rules of holy Scripture directed to God only in the name of his Son Jesus not to Angels or Saints Our prayers are in a known tongue that the people may be affected and edified and as the Apostle requires may be able on good grounds to say Amen We have the Holy Sacraments of Baptism and the Lords-Supper administred according to our Saviours own Institution and these still urged as most solemn obligations to all piety and holiness of living without which the outward performance will stand us in no stead We declare that no pardon for sin can be obtain'd but on condition of sincere repentance and that no repentance is sincere but what produces reformation and amendment of life if opportunity be afforded So that our Doctrine you see is the Doctrine of the Gospel and the precepts of it are daily inculcated on the people Our
therefore whilst the people take the Flesh under the species of Bread this may very well serve without taking the Wine too But if this be a good reason Why then need the consecrating Priest take the Wine Or why need our Saviour have appointed both Bread and Wine to be made use of in this his Holy Supper Here then you have a plain instance of their practising contrary to the Scripture in so weighty a matter as the Administring the Holy Communion To this may be joyn'd their custom of private Masses or Communions if that be not a contradiction the Priest himself many times receiving alone and none of the people who are present partaking with him contrary to the first institution of this Holy Sacrament and to the very nature and design of it as it is a Communion and contrary also to the practice of the Primitive Church To these may a great many more easily be added of which we have formerly taken notice Such as having their Prayers in an unknown Tongue contrary to the Apostles direction 1 Cor. 14. Their Worshipping of Saints and Angels which is forbidden in all those places that command us to Worship God alone in the name of Jesus Christ our only Mediator and most expresly Col. 2. 18. Rev. 22. 9. Also their Worship of Images and of the Host contrary to the second Commandment And for an instance of their false Doctrines many of which we have often mentioned we need go no further than that palpable one of Transubstantiation which he mentions as agreeable to Scripture that says This is my body But how little these words make for his purpose we have before shewn and that their plain meaning is This is the Sacrament of my Body or the representation and commemoration of it and the way of conveying the benefits that come by it according to the constant use of the like expressions in the matter of Sacraments even as the Paschal Lamb is called the Passover of which it was only a solemn Memorial But that the natural substance of Bread and consequently of Wine remains after Consecration we have proved from the Apostle who again and again calls it so 1 Cor. 11. How then can he say that without ground we separate from the Romish Church Since if there were nothing else to be blamed this alone were sufficient reason to keep out of their Communion since in order to it they require our belief of a Doctrine most apparently false namely that of Transubstantiation and enjoyn a practice founded upon this Doctrine which is notoriously sinful viz. the Worship of the Consecrated Elements as if they were now turned into the substance of Christ's Body and Blood yea into whole Christ both as to his Divine and Humane Nature Now they themselves as you have heard do grant that if there was no such change made by Consecration this Worship would be idolatrous and therefore we being upon good grounds assured that no such change there is do utterly abhor the very thoughts of such Idolatrous worship and do believe our selves bound in Conscience to Almighty God to undergo a Thousand deaths rather than be guilty of it yea though we lived in Popish Countries But besides this we here in England owe no manner of obedience to the Bishop of Rome nor are under any obligation to forsake the Communion of our own Church for that of the Romish but should be guilty of that hainous sin of Schism by so doing as the Papists amongst us are at this day of which more in another place As to what he talks that they who go from their Church can give no reason why they should rather turn to Luther than to the Calvinists c. it concerns not us in the least who neither turn to the one or the other but continue in Communion with our own Church in which we were Baptized and live in obedience to our own Rulers in Church and State whom God hath set over us Nor do I discern by what reason he makes this silly inference nor yet for what purpose But let me hear his next Argument L. It cannot be proved that ever at any time were admitted any Priests that were not first duly consecrated by Bishops Wherefore we rightly infer that all Lutheran Ministers Calvinists or any other Sects not Consecrated according to the old custom of the Holy Church are for both from the name and reality of the Divine Priesthood and so that in their Cene or Supper as they call it they give but a meer piece of Bread as also that they have no power to Absolve from Sins but send away people as entangled and defiled with Sin as they were when they came to them T. As to this Argument we of the Church of England are nothing concerned in it since our Priests receive Ordination from Bishops and therefore have as full authority for the exercise of their Ministerial function as those of any Christian Church in the World Some other Reformed Churches also do embrace Episcopal Government As for such who want it we shall not enter into a dispute concerning the validity of their Orders But this I think we may safely assert that if the people be duly qualified for the Lord's Supper as St. Paul himself calls it 1 Cor. 11. 20. by a firm belief of the Gospel and sincere love and obedience to our Blessed Saviour they shall not want the benefits that are promised to worthy Communicants through any defect or irregularity in the Ordination of their Ministers And if they do truly repent of their sins and forsake them they shall for Christ's sake obtain forgiveness from God though never any Priest should give them Absolution But on the other hand our Writers have shewn that according to the common principle received in the Romish Church That the truth of Sacraments depends upon the intention of the Priest the people cannot be certain at any time that they have true Sacraments no nor whether he be a true Priest that Administers them But I shall trouble you with nothing more on this Argument L. There is no need since it reaches not our Church in the least I shall therefore proceed to the fifth which is this It cannot be found in the whole Holy Scripture that nothing is to be believed but what clearly and expresly is contained written in the same whence follows the ruine and overthrow of the ground-work on which Lutherans Calvinists and other Sectaries rely when they affirm that nothing is to be believed but what is expresly set down in Holy Writ T. I wonder who says so Every thing is to be believed that has sufficient evidence of its truth whether it be in Scripture or not But this we say and this I suppose he means to argue against that nothing is of necessity to be believed in order to Salvation but what is contain'd in Holy Scripture Which in effect is the same as to say that the Holy Scripture contains all necessary
piety and virtue to imitate their good examples obey their counsels and please our selves with the forethoughts of that happy time when we shall follow them into glory Moreover since we believe that our prayers cannot profit our friends when they are dead this may well make us more industrious to do them all the good we can whilst they are alive And if by Gods blessing on our endeavours they become truly pious and good in this world we shall have no need to pray for them when they are gone into the other but rather will they have cause to praise God for us By this time I hope you perceive how little cause there is of separation from our Church on account of our not using prayers for the deliverance of souls out of Purgatory Since we have no reason to believe there is any such place nor consequently to use any such prayers But yet I will add if any man should be of another opinion and fancy this to be a lawful piece of charity yet would not this justifie his separation from us for though he thought our publick prayers in this to be defective yet I hope this defect does not render the rest unlawful If he meet not with a prayer agreeable to his own private conceit in this matter yet he may joyn very chearfully in those we do use which are most plainly agreeable to the will of God revealed in his word which holy word ought to be the rule both of our belief and worship And when we vary from this rule we cannot pray in faith with any well-grounded confidence of being heard as particularly they cannot who pray for the release of souls from Purgatory or for the easing of their pains there seeing they have neither precept nor promise no nor so much as any example in all Scripture to warrant their so doing L. I am convinced they have not nor will I by the grace of God ever offer up any such unwarrantable prayers CHAP. VII Of Transubstantiation T. WHAT is the next Popish Doctrine your Author mentions L. That of Christs Personal Presence in the Sacrament of the Lords Supper about which I shall be glad to hear you discourse and to answer the arguments he brings for it T. Now then we come to their great Doctrine of Transubstantiation viz. that the natural substance of the Bread and Wine in the Communion is by Consecration changed into the substance of Christs body and blood which is certainly one of the most absurd and unreasonable Doctrines that ever was taught and yet there is nothing they assert with more zeal and fierceness and in Queen Maries days accounted it reason enough to burn poor Protestants for Hereticks if they would not profess it This being commonly one of the first questions put to them What say you to the Sacrament of the Altar For so they used to stile the Eucharist or Holy Communion Well pray let me hear what arguments your Author brings for this strange opinion L. He first attempts to prove it from those words of our Saviour at the institution of this Holy Sacrament This is my body which is given for you Luk. 22. 19. and he adds that Christ now making his Will his words must needs be very clear T. This indeed is the Text they commonly insist on and the words in themselves are clear enough but the strange comment they make on them does certainly render them the most obscure and unintelligible that ever were uttered For pray tell me does it not seem a wonder of wonders past all understanding that our Blessed Saviour who was there alive in the midst of his Disciples should at the same time himself give them his natural body and blood to be eaten and drunk by them and after this still remain alive sound and whole as he was before without any manner of change L. It seems very strange and unlikely I confess at first hearing T. And yet we never find the Apostles making any objection or raising any scruple about it Nor does our Blessed Saviour say any thing to prevent or remove such objections as might easily be made May we not then fairly infer hence that they understood these words in the same plain easie sense which such expressions in like cases do very evidently carry along with them namely that the Bread and Wine were the Symbols and Sacramental signs and tokens of his Body and Blood and the breaking of the one and pouring out of the other did very fitly represent the wounding and bruising of his Body and the shedding of his Blood for our sakes Neither do we say as they accuse us that these are bare figures of Christs Body and Blood but do constantly teach that the benefits of his Death and Passion are hereby effectually communicated to worthy receivers Here we make a solemn and most thankful commemoration of the Sacrifice which Christ offered on the Cross and in feeding on the holy Elements we feast upon that Sacrifice and so renew and confirm our Covenant with God in Christ giving up our selves to him as an holy and obedient people and by these Seals of his Covenant the great God assures us of the truth of his Promises and gives himself to us as our God and reconciled Father in Jesus Christ. And by this means our faith is strengthned our love to God and man is quickned and inflamed and all other graces increased and the Divine comforts of his Spirit afforded and so the flesh of Christ becomes meat indeed and his blood drink indeed nourishing our souls to eternal life L. All this is plain and easie to understand T. It is so and most natural it is after this manner to explain our Saviours words as being most agreeable to the common way of speaking in like cales where that which is a sign or Sacrament is said to be the very thing which it denotes and represents Thus the Paschal Lamb is said to be the Lords Passover of which it was a commemoration Exod. 12. 11. So in Pharaoh's Dream the ears of corn and the kine are said to be years of plenty and of famine because they signified the same And a plain place to this purpose you have 1 Cor. 10. 4. where it 's said that Rock was Christ because it did prefigure or typifie him So when our Saviour says This Cup is the New Testament in my blood what other sense can these words have but that this Wine represents his Blood which was shed to ratifie and confirm the New Testament or Covenant of Grace and mercy which God hath made with all true believers through his Son L. He quotes also Joh. 6. where much is said concerning our eating Christs flesh and drinking his blood But from what you have already said I cannot but think is most reasonable to understand the words in a spiritual sense as signifying our feeding upon Christ by faith and so deriving grace from him into our souls T. You have good reason so
confirming their belief of his Doctrine The Doctrine was to be believed but the miracle was to be seen which confirm'd that Doctrine To instance in one for all When the water was turn'd into wine Ioh. 2. it was now seen and tasted to be true wine only it was much better than common wine Otherwise do you think if it had still had the colour the smell and the taste of water that the people would have been perswaded it was turned into wine Would they have been satisfied with an odd story that the substance was wine though the accidents of water still remain'd or with any such idle unintelligible talk Would such a sort of miracle as this that could no way be perceived ever have been believed Or would the pretence to such miracles ever have gain'd Disciples to our Saviour And yet such a one is this of Transubstantiation L. So very strange and unaccountable it is that it never ought to be admitted without very good proof T. And is it not then almost as strange that ever any man should believe so absurd a Doctrine not only without good proof but even against the express words of Scripture as well as against his reason and senses L. No matter for sense and reason they cry but how do you prove it to be against Scripture T. It may be proved from those places which tell us of our Saviours being received into Heaven as Act. 3. 21. and he cannot at the same time be corporally present upon earth and in heaven too L. But did he not appear to St. Paul and others after his Ascension T. Yes he did so yet does not this prove him to be then corporally present for he might render himself visible to them without descending as he did to St. Stephen or he might appear to them in a Vision and make himself present to their imagination Or he might be said to appear to them by his Angel whom he sent For thus in Scripture it 's commonly said God appear'd to this or that man when he sent his Angel to him with some message But besides this the plain words of the Evangelists when they relate the institution of this Holy Sacrament do directly contradict this Doctrine of Transubstantiation For they tell us that our Saviour took bread and blessed it and brake it even the very same that he took that he blest and what he blest that he broke and what is this but true bread as to its natural substance Only in a mystical and spiritual sense it was made the Body of Christ by Consecration And thus also St. Paul calls it Bread after Consecration no less than three times in three verses together 1 Cor. 11. 26 c. L. This my Author grants but says it 's called so because the external accidents of bread do still remain T. That is because the colour shape and taste of bread do still remain with all other qualities of common bread Now I beseech you can there be any better or surer way to discover what is the substance or nature of a thing than by such accidents such outward sensible appearances as these How can we distinguish bread from a stone or water from wine but by the colour the smell the taste or the like And thus do we here distinguish bread from flesh and wine from blood and do believe that to be bread which is both call'd so in Scripture and which our own eyes discern to be indeed so L. But he says faith will teach us otherwise from the Word of God T. Nay on the contrary you see Gods word calls it bread after the Consecration and therefore both our faith and our senses assure us that it is bread Nor does this in the least contradict our Saviours words when he says This is my body for so it is in a spiritual sense whilst yet the substance of bread remains unchanged and therefore most properly is it called bread which it could in no wise be if no such substance was there Yet still we say that by partaking of these holy Elements of bread and wine we do really partake of Christs body and blood though in a spiritual manner according to St. Pauls expression 1 Cor. 10. 16. Do you judge then who keeps closest to Scripture in this point they or we L. To me it seems plain that the Doctrine and language of our Church is no less agreeable to Scripture than to reason And I still discover what injury they do us whilst they charge us with holding that the Sacrament is only the figure of Christs body T. It is as I have already said a most false charge for though it be the figure of his body and expresly called so by some ancient Writers yet we own it to be much more than so For in this holy Sacrament are given to us Christs body and blood whilst the blessings and benefits of his Death and Passion are made over to and bestow'd upon the worthy receiver And so our Church expresses it in the Office at the Communion We do spiritually eat the flesh of Christ and drink his blood Christ dwelleth in us and we in him we are one with Christ and he with us L. Yet they say we make the Sacraments of the New Testament in effect no better than the old since the Passover and such like were figures of Christ whereas in the New Testament is to be given the real verity T. A most plain difference we make whatever they say to the contrary for besides that our Sacraments are few and easie clear and intelligible it is to be considered that under the Law were used types and shadows which prefigured Christ to come and that somewhat obscurely whereas the Sacraments now used do most plainly shew him to be already come and to have died for our sins and risen again according to the Scriptures Herein moreover is made to us a more plenteous communication of grace and comfort as the fruit of his Death and Resurrection according to that of the Evangelist The Law was given by Moses but grace and truth came by Iesus Christ Joh. 1. 17. Yet after all we assert that the Elements made use of in these Sacraments of the New Testament are no more changed as to their natural substance than those of the Old that is they are still Sacraments outward visible signs and representations of Spiritual things and are not changed into those very things themselves which they are designed to represent and hold forth to us And this is granted by the Papists themselves as to one of the Sacraments viz. that of Baptism For the water herein made use of still remains water It is not turned into the natural blood of Christ and yet by virtue of that blood which this water represents are our sins washt away in this Laver of Regeneration Hence then it is most evident that the efficacy of a Sacrament consists not in having the natural substance of the Elements altered for then
mans right and yet will not allow him the benefit of having the Will to plead on his own behalf And this is plainly the course of the Roman Church in the present case for the Rulers withhold the Scripture from the people that they may the more easily detain them in a blind obedience to those Doctrines and commands of their own which are contrary to it and which they will not have examined by it And you may well suspect the man has bad wares to put off who will expose them no where but in a dark shop It 's much to be feared that Guide means not well who would have my eyes put out or fast closed that I may follow him blindfold He that teaches falshood as well as he that does evil is afraid of the light that will discover his error But to conclude this whatever Papists may talk of the obscurity of Scripture the true reason why they keep it out of the peoples hands is because it is too plain I mean because it so plainly contradicts several Doctrines and practices that are now current in their Church So plainly does the second Commandment forbid all worship of Images that by their good will they would not have it come into the peoples sight And as plainly doth the holy Scripture in other places forbid the worship of Angels or Saints having Prayers in an unknown tongue the taking away the Cup from the Laity plainly it confutes their Doctrine of Transubstantiation whilst it calls the holy Elements bread after Consecration In these and several other instances doth Scripture so plainly make against them that no wonder if therefore they are so much against the Scripture as that they will not commonly permit the people to read it but keep back from them this key of knowledg L. This seems to be the true reason but so bad a one that they are ashamed to own it And now I return you unseigned thanks for the pains you have taken to confirm me in the truth and to shew me the vanity and weakness of those arguings wherewith they of the Church of Rome do endeavour to excuse and palliate their gross errors and to impose upon common people who are sometimes easily misled T. No great wonder if with their subtilties they impose upon such as cannot well distinguish betwixt specious pretences and solid reasonings And indeed they do in some measure deserve to be imposed upon who will so far trust to their own weak judgments as not to seek direction and assistance from those who are able to give it but do presently conclude that if they themselves cannot answer a cunning Priest no body esse can and thereupon without more ado become his easie proselytes especially when some worldly interest draws them to it which is an argument quickly discerned but not easily resisted Yet it 's strange to see how these same persons when they are gone off from our Church presently seem so humble and modest as to suspect their own judgments they commonly refuse to discourse with our Ministers pretending they are not fit to meddle with controversies nor hold disputes They now refer themselves wholly to the Church their own Sect the Romish Church that must be their Judge and their Guide They might before dispute and yield and be Judges for themselves when they left our Church but now forsooth they are got as the Priest tells them whose word they must take for it into an infallible Church whose Doctrines and commands must never be questioned or examined nor any thing heard that can be objected against them All must be swallow'd without chewing they must believe as the Church believes though what that is they do not well know This is the way that Romish Priests commonly take with them and a cunning way it is for securing of the Converts they have once made but so grosly partial that a man of ordinary discretion may readily discern it and no sincere lover of truth will be drawn to comply with it For how can any man answer it to God or his own conscience to depart from that Church wherein he has been baptized and educated without a fair hearing what can be said for it and when he is drawn away into another Church becomes so fixed and resolute that he 'l hear nothing that can be said against it But you I confess have acted at another rate and I cannot but commend your ingenuity and diligence herein which I pray God to succeed for your establishment in that holy Religion in which you have hitherto been instructed and from which I hope you 'l never be perverted For it is the very truth of God taught by his Son Jesus in his holy Gospel the only infallible rule of Faith and Manners L. I do stedfastly believe that it is so and by the grace of God will never depart from it T. Does your Author meddle with no other points of controversie betwixt us and the Church of Rome L. He mentions no more that I find looking upon these I suppose as most material but toward the end of this Chapter he heaps up many bitter invectives against our Ministers as if they spoke ill of the Romish Church out of meer malice against their consciences only to make Papists envied and hated and that they often cite the holy Scripture to no purpose or to an ill one and do also falsifie and cut off what is not to their liking yea and have put whole Books out of the number of Canonical Scriptures in fine that they do all as the toy takes them without thinking of any judgment or hell to come after T. This is very severe indeed but so grosly false and spiteful that it deserves no more notice or answer than the revilings of an angry scold Only to the last heavy charge of putting out whole Books of Holy Scripture I shall answer a few words and leave you to judge of the rest by what truth you shall find in this accusation Know then that as to the New Testament we receive for Canonical all the same Books which the Church of Rome it self does and all other Christian Churches in the world so far as ever I have heard And as to the Old Testament we receive all those Books which were acknowledged for Canonical by the Iewish Church who are very competent witnesses in this case or by the Christian Church for four hundred years after our Saviour as learned Writers of our Church have demonstrated and particularly Bishop Cozens before named in his History of the Canon of Scripture As to those Books which are called Apocryphal though we have them not in the same esteem with the Sacred Writings of the Old and New Testament yet we have a just value for them as the works of pious men and of great antiquity and our Church appoints Lessons out of them to be publickly read though not on the Lords days thereby recommending them to the people who have them in their