be so kind if not to me yet to your self to reconcile these Sayings with what you say viz. That there is no Papists but what will grant such Protestants hopes of Salvation who living piously and repenting sincerely of all Offences and through invincible Ignorance remain in that Communion Where 's the Truth and Honesty now of your Assertion That there is No Papist c. When I have already produced three and perhaps if I pleas'd could name three hundred What do you call this amongst you We call it contradicting one another Well however pray observe here 's two sorts of Popery But which must a Man rely on for Orthodox The Old or the New Popery I must confess I am inclin'd to believe the New to be the best but certainly the Old Popery is the true standing Doctrine of the Church of Rome But suppose we stood in need of the New what should we be the better for 't unless the Concession were stampt with the Fishers Seal For you that deal it out to the World are but a private obscure Man and your Church is no more bound to stand to what you say than mine is to what I say unless it be Truth This that you grant at best is but a sign that you have a better Opinion of the Protestant Religion than the generality of your Writers But to let this pass I will now prove this Truth beyond any possible Reply viz. That Papists deny Salvation to Protestants remaining such and that Protestants grant a Possibility of it to Papists remaining such And therefore by consequence the first must needs be on the uncharitable and the last on the charitable side And this I shall do by shewing that our Charity is so great to the Papists and their want of it so apparent to us that they have abus'd it into an Argument against us And this is so notoriously true that the Papists are not asham'd to boast of it in their Writings and Conversation thinking thereby to draw weak Persons that cannot consider where the Cheat of the Argument lies to be of their Church And with this deceitful Argument which they have fram'd from our Excess of Charity to them and their want of it to us I have heard them make a great noise and tell of the mighty Feats it has done But certainly it was amongst such as had thrown away all their Reason and Sense or else if there had been no other thing to recommend the Church of England they would have thought that to be the best and safest Church which eminently has the very Beauty and Form of Christian Religion viz. Charity which the Church of England so constantly and largely maintains and practises But the Argument is this You Protestants confess Salvation may be had in the Romish Church but we Papists utterly deny it to yours therefore by the Confession of both sides those that are in our Church are safe but there is great question concerning Protestants remaining such for none but themselves say they can be saved What think you now Sir of the Protestants Charity and the Papists want of it Is here any Provision made for poor Protestants by Invincible Ignorance If this does not prove that Protestants have some Charity for Papists and they none at all for us Protestants I do not know what can And that you could be ignorant of these things and this Argument so commonly us'd by your Men when they would deceive the well-meaning People of our Church you must excuse me if I cannot believe it With what Face then Sir could you tell the gaping Multitude as you think fit to call the poor honest People That Papists do not advance the Damnation of Protestants one Ace farther against them than the Protestants against Papists and that the Doctrine of Protestants in this affair is the same in reference to each other and the Protestants are as uncharitable Damners of the Papists as they are made to be of the Protestants And now the matter being brought to this Issue pray Sir tell me who are the uncharitable Damners Thunderers of Hell and Damnation Who imposes upon the People who are the injurious Slanderers And who is it that render the Papists black and odious for their Vncharitableness but the Papists themselves Certainly Sir if your Eye-sight had not been horribly indispos'd with the malignant Influence of Rome you would have seen that the unchristian Damners are the Papists only For shame learn tho' late to maintain your Cause by Truth and Charity or let it perish But I foresee that you may take it a little ill that our Charity extends not to the Learned and Judicious in the number of which I dare say you reckon your self Now for these Persons who are to consider whether they know or believe such and such things to be false which yet for Worldly Ends they maintain for Truths or after an honest diligent search cannot by any means discover them to be Errors hindred by Prepossession Education c. For these last Persons I cannot see why Invincible Ignorance will not comprehend them as well as the ordinary and unlearned People For I cannot tell what Invincible Ignorance is unless it be this That after all our best Endeavours according to our utmost Ability and Means we yet cannot discern which is Error and which is Truth But now for the first sort who maintain known Errors for Truths against their Conscience only for Secular Advantages in the number of which I pray God you be not what would you have us believe or say of them God Almighty Himself has made no Provision that we know of for bold wilful and impenitent Sinners We judge no Man that hath a Master to stand and fall to Charity hopeth all things And I must tell you my Mind freely for I have vow'd to follow Truth and Charity where-ever they lead me That I think it had been better and more like Christians if no Member of either Church had medled with the Events of things and leap'd into God's Judgmens-seat and pronounc'd final Sentence upon Souls That certainly being a Secret and Prerogative peculiar to God who only is the Searcher of Mens Hearts knows all things and has an absolute Dominion over his Creatures and can do all that his Justice his Goodness and his Mercy wills Had the Pastors of each Church done no more but barely and plainly done the Truths of God or what they sincerely believ'd to be so and left the Judgment of Persons to him that always judgeth right they had doubtless done their Duty But 't is evident the Men of your Church first us'd it to work upon Mens Passions and what they could not perswade their Understandings to for want of Truth and Reason they were resolv'd to do it by frighting of them For 't is too apparent that more are sway'd by Fear than Love more are drawn by their Affections and Passions than by their Reason and some of our Church-men to countermine
talked amongst themselves as if these Sayings of their Master must needs be offensive to the Ears of all Persons that had a sence of Humanity and as for themselves that they knew not what to make of them 61. Neither did they desire him to explain himself further but he by his Divine Spirit knowing what they muttered amongst themselves applied himself to them in particular and upbraided them in this manner for taking so unreasonable an offence against him 62. When you shall see me ascend up to Heaven it will not seem strange that I came down from thence and because even then it will remain necessary that you should eat my Flesh and drink my Blood you may be sure I do not mean that gross feeding upon my Flesh and drinking my Blood in which you understand what I have said for my Body will then be too far removed from the Conversation of mortal Men to be capable of being so used 63. No when I speak to you of the Conditions of obtaining everlasting Life though I have now expressed them by eating my Flesh and drinking my Blood yet you had reason to understand me of spiritual Actions which do indeed tend to the bettering of the inward Man For they are such things only that feed the Soul and can preserve it to Eternal Life But to this purpose the flesh profiteth nothing No not my own Flesh if you should eat it as grosly as you understand my Sayings For even this would be but bodily Nourishment but would have no Influence upon the Mind But if you would know what those things are that better the Soul and it is my Business to call you off from that sollicitous Care you take of your mortal Bodies to mind your Souls and to provide for a blessed Resurrection If I say you would know what things are proper for the Improvement of the Mind they are the Words that I speak unto you they are those Precepts of a heavenly Life and those Promises of eternal Life which I have laid before you that Faith which I require you to have in my Death and that Example of Doctrine Charity and Humility which I require you to follow These are the spiritual means of renewing your Minds and therefore Means also of fitting you for Eternal Life V. 61 62 63. Our Lord perceiving how grosly the Jews and some of his own Disciples understood those Expressions of eating his Flesh and drinking his Blood did upon this occasion explain his own meaning as fully as he did to Nicodemus in the point of Regeneration For Nicodemus having said How can a Man be born when he is old Can he enter the second time into his Mothers Womb and be born Jesus answered Verily verily I say unto thee except a Man be born of Water and of the Spirit he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God That which is born of the Flesh is Flesh and that which is born of the Spirit is Spirit Which was as much as to say The Flesh profiteth nothing as here V. 63. And if you were by a strange Miracle to be born again the natural way by this fleshly Birth you would come again but into a mortal Life but that fleshly Birth would not avail you for everlasting Life In the very same manner our Saviour repeated in this Chapter those Sayings which the Jews and some of his own Disciples were offended at and in the same manner he explained them afterwards It is the Spirit that quickneth the Flesh profiteth nothing the words that I speak unto you they are Spirit and they are Life Which being compared with the Answer to Nicodemus now mentioned and explained by the light that Answer affords can yield no other meaning than that which I have expressed in the Paraphrase As for the 62d V. it might be intended as an Answer to that particular Exception against him mentioned V. 42. that he was the Son of Joseph and could not therefore reasonably pretend to come down from Heaven To which if our Lord referred his words are a proper Answer viz. that when they should see him ascend into Heaven they would no longer doubt of the truth of his coming from thence But I rather think those words refer to that great Offence which some of his own Disciples took against him that he should speak of their eating of his Flesh and drinking of his Blood For they were his Disciples only that saw him ascend And when they should know that he was in Heaven they could not without great Stupidity think that he would give them his Flesh to eat and his Blood to drink in that gross sence wherein they understood him However I have put both these Interpretations into the Paraphrase 64. But no wonder that you wrest my Sayings to so absurd a sence as you do for there are some amongst you that dislike my Doctrine and are grown weary of following me and wait for an opportunity to leave me For as soon as any Man professed himself his Disciple Jesus knew how he stood affected towards him And he did not only know who of the Multitude that follow'd him would revolt but likewise which of his Apostles would betray him See V. 36. 65. And Jesus added Because I knew that there were some such amongst you therefore I thought fit to tell you before V. 37 39 44. that my Doctrine would never be heartily entertained by any but those whom God had prepared for it by enduing them with a Mind willing to learn and with a prevailing desire of obtaining God's Favour and Eternal Life 66. Upon this close application of his Doctrine to the Consciences of those insincere Disciples of his they finding themselves discovered and that it was to no purpose to dissemble resolved to pretend themselves his Disciples no longer and went off from him without more ado 67. Jesus seeing them turn their Backs upon him took this occasion both to shew that some of his Disciples were sincere and that he cared not to be followed by any but those that were willing and therefore he said to the Twelve You see I do not compel Men to follow me but that I let them depart if they will go Now what say you will ye still continue my Disciples or follow the Example of these Men and go away 68. Whereupon Peter who was still the most forward Speaker in his Master's Cause answered for himself and the rest Lord our greatest concern is to attain eternal Life and there is none other but thy self who can guide us to it And we understand that those very Sayings of thine with which these Men were so unreasonably offended do shew us the necessity of believing thy Words and Doctrine as thou didst now tell them V. 63. that we may live for ever V. 68. Thou hast the words of eternal Life This saying of St. Peter confirms the Interpretation I have given of V. 63. For here he seems plainly to repeat our Lord's sence almost in the
with the Apostles for ever that is so long as they liv'd to guide them into the knowledge of Truth and by them to guide the Church in all After-Ages There are many things in this Discourse of our Saviour to his Apostles which cannot be applied to any Age of the Church after theirs And therefore what is and what is not limited to them must be argued out from the Nature of the things themselves which are said And lastly though you will not have this Promise limited to the Persons of the Apostles but annext to their Function as in some sence I grant it may be yet you ought to have taken notice that the Promise is however limited by a Condition even in the Words foregoing and following the Promise If ye love me keep my Commandments and there the Condition is once express'd For it follows And I will pray the Father and he shall give you another Comforter that he may abide with you for ever even the Spirit of Truth And now mark once again what follows Whom the World cannot receive because it seeth him not neither knoweth him Where if by the World be meant worldly and wicked Men as I believe you will grant you see here is no absolute Promise of such a Guidance to a Succession of Pastors as shall make it at any time of the Church Heresie to contradict whatsoever they teach or Schism to withdraw from their Obedience As to the last If you had prov'd such a Succession of Infallible Teachers as you speak of yet I tell you once more that the hardest part of your Task would be still behind which is to prove That you have had all along and still have that Succession which I desire you to do in your next if you can if it be but for the Instruction of a Lay-man that desires to be led into all Truth necessary or even profitable for his Salvation And because I would not have you lose your labour I will open my greatest Difficulty against this Belief I am sure you cannot go about this Work without taking Scripture in to furnish out your Argument Now I desire you to bring me such Scriptures which shall at least make it as evident that your Church was always to have a Succession of Infallible Teachers as it is to me from divers other Scriptures evident that your Pastors have most certainly contradicted the Doctrine of the Scriptures And when you have done this you shall hear farther from me In the mean time your loose Affirmations concerning the Catholick Church have been so often answered that you need not wonder that a Lay-man of our Church can tell what to say to them But to come to that wherein I am particularly concern'd You are disturb'd at my saying That the Worship Doctrines and Practices of the Church of Rome are so extreamly dangerous that nothing but Invincible Ignorance of which God only can judge can give us any reasonable hopes of their Salvation who live and die in their Communion Now surely the uncharitableness of this does not lie in supposing that Invincible Ignorance will be pleadable in this Case for 't is a Plea which will go a great way amongst those of the Roman Communion which I say with the more Confidence because in the Romish Countries where I have been the People seem to me to have the fairest Claim to the benefit of Ignorance that can be well imagin'd amongst Christians Now since at last you are brought in this Pamphlet of yours to agree with Protestants that Ignorance will save Men and that we yield the greatest part of the People have an indisputable Right to it are not the Protestants charitable to a high degree If this will not please you I do not know what will Surely Sir you do not expect that Protestants should believe and say that you with all your Errors about you are in as safe a way to Salvation as they themselves who have renounced them If this could be what I pray ye made our Fore-fathers suffer themselves to be separated from your Communion or make us that we cannot joyn with you Certainly this was and is still nothing but want of sound Faith purity of Doctrines and Worship And I know nothing else can or ever was pretended to justifie our Separation And this alone one would think might be sufficient to vindicate my Assertion from being uncharitable But perhaps I may do it more by and by But you 'll tell me that nevertheless Protestants are as uncharitable as Papists and come not an Ace behind them Indeed I should be very sorry this were true And though it is I know an untoward Question to Papists yet I must ask How do you prove this Sir Why thus Protestants only allow Salvation to Papists upon Invincible Ignorance and Papists do the same to Protestants I must confess that in this Paper of yours you grant Salvation to Protestants who live piously and repent sincererely of all Offences and through invincible Ignorance remain in that Communion Now whatever Truth there is in the Saying it self yet from you we look upon this Concession as a piece of New Popery The Old Popery was Protestancy unrepented of Damns Neither Invincible Ignorance nor Piety nor any Repentance that included not a leaving the Protestants Communion and joining with the Romish could Save But here we take notice that of this as well as of all the other unreasonable Pieces of Old Popery you begin at last to be asham'd or at least to think it for the Interest of your Design on foot to deny them or disguise and soften them that so they may go the better down with those People who are not so well read in your Controversies and suspect no Snake in the Grass But to go on with my Point Did not the Author of Charity Mistaken and Charity maintain'd Charity maintain'd p. 1. c. 7. Sect. 6. and in divers other places of that and Charity Mistaken which produc'd that incomparable Book of Mr. Chillingworth stiffly and boldly assert That all Roman Catholicks not one excepted Do with unanimous Consent believe and profess that Protestancy unrepented destroys Salvation Did not the Jesuite in his Relation of Bishop Land's Conference swear upon his Soul That there was but one saving Faith and that is the Roman And now in our days has not a * Lucilla and Elizabeth late Paper endeavour'd to make us as great Schismaticks as the Donatists And according to you can Schismaticks dying such go to Heaven And does not that Author force St. Austin to tell us in plain Terms That whosoever is separated from the Catholick Church by which against all Modesty and Truth you always mean your own particular Church how laudably soever he thinks himself to live for this only Crime that he is disjoyn'd from the Unity of Christ that is to say in your Language the Pope he shall not have Life but the Wrath of God abideth on him Pray Sir