which they are to Govern which is the Word of the Infallible God who cannot lye or be deceived and I suppose that they may act contrary to this Rule and that presumes they are not Infallible but if they follow the Rule then I say they cannot Err and should the Pope do so all Christians over whom he may Challenge a lawful Jurisdiction as their Patriarch ought to submit to him But it is Evident that the Roman Church does Err and has Erred in many things forsaking the Rule setting up the Authority of the Pope to alter and change that Rule by introducing new Articles of Faith new Books of Scripture and old Traditions his own Canons Decretals and Councels for a Rule nay his own 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his Sentence and Determination for an Infallible Rule of Faith and Life which is as far from me to believe of our Bishops as to say or believe it of him NOR does this Jurisdiction of Bishops either take away that subordination which for convenience of Government is among them or intrench upon the Supremacy of the Civil Magistrate since his Supremacy consists in a Temporal Soveraignty and pretends not to any Pastoral Power but only such Kingly and Civil Authority in Cases Ecclesiastical as Constantine and several other Religious Emperors had and Exercised to whom even Popes as well as other Patriarchs yielded subjection as I can make appear out of the Epistles of Gregory the Great to Mauritius and the Ecclesiastical Historians in a hundred places And nothing is more plain than that Christ himself owned a Subjection as well as Commanded one to Cesar As for the Civil Magistrate and his Power I think nothing more Evident than the Duty all their Subjects whether Laicks or Ecclesiasticks owe them and that they have Prescription the Law of God Nature Nations and those of their own on their side for the Defence of their Titles to their Crowns and Scepters and that the Church and Faith is and ought to be their Particular Care as well as it is their Interest the quiet of the State ever depending in a great Measure upon the Peace of the Church and that they have a Coercive Power by virtue of which they may compel men to Obedience to the Laws both Civil and Ecclesiastical which in conformity to the Law of God are to promote the Peace Happiness Unity and Prosperity of their People Nor was this Doctrine ever deni'd till the Papacy growing great and the Empire declining began to think of a Temporal as well as a Spiritual Monarchy and to Unite St. Paul's Sword to St. Peter's Keys And till the Presbyterians reviving the Heresy of Aerius and his levelling Principle began to indeavour to set up their Spiritual Democracy in the Church in order to their Erecting it also in the State as the sad Probatum which they writ to their late deadly of the Solemn League and Covenant might convince us without the dangerous necessity of a second Experiment Ictus Piscator sapit The burnt Child dreads the fire and we have a great deal more reason to do so than to kindle it again and run our fingers into the Flame to try whether it will burn as hot now as formerly it did CHAP. XVII The CONCLVSION TO draw to a Conclusion I think it is evident from all that any person can in reason desire to give him Satisfaction That the Powers and Government in this Church and Nation are Lawful and of Gods appointment That Vnity in Faith and Obedience to their Government are the only Expedients to secure unto us Peace and Religion and that if these be our Desires the other are our Interest and ought to be our diligent indeavours and our constant Practice It is this Unity this Obedience that must make us Happy at home and Terrible abroad which are the only Ways to procure and Establish a lasting Peace both in our Souls in our State in our Church and with our Foreign Neighbours who may be obliged more by our formidable Vnity than by our feeble Arms or other Alliances I would gladly know therefore of Dissenters who and our sins are the great Obstructors of our Happiness Are you certain that the Government of Bishops is Unlawful and Antichristian Can you prove that any of the Commands of the Church or State are Unlawful contrary to plain Scripture and Publique Interpretation If you can you may pretend Conscience for your Disobedience but if you cannot and I am assured it is impossible how do you think you shall escape the dreadful and Revenging Power of the Judg of all men when he shall come in flaming Fire taking Vengeance on those that know not God and obey not his Gospel Flatter not your selves with the vain Opinion of your Sanctity Many shall say Lord have not we Prophesied in thy Name to whom he will answer Depart from me ye Workers of Iniquity for I know you not and well he may for he says Positively He that heareth you heareth me and he that despiseth you despiseth me and him that sent me is not this Disobeying the Gospel The Holy Ghost says he has made Bishops you say they are Antichristian he sends them to Instruct you in the way of Righteousness and to Watch for your Souls you Watch for their Ruine their Lives Honors and Estates he commands you to Esteem them highly you despise them contemn and Vilifie them He commands you to Obey you not only refuse but teach that to Obey is Damnable He planted them among you to plant the Faith you vow and swear to Extirpate Root and Branch Go on and Prosper said the False Zedechiah with his Horns of Iron but Ahab fell Be not deceived you may Mock the Messengers of God but God is not to be Mocked if you sow the Wind your shall reap the Whirlwind the terrible Tempest of his Wrath and Indignation They that lay Snares for the Innocent shall be Ensnared in the Works of their own hands You believe you know God but in Works you deny him for as Saint John saith of himself and his fellow Apostles and of their successors as all lawful Bishops are and will be to the end of the World 1 Joh. 4.6 We are of God he that knoweth God heareth us he that is not of God heareth us not Hereby know we the Spirit of Truth and the Spirit of Error The Holy Church of God in all Ages for God has a Church in all Ages according to his Promise acknowledg this to be the sense and Meaning of the Scripture which I have shewn how then will you avoid this guilt with which St. John charges you this spirit of Error which he assures us is to be known by this Character of not hearing those whom God hath sent ARE you certain that you are in the Right and that all the Saints and Martyrs Bishops and Confessors who believed thus lived and dyed in Antichristian Error Ignorance and Superstition strangers to these
Imprimatur Hic Liber cui Titulus The Project of Peace c. June 12. 1678. Guill Sill R. P. D. Henr. Episc Lond. à Sac. Dom. THE Project of Peace OR UNITY of FAITH AND GOVERNMENT The only Expedient to Procure PEACE BOTH Foreign and Domestique AND To PRESERVE these NATIONS From the DANGER OF Popery and Arbitrary Tyranny By the Author of the Countermine Is there no Balm in Gilead No Physician there Si penés singulos Jus Arbitrium erit Judicandi nihil certi constitui poterit quin potius vacillabit tota Religio Cal. Inst London Printed for Jonathan Edwin at the Sign of the Three Roses in Ludgate-street 1678. TO THE DISSENTERS FROM THE Church of ENGLAND OF WHAT NAMES or DISTINCTIONS SOEVER AS it is very Possible that nothing will be less Welcome to you than these Papers so contrary both to your Inclinations and what you believe your Interest So it may be nothing is less customary than Dedications of this Nature But since I neither propose to my self the Hopes of any Patrons Beneficence nor can submit to such unmanly Complyances as are usually the Effects of such Hopes and Expectations I have rather chosen to Address my self to you where even the Hope of a Charitable Reception is scarcely to be hoped for as the Reward of my Charity And where the Flattery of Swelling Hyperboles would prove as false and unsuccessful to me as to Millions who have made large promises to themselves of Recompences and Gratifications for that Gentiler way of Begging And of all the World it would be most Pernicious to You who have been too long accustomed to your own and the dangerous Flatteries of your Party There is nothing that is at all times more Welcome to the World than Peace Pacem te poscimus Omnes But most Men would be Conquerors and oblige the World by giving it upon their own Terms And there are but few who will be content to receive it as Christians upon God's Terms and Conditions Here I have endeavoured to Manifest the true Foundations of a solid and a lasting Peace Which are Faith Vnity Government and Obedience to the Laws of God and Men. A Peace capable of rendring the Vniverse Happy and any particular Society of Men prosperous here and Glorious hereafter in the Peaceful Regions of Joy and Immortality I am not ignorant of your Plea of Zeal and Sufferings But must the Church of England be allowed nothing for hers Has not She by your means been forced to drink the very dregs of your Animosity whilest like the Children of Edom in the day of her Calamity You cryed Down with her Psal 137.8 Down with her even to the ground Did you ever suffer such Persecution from Her as She has suffered from you Whose Zeal therefore or Afflictions must intitle them to the Character of the truer Church Would you Establish the Worship of God in Spirit and in Truth So would She only with this Difference that what you would effect by the Rude Method of Force and Violence the Power of the Sword She labours to do by the Power of Perswasion and the Spirit of Meekness as her Treatment of you now She is in Power so far from Retaliation or Revenge does abundantly testifie to the Shame of your former Cruelty and present Obstinacy and endeavours to compass and effect her Ruine Is She therefore Criminal for endeavouring that Lawfully which you would and do and as you perswade the World are bound in Conscience to do Per fas Nefas either Lawfully or Unlawfully it matters not is not the same Obligation of Conscience and far greater and a truer Conscience upon her And if one must be satisfied whose rather Hers which is True and properly Conscience or yours which is only your Private and uncertain Opinion clothed with that Venerable Name Your Way of Establishing this Worship has been notoriously guilty of Rebellion Disorders Confusion and many Evil Works The Civil State of Affairs has been ruin'd and overturn'd Houses have been made Desolate and left without Inhabitant Churches have been robbed defaced abused demolished Holy things set apart and dedicated to the Service of God and so made Holy have been prophaned The Church of England is innocent of any such Crimes The infamous Brand of Rebellion Sedition Tumults Sacriledg or Rapine were never burnt upon her hand She indeavours to prevent this for the Present and the Future by teaching all men their just Duty towards God and towards Man and obliges them to the Performance of it You call this Persecution and Hate her for it This may be Zeal in you but it is not according to the knowledg of God She imposes some Methods and certain Directions in their own Nature confessedly indifferent only in order and with no other Design than for Decency avoiding Confusion and to bring all Christians to maintain the Vnity of the Spirit in the Bond of Peace You refuse these Means and therefore the Great End of Christian Religion and Religion it self You prefer your own Way and Means before Hers and by Obstructing Peace pretend that her Impositions are inconducive to those Excellent Ends when as in Truth it is not their want of Efficacious aptness but your want of Will and your traversing them by an obstinate Disobedience that frustrates their desired Effects You quarrel her Commands and call them Traditions of Men and Will-Worship when in reality yours is so And it is perfectly because you are not permitted to have your own Wills in the Worship of God that makes you Accuse Her of what you are most horribly guilty of your selves She appoints nothing but what is agreeable to the Will and Word of God and the Primitive Usage of the Church You term those Determinations Antichristian Popish Superstitious As if God Almighty whose Word and Rules She follows where he does not please your Humour or suit your Interest or Designs were Popishly inclined As if the Scriptures in declaring for Episcopacy were Antichristian As if the best and purest Ages of the Church and the whole Succession of Saints and Martyrs were Superstitious Because many of them Bishops and all of them Worshipping God at least as to the Main according to Her Way and Method Whereas it is you that are Popish while you endeavour to Obtrude upon us your own Infallibility It is you who are Antichristian who ruine the Foundation of all Christianity Faith Government a Catholique Church Obedience Charity and Unity It is you who are Superstitious if 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a needless Fear of any thing in Religion be Superstition whilest you start at an Innocent Rite as if it were a Goblin And for fear of a Ceremony run from the Church as if it were hanted with Evil Spirits And though you strain as if you were afraid of being Choak't at these Gnats yet you can swallow the Camel of plain and barefac't Disobedience That goes smoothly over your Palate being gilded over
that it put him in mind of his Apostplical Function which was to be a Fisher of Men but coming to be possessed of the Triple Crown the Net was no longer seen and being by an intimate Consident demanded what was the Reason that since he wore the Annulum Piscatoris the Papal Signet of St. Peter the Fisherman he had now left off his Net He pleasantly reply'd That now he had got what he had so long been fishing for Thus did our English Massaniello by the pretence of Sanctity and Non-conformity by the help of long Prayers and a longer Sword by the promises of Liberty of Conscience Liberty of the Subject propagation of Truth and giving the Gospel a free course that it might run and be Glorified by the help of new Gospel Lights and Revelations which shone in his Army by these Arts did he advance himself to the most unlimitted Power over Laws Liberty Life Estate and Religion to that degree that a look from him like Plinies Basilisk was death even to his fellow Snakes and as if with Mithridates he had liv'd upon Poyson his very breath was Mortal not only to the Royal Party but to those who had sometime been of his own and even to bodies Politick the Conventions which he call'd Parliaments one of which Assemblies I remember exceeding the Limits he had set them a free debate being then no Priviledg of Parliament he swore by the Living God a venial sin in so great a Saint he would dissolve them and immediately sent Collonel Pride the constant Friend of his Ambition with the Janizaries of his houshold to put the bow-string of his Authority about the neck of the House which with the resignation of a Turkish Bashaw with Suchis the will of my Lord bowed the head to the execution and departed that Life without a Murmur against his Highness Artic. 3. of the Instrument that he should not dissolve a Parliament till it had sate 5 Months this begun Sept. 3. and was dissolved Jan. 10th 1654. or the lest complaint of breach of Priviledg or his Oath to the Instrument of Government that he should not dissolve them in five Months or his intrenching upon the Liberties of a Free-born People Tantum potuit Religio Suadere Malorum THIS is a sufficient Caution to all People not to trust their Lives Liberties Priviledges or Religion to the Protection of such Prayers and Pretenders to Piety Zeal Reformation and Sanctity I know such instances are rare and Ambition does not usually prove so fortunate but this it never fails of to make the Lives of those with whom it dwells uneasie to themselves and others and if it happens among men of the Church it certainly occasions great Commotions the breach of Peace and loss of Vnity And if we search the Records of Church history we shall find that most of the Schisms and Heresies which have occasioned those Great Disorders drew their Original from the Pride and Ambition of the discontented Clergy for nothing is more natural than for such Persons where want of Temper renders them most unfit for Government in the Church to be most desirous of it and to believe they best deserve it if they fail in their Expectations which it is more than probable they will being measured by the Standard of the Sober and Judicious and not by their own flattery of themselves presently they fall into discontent and endeavour to obtain that Esteem and Authority by unlawful Methods which they could not arrive at in the regular modest and peaceable ways of Order and obedience This discontent pushes them violently forward to be revenged of those who by not advancing them they think depress them or by advancing others they believe despise and disparage them and at the same time they endeavour to satisfie their Ambition and Revenge by Exalting themselves Now there are no Arts which they can more successfully use to accomplish their design than these which follow FIRST to appear more strict holy devout and righteous than those whom they call their Enemies who shall therefore be thought ill themselves for not advancing those who appear so good And by this means they shall certainly be so esteemed by such who look no further and indeed cannot discover the Depth of their hearts or the secret malice that lodges so closely there This presently creates them a Name and wins them a Party who celebrate their Fame sing Hosannas in their Praise Espouse them their Interest and their Quarrel SECONDLY That they may appear more than common and difference their Party from the rest thereby to keep them to themselves they must broach some new Doctrine or revive some old one there must be an Altar erected and though it be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 yet will there never want some who will ignorantly Worship the stranger God and entertain the Travelling Deity then must the old Rites and manner of Worship be exploded to make room for the New and though a man may truly say of them as our Saviour of the Wine the old is better than the new so unsettled unfermented and full of mutinous Spirits that it flies and froths and and foams breaks the old Bottles into which it is put yet will even this Wine upon the fret please some Capricious Palates better than the Old THIRDLY Then all those who oppose them must be exclaimed against and cryed down Especially their lawful Superiors and Governors as formal out-of-fashion-Christians all endeavours must be used to rendred them contemptible and Odious And all this must be done out of pure Zeal to Truth when in reality it is out of pure Revenge and for no other Design than that these Ambitious Spirits may satisfie their Pride by obtaining that Preheminence by fraud and force which they can never hope for by any other ways THIS is the true procedure of Pride and Ambition and which leads directly into the Red Sea of Blood I wish most heartily that all sober and considerative Persons who dissent from the Church of England and even those who are principally guilty of our Divisions would enter into a serious Examination whether there be not some of the furious Spirit which our Saviour Rebukes in his Disciples James and John Luke 9.54 55. which puts them upon Desiring fire from Heaven upon such as will not recieve them and since they cannot obtain that makes them throw about their own wild-fire to set the Church and Common-wealth into a Blaze And to help the Discovery I will give them some Indications of such a Spirit though lurking never so cunningly under the Cloak of Zeal and Piety AND first therefore Disobedience to Lawful Authority and all the ways which manifest that Disobedience whether Words or Actions are certain Symptoms of the Pride of Mens Hearts and the secret Ambition of their Minds for whosoever disobeys his Superior does at the same time despise him and whosoever despises any person in Authority does it because he is confident
affraid he had bestowed upon them Labour in Vain for that they were relapsing to Jadaism and to the observing of Days and Years according to the Mosaick Law THIS has been a Constant Quarrel amongst Christians this bred those Mortal Divisions betwixt the Eastern and the Western Churches which has almost intirely ruin'd one of them and not advantaged the other as to Truth for whilest both pretended to be the only true Church of Christ by that exclusive Arrogance they were both so far False and this Unlawful claim was the Mother of the Doctrine of Infallibility in the Catholique Church which if it be understood of any particular company of Men and not of the whole Body of the Faithful which are in all Churches have been or shall be guided by the Spirit of God into all truth must be False for whoever is infallible must be without Sin which none can be in this imperfect State For if we say we have no Sin we deceive our selves and the Truth is not in us and the Maxim is undoubtedly true Quod predicatur de singulis universalium predicatur etiam de universalibus singularium If all men are Sinners they are fallible if every man is a Sinner then are all men here in this Mortal State So that if men would with Justice and Modesty allow degrees of Truth and that every Church possessed some so long as they retain the foundation of one only true God and Jesus Christ whom he has sent whom to know is Life eternal if they would strive more for Peace and Purity than for this Supremacy and impossibility of being the only true Church they would certainly have more Truth because more Charity Peace Vnity THERE were Seven Churches in Asia though now nothing but the Names and those scarce Legible in their Ruins to which our blessed Lord commands St. John to write Rev. 1 2 3 Chapters What thou seest write in a Book and send it to the seven Churches which are in Asia unto Ephesus and unto Smyrna and unto Pergamos and unto Thyatira and unto Sardis and unto Philadelphia and unto Laodicea Every Church was a Golden Candlestick and every one had a Star which was the Angel Guardian or Governour of the Church and which Christ held in his right hand These Candlesticks were all of Gold but some more refined and purer Mettal than others the Stars were all bright and shining but some more dim and obscure than others for one star exceeded another star in glory 1 Cor. 15.41 42. even in the Firmament of the Church as well as in Heaven And doubtless if that place be true shall hereafter for so is the Resurection of the Dead From this Instance of the Seven Churches these Deductions seem evidently to follow FIRST That several Nations are several Distinct Coordinate not subordinate Churches for so the Son of God calls these Seven which yet were comprised in the lesser Asia and People of one Language though of distinct and separate Polities which seems to be that which differences Nations and not Languages SECONDLY That distinct and several Coordinate Churches may all be true Churches and Vnited in the Common Bond of the same Faith and Charity who yet may not be of equal Purity two only are here commended for their Purity viz. Smyrna and Philadelphia the other are condemned Ephesus for having forsaken her first Love her Zeal and Devotion Pergamos for the Doctrine of Balaam and for suffering the odious Sect of the Nicolaitans Thyatira for suffering Jezebel a woman to teach contrary to the Express Command of God and therefore to seduce the People by eating things offered to Idols Sardis for having a name to live but being dead Loadicea for being luke-warm neither hot nor cold a Church of Latitudinarians all these are threatned and reproved but not rejected from the name and being of Churches THIRDLY That the holy Catholique Church is composed of several distinct National Churches for we must not think the Son of God could be guilty of an impropriety of Speech he distinguishes them by the places where they were planted and by their degrees of Purity as so many several Churches without giving them any precedency on preheminence one over another he does not direct the Angels of the several Churches to Rome or Alexandria or Jerusalem or Antioch though all then famous Churches for redress of their Errors he does not send them to St. Peter or his Successors the Catholique Apostolique Roman Church as the Pillar and Ground of Truth not a word of the Sancta sedes Apostolica Petri Cathedra Ecclesia Principalis nothing of the Romanorum Fides ad quos perfidia habere non potest accessum which place of St. Cyprian the Romanists boast so much of whilest they indeavour to appropriate the word Catholique only to their Church which is as good sense as that any one man is humane Nature But for the redress of their Errors amendment of their Lives and reformation of their false Doctrines he gives them all this short Direction He that hath an Ear let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the Churches and that to every one of them distinctly so that what the Spirit of God speaks to the Churches was to be the Rule of Faith Life and Doctrine and what was it which the Spirit spake unto the Churches was ever any Tradition said to be spoken by the Holy Spirit No certainly nothing was ever spoken by the Spirit to the Churches but the Books of the Holy Canon which all Ages have consented to without the least Addition or Diminution as the late Bishop of Durham Dr. Cosins has made appear more distinctly till such time as the Absolutissima Syndus Tridentina as they call the Trent Session for some passages which seem favourable to Purgatory and Prayers for the Dead was pleased to adopt these into the Holy Canon though nothing is more evident than that till then they were Esteemed only Humane Writings and Apocryphal however hereby they have given a Specimen of the Power they pretend over our Faith for by the same Authority they may impose Aesops Fables and the Alchoran as matters of Faith Neither did the ancient Churches when Heresies sprung up resort to Rome for infallible Determinations but to Oecumenical and General Councels not Esteeming their Determinations valid neither unless agreeable to the Holy Scripture which was always accounted the Norma or Rule by which they were to be guided and at which Councels the Pope did assist not as the Head but as a Principal Member and the respect he had given him was as Patriarch of the Imperial City and the Western Churches and not as Monarch of the whole Catholick Church and even some later Councels as that of Basil have undertaken to reform Errors and Abuses and to depose the Pope being found guilty of them LASTLY It may from hence be concluded That Christ himself is the only head of the Catholick Church which is composed
of several distinct Churches who are all Members of that Mystical Body he walks among the Candlesticks he holds the Stars in his right hand The Angel of every distinct National Church is to be the mover of the Orb to guide it by the Light of Divine Truth spoken by the Spirit of the Churches the Temporal Power may be Supreme Head of the Church as they are a Society of Christian Men but neither the one nor the other can justly pretend a Power over the Angel of another Church or the Dominions of another Prince for that is the Prerogative of the Son of God who Unites them in his Right hand and who alone can challenge the Title of that Name of King of Kings and Lord of Lords NOR will this Independency of Churches one upon another which is only in point of Jurisdiction and Limits which was anciently practiced and commanded by the Decrees of Councels give the least disturbance to their Charity and Vnion so long as they maintain the same Universal Doctrine of Faith as to the substance and all acknowledge one Catholique Church and themselves Members of it Nay it is observable that this incroachment of the greater Churches upon the less and indeavouring to aggrandize themselves by imposing upon all other Churches a Soveraignty and Dominion never intended for Christian Religion and striving by force to oblige them to use their Rites and Ceremonies in indifferent Circumstantials and not only so but to receive all their Opinions as matters of Faith were the first occasion of the most remarkable Schisms and Divisions and the loss of Peace and Unity and still continue so to this very day Whereas did they all resolve to content themselves with their own Precincts and not indeavour 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and act out of their own Provinces but would permit others to make use of such indifferent Rites as the Governours of the several Churches judge necessary and expedient in their respective Charges and if any Controversies should arise in Point of Doctrine resolve amicably to compose them by hearing what the Spirit saith to the Churches and how the Universal Church has already determined in the same or like Affairs according to the Rule of Scripture would they study more to propagate Peace and Vnity than Dominion and Soveraignty to increase Piety and Purity of Life more than outward agreement of Rites and Ceremonies the ancient Happiness of the Church in her first and Vnambitious Age when the Office of Government was the surest way to Martyrdom would in a great measure be restored to the Members of the Catholique Church and there would be that Vnity which is by God Commanded and by all good Christians not only to be desired but promoted to the uttermost of their Power Were it possible that this true and ancient Temper Modesty and Moderation of Primitive Christianity might obtain in the World the Names of distinction with the occasions of them would be taken away one would not be of Paul another of Apollos another of Cephas one a Romanist another a Calvinist Lutheran Hugonot or a Zuinglian but all would be of Christ but alas what hope so long as the Church of Rome will be Vniversal and will exclude all those who Refuse the tyranique Yoak of both her Declared and Implicit Faith and to be subject to her absolute Dominion not only from the Name of Churches and being Parts of the Church Universal but from the Communion of Saints from all hopes of the Resurrection of the just nay even from her Purgatory too which is very severe if there be such a place as admits of Hope for Sinners after Death and in a word from all possibility of the Life everlasting How disterent is this from the ancient Charity and Doctrine of St. Peter and St. Paul whom they believe the Founders of their Church for they incourage us to hope we may receive the Benefit of the Common Salvation Act. 10.35 for God is no respecter of Persons but in every Nation he that feareth him and worketh Righteousness is accepted of him for with him there are no Distinctions neither Greek nor Jew Col. 3.11 to v. 16. Circumcision nor Vncircumcision Barbarian Scythian Bond nor Free but all are Christs who have put on as the Elect of God holy and beloved bowels of Mercy kindness humbleness of Mind meekness long-suffering forbearance one of another and forgiveness one towards another if there be differences as Christ also forgave us and above all things they who have put on Charity which is the bond of Perfection and whose Hearts are ruled by the Peace of God But in regard that this is to be dispair'd of and may well seem forreign to the Design of these Papers let us come to consider what Influence this ought to have upon us as to Vnity amongst our selves which without Excluding our Neighbours from our Charity though they do us from theirs and Heaven is the principal Intention of this Discourse CHAP. VI. HAVING shewn that the Peace and Vnity of the Catholick Church Militant upon Earth depends in a great Measure upon this Justice in preserving the Common Faith of Christ as the bond of Vnion not only among our selves but with that part of the Church which is now Triumphant in Heaven and in order thereunto in allowing every distinct and National Church their particular Bounds and Jurisdiction free from Incroachments and Invasion permitting them a freedom of Using such Rites and Customs in the Celebration of Divine Worship as the Governors of each respective Church shall judge to be nearest the Rule of Scripture the Constant Usage and Determination of the Catholique Church in the best Ages and of the best Men in all most conducive to the Great End of all Religion by promoting the Happiness of Mankind both here and hereafter before we proceed any further it will be requisite to answer what may and will be certainly objected by all Dissenters FOR if an Independency of Churches of Distinct Nations and Polities so long as they agree in matters of Faith may be permitted a distinct Jurisdiction different Rites and manner of Worship to the increase of Charity Peace and Unity why may not the same be likewise practised by several Churches in the same Nation To which I answer That as Vnity in point of Faith is the Bond of Vnion in the Vniversal Church so Obedience to the Supreme Government of any Nation is that which Vnites them into one Polity and distinguishes them from all other People who do not own that Subjection and Obedience And this Vnion of Obedience is also that which preserves and maintains them as well as Constitutes them a distinct Political Body from all other Nations Herein lies their Strength herein their Security their Safety and Happiness For as I may be Lawfully permitted to disobey the King of Spain or France nay and ought to do it in many Cases for the Interest of my Nation but cannot disobey my
and yet had they not so much as a Rebellious thought of Establishing Religion by force or violence CHAP. VII BY what has been said it appears that the Foundation of all Charity among Christians is built upon Vnity in Faith which is the necessary bond of the Catholique Church which is the Company of all faithful People which are have been or shall be in all Ages and Places of the World and that Vnity in Government as well as Faith is the Bond of Peace and Obedience a Duty therefore which all men owe to their Lawful Superiors as the Necessary Ligature of a National Church which being a Political Society of Religious Men does therefore require a Political Government in Religious as well as Civil affairs THE not well considering of this Difference between a National and the Catholique Church seems to be the chief Ground of the Quarrels among Christians for the Catholique Church being the Spiritual Body of Christ is United in it self and to him by the Spiritual Bond of the Catholique Faith which Faith may be kept Whole and Undefiled though there be great Differences in External Rites and Ceremonies For all Ceremonies are not fit for all Places as for Example Submerging of the person Baptized may do very well in the warm Climates but would be very hazardous in the more Northern Regions of Muscovy Rushia c. Thus we see it was adjudged in that Great Controversie about the Celebration of Easter between the Eastern and the Western Churches For when Anicetus Bishop of Rome and Polycarp Bishop of Smyrna differ'd in their Opinion about it they came to this amicable Determination that each Church should celebrate it according to their own Custom for which they gave this Reason Quia non oportet propter Caeremoniarum dissonantiam rumpere Fidei Consonantiam Ecclesiae Concordiam The Peace and Concord of the Church in the Harmony of Faith ought not to be broken for a disagreement in matters of Ceremony And because this Difference made a great Noise in the Church for many years â—â—d in regard it Confirms my Position of Vnity of Faith being the Bond of the Catholick Church and Vnity of Government as well as Faith that of a National Church I will relate the History of it in short as it is Recorded by Eusebius in his Ecclesiastical History Euseb lib. 5. c. 24 25 26. Polycrates Bishop of Ephesus and a great many of the Asian Bishops alledging the Practice and ancient Custom of St. John the beloved Disciple of our Lord who was himself Bishop of Ephesus Polycarp and several others observed Easter upon any day of the Week according to the Custom of the Jews The Christians of the Western Church observed it as we do upon the Sunday being the day of his Resurrection Upon this Victor Bishop of Rome pronounces them Excommunicate and separates from their Communion Irenoeus Bishop in Lions shews Victor his Error and that for Ceremonies and Circumstances the Vnity of the Church ought not to be broken which he manifests by the Diversity of several Churches in observing the time of Fasting before Easter some only one day some two some more to forty and yet for all this says that Excellent Father they were at Vnity one with another and as yet retain it for this Variety of Fasting commendeth the Vnity of Faith and thereupon writing to Victor he acquaints him that Anicetus Pius Hyginus Telesephorus and Xystus his Predecessors though not observing the same Custom with the Bishops of Asia yet nevertheless were at Vnity with them and sent the Eucharist unto the Brethren of other Churches that observed a Contrary Custom shewing him also how Polycarpus did not endeavour to alter the Judgment of Anicetus but told him that he ought to observe the ancient Custom of his Predecessors Upon which for the reason before-mentioned they friendly received the Holy Eucharist together the Symbol of their Vnity in Faith and parted from each other in Peace and all such adds he as held contrary Customs and Observations throughout the Vniversal Church held fast the Bond of Love and Vnity no Church endeavouring to impose upon the Liberty of others in point of Circumstances so long as they all held the Catholique Faith as the only necessary bond of Vnion in the Catholique Church and Vnity of Government as the Bond of Vnion in the several Distinct and National Churches whereof the Universal is composed and which therefore it appears had Originally a Jurisdiction among themselves over which neither Rome nor any other had a Power So that is clear that several National Churches may lawfully differ in External Rites of Government from the Catholique without the danger of Schism But now in a National Church there is a necessity of Vnity and Obedience to the Determinations of those who are the Lawful Governors of it and all Disobedience there is a Schism in regard the Peace of that Church the Order and Charity of it without this must be destroyed and therefore there is a Necessity of this Vnity in point of Government in any National Church Now every Distinct Nation as before was said being a separate Society of men Distinguished from the rest of the World by a different Government and their Obedience to it as well as by their Place of Habitation there is a Necessity that Religion should conduce all it can to the preservation of that Political Frame upon which the Well-being and Happiness of the Society depends For the Civil and Religious concerns are so mutually interwoven that no man can be a Good Citizen who is an ill Christian or an ill Christian who is Bonus Civis a good Publiquewealths-man and these do mutually support one another true Religion Improving this Interest of all Men by making the Civil part of the Polity a Duty of Religion among Christians whereas among Heathen it was only a duty of Interest and Policy For even in this sense we may truly say as our Saviour of himself Matt. 5.17 that Christian Religion came not to destroy the Law but to fulfil it to conform Humane Laws to the Rule of Divine Equity Truth and Justice and for this reason our Lord himself gave that Universal Precept to Render to Caesar his Due which also he confirmed by his Practice paying him Tribute even with a Miracle NOR do we ever find the Primitive Spirit of Christianity opposing any humane Laws or Power unless they were such as directly struck at the Root of Faith and a holy Life such as were the severe Edicts of the Persecuting Emperors to compel them to renounce and Blaspheme Christ to adore the Pagan Gods or to offer Incense to the Statues of the Emperors Nay when they were treated with more than inhumanity they never had recourse to Violence or attempted to justle the Temporal Power out of the Throne or force it to a compliance with their Wills but suffered patiently even when as Tertullian Apologizes for them they were
the Church to restore them to the Honour of God Almighty after they had offended and by serious and Solemn Repentance were thought â—orthy to be readmitted into Communion And this is the other branch of the Power of the Keys and from hence arose the necessity of Confession for Christ having left a power with his Church to forgive the Penitent it was supposed that this was not to be done at random but the People looking upon the Priests as the Physicians of their Souls and as standing between God and them as Internuncij or Celestial Embassadors as St. Paul terms them when they expected Spiritual Remedies for the Diseases of their Souls they thought it necessary Especially in imminent danger of Death truly to state the Case and Condition of their Souls to these Spiritual Physicians that so they might be Judges of it and accordingly apply suitable Remedies and from hence sprung these excellent Effects FIRST Men avoided the Danger of flattering themselves into a dangerous perswasion of the Goodness and safety of their Condition and by consequence from that security and false Peace which has betrayed Millions into Eternal Misery For as nothing is more natural than for men to love themselves so nothing does more powerfully incline them to Judge favourably and with a dangerous Partiality concerning their Eternal Condition it being with Diseases of the Soul as with those of the Body where no Persons not even the Learned in the Art of Hermes when sick themselves are more incompetent Judges of their own state than those who labour under it who many times Flatter themselves with delirous Fancies of Life and Health even when they are under the Agonies of approaching Death SECONDLY Hereby many haynous sins which men commit in secret were nipt in the Blossom and believing that without Confession there was no Absolution to be expected the very fear of Discovery or of Damnation without it gave strange checks to such Tempers who had not abandoned all Modesty Nor is it to be esteemed a Wonder that Men should receive a more powerful Control from the fear of Humane Knowledg than from the apprehensions of the Omniscient Divinity since it is so well known that all men are more affected by the power of sensible Objects than of Faith and Reason and every mans own experience will convince him that the fear of Shame and Reproach upon Discovery has at least in some part of his Life been more powerful to preserve him from some Sins than all the terrors of a Future state of Misery and the witness of a little Child which might make a Discovery to the World has prevented the Execution of some wicked Designs which the Considerations of the Divine presence in all places would have had no great influence upon THIRDLY Hereby People came to have a true Love and Veneration for their Spiritual Guides a love of Reverence and a love of Tenderness looking upon them as their Spiritual Fathers and honouring them as such Then men did not set an Estimate upon them only proportionate to their abilities of making Extempore Prayers a thing wholly unknown to the first Ages of Christianity or for their gifts of Eloquent Orations in the Pulpit no more than they would do their Physicians for those Talents which though very excellent accomplishments yet were not thought Essential to their Profession nor conducive to the Health of their Patients who are not to be discoursed or courted by the power of Rhethorique into recovery but they look't upon them as those who had the charge of their Souls and that they were set by God to watch over them Heb. 13.17 as they that must give an account and for this Reason it was that they obeyed those that had the Rule over them and submitted themselves THEN was there no quarrelling no Litigious Suits at Law about the Maintenance of the Priesthood one thing and the main one which renders the present Clergy so slenderly possessed of the affections of the People but they thought with the good Apostle That those who sowed unto them Spiritual things ought to reap a share of their Carnal things and after the Maintenance of the Clergy was Established by the Donatives of their Pious Ancestors who gave those Revenues as Free Alms to God Almighty Frank Almoigne Libera perpetua Eleemosyna The Tenure of the Church and for the support of his Servants and Service they thought it no less than Sacriledge to rob God of Tithes and Offerings dedicated to the Use of those who by their Attendance upon his Altar were incapacitated to amass up Riches or even Competencies for a future subsistence as the Secular People were by several Arts and Trades Nay so cautelous and nice were they in this particular that they thought they could not dye with a secure Conscience unless they gave something by way of Compensation for Tithes forgotten to be paid in their lives an Opinion which descended down to the days of our Grandfathers as is apparent by the several Wills of ancient Date I am not ignorant that this will expose me to some Obloquy and that I shall be Censured hereby to aim at an Establishment of the Clergy in Honor Profit and Dominion or it may be I may suffer in my Reputation as going about to introduce Popery by Auricular Confession FOR the First I can make no other Vindication of my Innocence but an unfeigned Protestation with Saint Paul that according to the best of my Understanding I speak the truth in Christ 1 Tim. 2.7 and lie not and that I have no other Design either in particular or general but the Peace of the Church the Glory of God and the Salvation of all Men to which I am perswaded this would extreamly conduce and not a little to the quiet of mens Lives and advantage of their Temporal Affairs by cutting away the root of Unkindnesses about Meum Tuum betwixt the Minister and his Parishioners since we daily see not only that this is the divorce of their Affections but that this petty Sacrilegde is injurious to their Estates for what they do thus by an evil Covetousness unlawfully substract from the Established maintenance of the Clergy is usually to their treble dammage repaid to the rapaciousness of the Vnder Officers of the Law and in conclusion both parties are loosers but the greatest loss is that of Charity and mutual love one towards another AS to the accusation or suspicion of being a Papist I am as far from it and it may be farther than they who shall indeavour to fix that Calumny upon me for I neither believe with the Romish Church that it is a Sacrament and absolutely Essential to Salvation since Children who could never speak and Mutes may be saved without it neither am I for those private and Auricular Confessions or think those Pennances which are enjoyned as the consequence of them can make satisfaction for the Sins I remember very well the Scandal and
to the Scotch Prophecy The State of England Paid the Piper for the Presbyterians in pretence Religious but in reality Envious of the great Power Honors and Estates of Episcopacy never lest till by Arts and Arms perswading the Credulous Vulgar that it was Popish and Antichristian and animating their Party in their Rebellion with promises of Heaven and the Churches Revenue for a Booty God Almighty was pleased for our sins to permit them to be so successful as to overthrow that Government after it had stood above a thousand years in England No sooner had Presbytery taken Possession of Naboth's Vinyard he being stoned and dead but they became as Odious to the Independents who with more cunning and Address and less trouble gently laid them aside as Babylonish too and notwithstanding all their Exclamations from the Pulpit and the Press both in their Prayers and Sermons they could not prevail either with God or Men to hear them or support their sinking Cause but their Companions mocked them as the Priests of Baal as Elijah did and as they had done those of the Church of England And had not the God of Mercy and Compassion pitied us in our Low Estate when we lay in the Dust by miraculously restoring our Soveraign to his Crown and with him the Church to her right no doubt but the Power and Revenue of the Church would have been a perpetual Prize and England the Bloody Theatre upon which every Church would have Acted their Part and indeavoured to have their turn of being Uppermost AND if we could suppose that the present Dissenters are only influenced by mistaken Zeal for the Glory of God the Purity of Religion and the Salvation of Mens Souls and not the Destruction of their Bodies and Estates with that of the Government Yet can they give us no assurances or if they can they will not that they or their Successors shall continue in the same Undesigning Innocence And since these are such specious and taking Pretences with the Deceivable and Easy Multitude who can promise but that Ambition may put on the Cloak of Malicionsness and call it Religious Reformation that cunningly Dissembled Pride may shelter it self under the shining habit of pretended Piety and Purity and that Covetousness the root of all Evil may not appear in the borrowed Robes of Sanctity These Impostors may easily furnish a furious Jehu with Masks and Vizzards of Religion to impose upon many innocent Jehonadabs and take them up with him into the Charriot of Rebellion whilst with the same Popular and Insinuating Courtship he shall salute them kindly 2 Kings 10.15 16. with Is thy heart right as my heart is with thine if it be give me thy hand Which with him they will be ready to do and to lend their assistance to the Confederation especially upon hopes of being advanced and taken up with him into the Charriot of Government and hurried away with the tempting invitation Come with me and see my Zeal for the Lord. Though all this Zeal was meerly Interest and Ambition to Establish the Crown to himself by the utter Extirpation of the House of Ahab and not one dram of true Religion as the sequel of the story made appear And how easy is it for Hypocrisie to put on any shape and to appear an innocent Lamb when in reality it is a ravening Wolf how easy for Ambitious Spirits to pretend the Glory of God whilst they only design their own to decry all Forms of Prayer and Godliness and appear Zealous promoters of the Power of Religion only to advance themselves to Greatness and Power and under pretence of gaining Souls to God to make a Gain of Godliness and by sacrificing all to their Covetousness to make Godliness great Gain how feasible is it for Men to set up the Standard of King Jesus and make a Stale of a fifth Monarchy and under the Scepter of Christ to invade the Scepter of his Anointed and to Usurp his Throne THESE are easy Suppositions of what may be the Dangerous Consequences of that Disunion in a Nation which proceeds from admitting various Forms of Church Government in the same Nation Nor are they bare Suppositions but real Truths and what has been done and lately done among us and what may therefore be done again If there are any Persons who will own the Lawfulness of such dangerous Consequences as drown a Christian Nation in Blood Misery and Confusion or can but rationally be supposed that they may indanger it let them adhere to the Principle of tollerating diverse Forms of Church Government which is the ready Way to reduce those Suppositions into these most pernicious Realities and if it be so as no doubt can be made let all Dissenters either acknowledge that these Opinions are the Common Pests of Humane Society as well as Religion and therefore abandon them and reunite with the Government from which they are broke loose or if they will persist in maintaining defending spreading and increasing these Inhumane Principles and Practice◠〈◊〉 the minds of Men both by their Doctrine and Example Let them not think us uncharitable if as all sober and truly Pious and Judicious men must an Estimate be made of them according to the future Consequences and not their present Appearances which for any thing can be known to the Contrary may be only double-guilt Hypocrisie Simulata Pietas duplex Iniquitas and that is in truth double-di'd Iniquity IF they did not foresee these Mischiefs they are now shewn them and if upon Notice and Warning given they do not indeavour to avoid them we cannot remain Masters of common sense but we must believe they intend them and if we do believe that we may very lawfully not only Pray against them for the Peace of Jerusalem 2. Thess 3.2 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from such men as are out of place disorderly and not deserving therefore any place in society Exod. 21.29 To be delivered from Vnreasonable Men but the Government may and ought to take care of it self and those under its Charge who are Obedient and truly Fear God and the King to secure them from such wicked Attempts In the Law of Moses which was given by Gods Command if an Ox were wont to push and the Owner had warning and did not take Care to prevent it he was to make good the Dammage either with his Life or his Estate if a man digged a Pit and any thing fell into it he was to make restitution let me infer with St. Paul Doth God take care of Oxen and shall no care be taken of Christians 1 Cor. 9.9 10. or saith he it altogether for our sakes for our sakes no doubt this is written that we may plough in hope and sow in hope and be made partakers of our hopes by reaping the quiet and peaceable fruits of Righteousness That these Principles have pusht against Government in times past is most notorious and one may truly say of them
be such a Condition in Order to this End Psal 51.4 as All may have That so God may be Justified when he speaks and clear when he Judges and if men be not saved it may appear it was through their own Folly and not from the difficulty of the Condition which God offers For it would be infinitely derogatory to the Wisdom and Goodness of the Divine Nature to the God of Love the only Wise God to give such a Condition of Salvation as All were not capable of attaining For Salvation is not confined to the Wise and Learned 1 Cor. 1.26 nay St. Paul seems to intimate the Contrary Not many Wise men are called Jude 3. but it is the Common Salvation in which all Rich and Poor High and Low Young and Old the Learned and Unlearned the Wise and the Simple have a share The Foundation of this Assent to the Conditional Propositions of Salvation is not therefore our Understanding of them to be true by the Power of Reason our comprehending or apprehending the manner of them but it springs from the Confidence that we have of the Veracity of him who propounds them to our Belief and that we are assured that he will not because he cannot deceive us because he is Truth it self as whoever believes a Supreme Being must of Necessity believe Truth to be of his Essence THUS I believe the Glorious Mystery of the Trinity Three Persons but one God the Incarnation of the Son of God the proceeding of the Holy Ghost from the Father and the Son the Resurrection of the Body and the rest of the Articles of the Christian Faith not because I dare pretend to understand them or to give a Satisfactory Reason to my self how this can be Or why it should be but I rest my self satisfied upon the assurance that he who requires me to believe it cannot deceive me nor require me to believe what is not most certainly true But God being in Heaven in that inaccessable Light of Glory and I upon Earth there must be therefore some Internuncius between us that so I may receive these Conditions of Salvation to be believed This Office was in former times committed to the Prophets Rom. 3.4 2 Tim. 3.16 2 Pet. 1.21 and God spake by them For God is only true and all Men may be Lyars and therefore all Scripture was given by Inspiration and came not at any time by the Will of Men but Holy Men of God spoak being moved by the Holy Ghost Heb. 1.1 But the great Prerogative of Christian Religion is That God who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in times past unto the Fathers hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son whom he hath appointed Heir of all things by whom also he made the Worlds Now these Holy Instruments whom God employed to declare his Will to Men that they might obtain Credit to their Message were assisted with power of working Miracles which were the Letters Testimonial the Credentials of Heaven in their behalf to assure the incredulous World that they were Messengers and Ambassadors from God for it is a Natural Inference which Nicodemus made even whilest he was so Unregenerate that he thought Regeneration an Impossibility Jo. 3.2 Rabbi we know that thou art a Teacher come from God for no man can do these Miracles that thou doest except God be with him This Revelation of Gods Will Confirmed to be so by Miracles Signs and Wonders when it comes to be considered and attended to will gain the Assent of the Mind and that these must needs be Truths of a Divine Extract and Original Since All their Precepts are free from any Design but the Advantage of those to whom they are proposed and to make them partakers of the Divine Nature by the practice of that Truth Innocence Justice Temperance and Purity which they do so Universally require as the Way to Happiness both in this Life and that of Celestial Glory and Immortality And these Commands Collected into a Body we call the Holy Canon of Sacred Scriptures I think I need not produce Arguments to prove those Writings to be the Word and Will of God that being a Principle so confessed that without it no Man can be called a Christian I am not now to deal with Heathens or Infidels FROM this Postulatum granted these Conclusions will Naturally follow First That Faith does not depend upon Humane Authority but upon Divine Revelation For it came not by the Will of Man but by the Will of God And therefore no Humane Authority has any power to Impose upon the Belief any thing either contrary or more than God has plainly revealed to be his Will as the Condition of our Salvation for to Command what God has not commanded as such a Condition is insufferable Pride and Insolence an Usurpation upon the Incommunicable Prerogative of him Heb. 12.2 who is the Author and the Finisher of our Faith How great then is the Impiety of those who contrary to the practice of the Universal Church for 1500 years have added the Books of Apocrypha meer Humane Writings to the Holy Canon and under pain of Damnation Impose them upon us as matters of Faith and Conditions of Salvation How Unreasonable is it to make Tradition the Foundation of Faith and of Equal value with the Holy Writings Of which Traditions there being so great Uncertainty it is very Improbable our Faith should receive any Confirmation from them For what is liable to a doubt it self is very unlikely to take away all cause of Doubting Yet this is the Faith of the Roman Church in their Vnwritten Verities SECONDLY it follows That nothing ought to be Imposed as De Fide and the Necessary Condition of Salvation but what is clearly Demonstrable to be the Will of God revealed and which all Men because all are capacitated for Salvation may easily Understand to be so And since all men have an Equal Title to Salvation upon their performance of the Conditions by God required to be believed and done therefore what Faith will Save the Unlearned will also save the Learned For God proposeth no different Methods more for the one than the other for he is no respecter of Persons Act. 10.35 but in every Nation he that feareth him and worketh Righteousness is accepted with him So that he who is Baptized Repents Lives Righteously Godly and Soberly in this present World believing the Gospel of our Lord and obeying it according to that Belief shall certainly receive the end of his Faith and hope the Salvation of his Soul For these are Truths so clearly contained in the Scripture that the meanest Capacity may understand them and perform the Conditions required Now what is necessary and sufficient for all and whatever is proposed more is Superfluous since he that believes this and no more shall certainly be saved and he that believes more shall but be saved It is
that we through Patience and Comfort of the Scriptures might have hope So were the Scriptures of the New Testament given us a new Rule and a Royal Law of Liberty that we might not Glory in Men 1 Gor. 3.21 22. c. 4.1.6 neither in Paul nor Cephas But that we might esteem them Stewards of the Mysteries of God And not to think of them above what is Written Which place if throughly considered teaches us not to prefer any Man or Men above the Scripture THIS will appear further if we consider the Nature of a Rule for a Rule is the constant certain infallible unchangeable measure according to which I judg of any thing whether it be true or false And if I can but suppose what is offer'd me for a Rule to be false or if I know it is or may be false it can be no Rule because it leaves me in an Uncertainty whether I am Right or Wrong But the Scripture cannot be supposed to be false for admitting that supposition they are no longer Scriptures or the Word of God for every word of God is true Men have been are and will be Fallible Traditions are dubious and uncertain but the Word of God is tried to the uttermost and coming from the Infallible Author of all Truth is the Touchstone of the Truth of Men and their Doctrines and by that we examine by that we judg of mens Faith and actions Isa 8.20 If they speak not according to the Law and the Testimony it is because there is neither Light nor Truth in them THE Mistake seems to be in Confounding the Difference between a Rule and a Guide and they who would advance the Authority of the Church above the Scripture set the Judg above the Law and Confound him with it The Church is indeed the Guide which instructs us but if her Instructions are not according to her Rule of Scripture when we hope for Bread she gives us a Stone and instead of a Fish a Scorpion Mortal Poyson for wholesome Nourishment To Illustrate this Suppose I desire to learn the Mathematicks I therefore apply my self to a Person skilful in that Incomparable Science and intreat him to direct me He shews me Euclid's Elements as the Foundation of Mathematical Knowledg and therefore reads and explains it to me Pray now who is the Rule the Master or the Book Certainly all men who have not forfeited their Reason will say the Book is the Rule the Man the Guide and if he give me any thing for a Demonstration contrary to the Principles therein contained I know by them that he is mistaken because he he has not instructed me according to the Rule The case is the same only the Infallibility of the Scriptures is more certain being founded upon the Infallibility of God They are the Rule the Governors of the Church the Guides appointed by God for that purpose to them therefore men resort for Instruction but if they teach either what is their own or other mens contrary to the Rule they are false Guides and why so But because they give a false Rule betraying that high Trust by God reposed in them to be Eyes to the Blind and Feet to the Lame to conduct them to Eternal Bliss by the Directions of that Rule of which St. Paul says Gal. 6.16 As many as walk according to this Rule Peace be on them and Mercy and upon the Israel of God AND even they who contend so earnestly against the Scriptures being the Rule of Faith and Life ought to shew some other End and Design of the Scriptures and a better Rule and not Confute themselves and all their Assertions and Arguments by making this the Rule of Believing whilst they bring Arguments out of it against it self which they would have therefore believed because they are Scripture plainly confessing it to be the Ultimate Rule and that nothing can properly be matter of Faith but what is agreeable to it Which has made the Romish Doctors sweat and toyl so vehemently to Extort Confessions from the Scripture Tert. de Praescript adv Heretic as Tertullian says Caedem Scripturarum faciunt ad materiam suam even Murdering it almost to make it speak to their purpose And since they could not prevail with it to Depose against the Truth they have put it into the Inquisition Imprisoning it in the Vulgar Latin lest if it should get abroad and speak Truth as it would do in despight of all Opposition it would proclaim their Injustice and Violence to the meanest Capacities of the Vulgar among them who would hereby come to detect the Pious Frauds and profitable Follies which are imposed upon them as matter of Faith THE ancient Church believed the Scriptures the Rule of Faith and therefore took care to have them Translated into Syrian Chrys Hom. 1. in Joh. Aegyptian Ethiopian Persian and other innumerable Languages as St. Chrysostom testifies and Theodoret says Theod. de Cur. Graec. affect lib. 5. the Bible was Translated into all Languages used in the World Greek Latin Persian Indian Armenian Scythian Sarmatian And this seems one if not the principal Reason why the Holy Ghost did Miraculously descend in Cloven Tongues upon the Apostles inabling them to speak in several Languages for the Parthians Medes Elamites Dwellers in Mesopotamia Judea Cappadocia Pontus Asia Phrygia Pamphylia in Lybia and Cyrene Crete and Arabia heard them speak the wonderful Works of God If they might have used the Compendious way of Instructing them to believe as the Church believes and had made themselves The rule of Faith and like the Priests of Memphis delivered their Hieroglyphical Faith from one to another there would have been no need of all this or of their Pains who afterwards were so diligent to Translate the Scriptures into all Languages to instruct all Nations and to let them see there was no Cheat or Juggle in Religion by exposing it to the view of the severest Criticks CHAP. XV. I Suppose there are no Dissenters among us except those of the Roman Communion but will willingly accord the Scriptures to be the Rule of Faith and Manners And though there may be differences between us and them in some Material points of Doctrine yet the Apple of Strife is about the Government of the Church Some contending for a Parity and Equality as the Presbyterians others for an Absolute Independency of any the least Congregation of Men calling themselves a Church Others for a Democratick Anarchy as the Anabaptists and Quakers and several other Enthusiasts But all point blank against Episcopacy though hitherto they have not been able to satisfie the World for what Offence As for the Independency of Churches I shall only say in short that it opens the way to endless Separations and innumerable Errors and Hesies no man having power to Judg of them besides themselves And slies so far from the Popery of Hierarchy that it runs into a worse Extream and makes every Pastor Supreme