THE SPEECH OF Nicholas Heath Lord Chancellor of England Lord President of Wales Bishop of Worcestor And afterward Archbishop of YORK and Ambassadour into Germany delivered in the Upper House of Parliament in the Year 1555. On occasion of the Supremacy Proofs from Scripture That Christ left a True Church and that there is no Salvation but in the Catholick and Apostolick Church Proofs from the Fathers That there is no Salvation to be expected out of the True Catholick and Apostolick Church Certain Principles of the first Authors of the Reformation not so well known to many of their followers The Principles of the Catholick Apostolick Church Testimony of the Fathers touching the Real Presence LONDON Printed for the Author 1688. TO THE READER I Cannot but admire to see most Protestants so negligenn in their search of Truth so seemingly secure and so indifferent in the buying and reading Controversial Books which abound now a days more than ever when yet in their Hearts they know they may be in Errour for even by their own Principles they dare not so much as affirm they are Certainly in the right The swarms of Books about Religion that have these two last years fill'd the Press render it impossile to say any thing New on this Occasion and therefore farther indeavours to write Controversy may seem vain and unnecessary and indeed if all the Catholick Books that have been lately Publish'd were read by the Protestants with the same Spirit of Humility with which they were wrote all prejudice passion and interest laid aside there would be abundantly enough to open the eyes of the people and satisfie all discerning Men that Popery is not that Antichristian Monster which it has for so many years been painted in England but that it is indeed the true Antient Catholick and Apostolick Faith which our Saviour deliver'd and taught his Apostles and which has continued since and been believed in the Church in all succeeding Ages But since we find too many stop their ears against all the charms of Truth since we find still such mighty numbers of Men continue in entertaining their old barbarous conceits of the Catholick Religion and either through malice or negligence very slow in Reading what might Inform their judgements and settle their Consciences it cannot be esteemed improper for every honest Man to contribute his Mite and endeavour what he may to rouse up some by a third or fourth call who have refused the first and second and for as much as many are discouraged by the length and some by the dearness of the Book I have resolved to remove these two Impediments an hours reading with the expence of two pence is all the time and the charge that needs be spent upon this Pamphlet It must not be expected I should launch out into those prolix Disputes that have almost at this day tir'd the Pens of Schoolmen I intend only to establish two or three most important Truths on which the Catholick Faith does more immediately depend What I may beside insist on shall only be in general so as to give the Reader an occasion of seeking elsewhere more particular Information and that with as much brevity as Y can or the nature of the thing will admit I shall take the liberty to suppose in as much as many Protestants own as much that there has been in all Ages since our Saviour Christ planted the Gospel a true Church on Earth or to express my self more in the Protestant Phrase that there has been in every Age since Christ a company of Men who have retained that Orthodox Faith deliver'd in the Gospel I dare not think there is a Protestant living will deny this because he would by so doing first maintain there was an Age since Christ where in all the Articles of the Creed were not true viz. that there was no Holy Catholick Church seconly he would make Christ a false Prophet who has declared he would never depart from his Church but that he would be with her even unto the end of the World and that the Gates of Hell should not prevail against her Matt. 16.18 I will in the second place make bold to suppose that his true Church or this company of Orthodox Men has been visible in all Ages If there be a Protestant in the World so weak as to imagine the true Church was not visible in all Ages I desire him to consider that so much is implyed in the very nature and essence of a Church as to Preach the Gospel and administer the Sacraments which even in his own notion are Visible Signs without which a Church can no more subsist than a Man without a Head or a House without a Foundatian And Secondly seeing Preaching the Gospel and Administring the Sacraments are Actiors Visible and Conspicuous the Church that does these things must by necessary consequence be Visible and Conspicuous likewise there is no Sophistry in this but what any one that pleases may reduce to a plain and easy Syllogism And indeed is there any thing in Nature more absurd and contradictory than to affirm the true Church was at all times and yet not at all times Visible What the Church daily does and what she must of necessity do to deserve that name are things as manifest and evident to humane sense as teaching a School or the Rule of a Commonwealth and will any man affirm that a School can be Taught or a State Governed in an invisible Manner Surely no neither then may any Protestant be so absurd as to believe the Church of Christ was at any time Invisible and not rather Visibly Apparent in her Rites and Sacraments as well as in her Assemblies on those occasions Taking it then for granted that there has been a true Church at all times since Christ and that this Church has been at all times visible it follows by an easie Consequence which every body can infer that what ever Church is not able to prove her Being since Christ and her being visible all that time cannot be the True Church But neither the Church of England nor that of Luther or Calvin nor any Protestant Reformed Church have been Visible in all Ages since Christ therefore neither the Church of England nor any other Protestant Church is the True Church I would fain see to this a plain and possitive answer given 't is what has not yet been given by any defender of the Protestant Cause nor I suppose will ever be to the end of the World. How ridiculous is it and how unbecoming any reasonable Creature what Protestants urge in this matter that their Principles were taught and believed in the Primitive Church till she fell into Idolatry and Superstition where she lay buried for above 1000 years till God rais'd up Luther and Calvin and the other Reformers to remove the Errors and raise up a new Glorious Orthodox Church I have often admir'd how such palpable Nonsence and such gross Contradictions came to
be proposed but much more how they ever came to be received in the World For what can be more ignorantly Blasphemous than to say God raised up Men to restore his Church who yet could by no means Agree among themselves in matters of Faith as hereafter will appear and whose Followers do at this day pursue each other with Excommunications and Anathema's If Calvin was the Messenger of God then was Luther a Sacrilegious Impostor if the Church of England be Orthodox then were Luther and Calvin both Impostors and if any other of the Reformers were in the right the Church of England is in the wrong Which then of the Dissenting Protestants Doctrin shall we say was the belief of the Primitive Church Were all these at once the Primitive Faith. or was some one Denomination of Protestants the primitive Believers and those of all other Denominations in the wrong It being impossible as I have proved that the True Faith should ever be Invisble at any time if therefore Protestancy had ever been professed it could never have been totally extinguish'd Though most certain it is that no footsteeps of any of the Reformers Principles were known for almost 1500 years in the Christian World except in some Heresies condemned in several Ages of the Church which do indeed much resemble the Innovations of our Modern Reformers as their Doctrine of the Sacrament in the Heresie of Berengarius of Invocation of Saints in the Heresie of Vigilantius of Prayer for the Dead in Aerius of Images in Xenias and the Iconaclasts of Confession in the Novatianus their practice of no mingled Chalice in the Heresie of the Armenians and of Priests Marriages in Jovinian as Luthers Marrying a Nun borrowed from Marcions corrupting a Virgin and to add no more their Famous Naggshead Consecration copied from Novatus that was made a Bishop in a Tavern and deposed by Cornelius And now for the Church of England she must ever stand or fall on her own Bottom having so notoriously condemned all other parts of the Reformation That the Lutherans are condemn'd by the Church of England every body knows and that the Calvinists are so too I will in one word plainly shew A Protestant Parson that comes from France from Holland or Geneva to be Beneficed in England cannot be admitted to Preach nor Administer the Sacraments after the Rites of the English Church till he has renounced that Mission he had before and taken new Orders according to the form of the Church of England which to all Men of sense implies that the Church of England does assuredly believe the Calvinist Teachers are false Imposters that they have no Mission no Authority no Ordination and by consequence no Sacraments being in their conceits purely Lay-men From hence I take the liberty to ask the Doctors of the English Church how they can in honour and conscience call them their Brethren as they do of the Reformation from whom they have seperated at so great a distance as to reject all their Ordinations at once as null and void and how they can suffer the French and Dutch Hugonots to have Churches and free exercise of their Religion here and some of them also the Church of Englands Liturgy at the same time as they believe them neither to have Priesthood nor Sacraments and by consequence no such thing as a Church at all Seeing then the Church of England look on themselves as the only Church of the Refonmation it follows that she must accordingly prove her self the true Church and shew how that Sum of Christian Doctrin which she now holds has been constantly held in all past Ages of the Church which I am sure all the English Doctors in the World will not make out nay I think they do not so much as pretend to For to end all Controversies let them shew but one Service-Book in all the 1500 years before Luther in any one vulgar Tongue which agreeth with their Service Book and for that one Book sake we will submit the cause no they say contrariwise that for about 1000 years Popish Superstition was the only Religion known in the World Which Superstition as they call it I shall now endeavour to prove to be that true Religion which has been from our Saviours time and which must Infallibly last to the end of the World. The Arguments by which I have briefly and I hope evidently shewn that the Protestant Church neither single nor aggregate can be the true Church do at the same time as evidently prove the Church of Rome to be so For as the Protestant Churches want of Antiquity their not having been from the beginning of Christianity nor Visible till within 200 years proves them not to be the Catholick Church so the Antiquity of the Church of Rome her having been from the beginning and continuing still Visible by propagating the Gospel and Administring the Sacraments in all Ages since Christ does as plainly evince her to be the only true Church the spouse of Christ and Pillar of Truth I demand has not this Church in all Ages had a visible Succession of Bishops a settled Government with a visible Head from St. Peter to this very day Has not this been the only Church that has duly planted the Faith and as duly suppressed Heresie and Schism Is not this the Church that has held all General Councils and has not the Bishop of Rome Presided in the four First seemingly allowed of by the Church of England Is not this the only Church that has sent Apostles and Missionaries out to plant the Gospel in all the Infidel corners of the Earth and from whence England first received the Christian Faith Is there any other Church that can pretend to have been assisted by God Almighty in the working of Miracles and in the Conversion of Nations What other Church can shew an Army of Martyrs and Confessors a number of Men that lead most Holy and Austere Lives forsaking the World to follow Christ What other Church in the World can pretend either to Unity or Universality to be every where the same and to have all her Children at perfect Agreement in matters of Faith and Doctrine for the disputes of Catholicks are about matters not defin'd and so controvertable but never about a Doctrine that has been once determined in a General Council These are the Marks and essential ones of the true Church but these agree to no other Church but that of Rome the Church of Rome is therefore the only Church Whatever the Grecian or the Abyssine Churches have to say in answer to this which does not much concern us sure I am the Church of England has nothing plausible to excuse her Schism and Rebellion against her Mother Church and under whose subjection she has been bred and maintained for many Ages in the World. Every one knows and no Church of England Man can deny that this National Church was in all Ages subject to and a part of the Western
Corrupted Daniel 7. Being indeed the Pillar and ground of Truth as the Apostle affirms 1 Tim. 3. If I say the Doctrine of Protestant Teachers about the Erring of the Church of Christ being so contrary to the Word of God as it is be true I demand of Prudent and Understanding Protestants how it can be defended that God is truly Good hath a fatherly care of Men doth truly love them and tender their Spiritual good and hath a true desire of their Eternal Salvation Seeing that whereas he doth freely permit the Devil to fill the World with false and wicked Religions with Abominable and Detestable Worships to bring Men assuredly to ever lasting Dammation He himself though he could most easily do it doth not continue maintain and uphold in the World in all Ages so much as one True Religion so much as one Holy and Divine Worship to bring them to Salvation No not after that his Blessed Son made Man by Infinite Humility by Innumerable Labours undergone for his sake by shedding his most precious Blood had endeavour'd to appease his Indignation to mitigate his Wrath and to gain and purchase Love and Mercy for them What Christian Breast can believe so monstrous a thing as this Or who can Harbour so base a Thought of the Wisdom Goodness Sweetness and Mercy of God Or how come Discreet and Understanding Protestants to swallow so gross an Absurdity as this If the Tenet of the Protestant Teachers touching the Erring of the Church be true how is that true which Christ says John. 3.16 That God so loved the World that he gave his only begotten Son that every one that believeth in him perish not but may have Life everlasting For God sent not his Son to judge that is to damn the World but that the World may be Sav'd by him Or that which St. Paul says 1 Tim. 2.4 God will have all men Sav'd and come to the knowledge of the Truth How I say are these Divine Assertions true if to bring Men to Salvation God doth not ever preserve a True Religion in the World Doth not ever uphold the Truth of his Gospel For by false Religions no man can be Saved in regard that the Devil and not God is the Author and Suggestor of False Religions by which he intends the Damnation of Men and not their Salvation as is manifest Yea he neither can nor will induce men to invent a Religion able and fit to save men in Mark this well and also Note that our Saviour in the Sentence alleadg'd by the word World doth not mean that only Age in which He and his Apostles liv'd nor those men only which then liv'd But all following Ages and all that were to live even till the day of Doom All which God would have to come to the knowledge of the Truth namely of his Divine Gospel and to save them all he sent his blessed Son into the World. And therefore we must of necessity grant that he provideth the People of all Ages of a True and Visible Church by which they may be Sav'd And that he ever preserves in all Ages the Truth of his Gospel of which the Apostle speaks in the Sentence alleadg'd that so men may come to the knowledge thereof For if the true Gospel of Christ be not extant in all Ages how hath God a true Will and Desire that the People of all Ages should come to the knowledge thereof Neither is it sufficient that it be extant in the BIBLE for all to come to the knowledge thereof For all cannot read the Bible neither can those which are skill'd in Reading thence pick out the true Gospel without the help of a True Interpreter But it must be ever extant in the Sums of Christian Doctrine left in the Church with the Ordinary Doctors and Pastors of the Church whom others are bound to Hear and Obey Luke 10. Heb. 13. And of whom they are to learn Divine Faith which is gotten by Hearing Rom. 10. which is clear out of Matth. 24. where Christ expresly foretells that his True Gospel viz. the same that he Taught should be Preached to all Nations even till the end of the World And therefore the True Gospel must not be reserved only in the Bible but be ever extant in the Preaching of the Church Out of that which hath been spoken in thsi Dicourse who doth not see that the Prime and Fundamental Article of the Protestant Religion doth not only extreamly Disgrace the Wisdom Goodness and Mercy of God and extenuate the Merits of Christ but doth also tend to the Denial of all Christianity to the utter neglect of God Yea and to plain Atheism it self For who will think that the Son of God really Dy'd for Mankind if he gain'd so little for them Or that there is a God that doth truly love Men and tender their good if he be so unmindful of them and of their Eternal Happiness and Salvation The tending then of the Protestant Religion so much to the Disgrace of Christ and of God doth clearly shew who was the first Founder of it Wherefore as certain as it is that there is a God who is Infinitely Wise Good and Merciful and who doth truly love Mankind and tender their Eternal Good And as certain as it is that Christ the Son of God Died for us took a most provident course for our Salvation and that his Merits are of inestimable worth So certain is it that God hath ever preserv'd in the World a True and visible Church in which Men may be Sav'd if they will. For Christ did rot Light up a Candle to put in under a Bushel Mat. 5. And so certain it is that the Protestant Religion which is Erected upon so bad a Foundation as the Erring of the Church is is neither good nor sufficient to Salvation Testimonies of the SCRIPTURE evidently convincing that there can be no hope of Salvation for such as are separated from the Church which is the Holy Catholick and Apostolick Church by Heresie or Schism I Beseech you St. Paul Rom. 16.17 18. Brethren observe those who make Schisms and Scandals contrary to the Doctrine which you have been taught and avoid them For such men serve not our Lord Jesus Christ but their own Belly and by kind Speeches and Benedictions seduce the hearts of the simple Now to manifest how much such Heretioks are to be Detested he writes thus to Titus Tit. 3.10 11. A man that is an Heretick after the first and second admonition avoid knowing that he is such an one is subverted and Sinneth being condemned by his own judgement To Prevent the making a Schism in this Body the Church he says 1 Cor. 1.10 I beseech you Brethren by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ that you all say one thing and that there be no Schisms among you but that you be perfect in one sense and in one knowledge Again Eph. 4.1 I beseech you that you walk worthy of
as each one judg'd by Scripture to be convenient they Covenanted against Bishops Lastly look upon our Realm as it is at present the symptoms of dissatisfactions which you may read and hear in Coffee-Houses in publick and private Conversations the sparkles of Jealousies which appear in the Kingdom the Cabals against our Government the animosity of divided Parties the murmur and complaints of all what 's all this but the smoke of that hidden fire of Zeal wherewith Protestants would force Presbyterians by Penal Laws to profess their Tenets which each Opinion endeavour to oppress the other do but duly consider each Sect and they will all appear Tyrants over our Conscience For no one Sect among us but would root out all the rest none fearing that danger whereof St. Paul Gal. 5.15 warns us If we bite and devour one another let 's take heed we be not consumed one of another Giving us likewise a wholsom advice in the same place how to prevent this Evil c. When this Kingdom profess'd the Popish Religion to prevent this Evil of variety of Opinions their Rule of Faith was Interpreted by the Church and was kept from the hands of the flock No man permitted to give any other Interpretation or Sense of it but what the Church did approve Then the Reformers Luther Calvin Zuinghus Beza and others who freed from this slavery laid it down for their Rule of Faith That any man of sound Judgement may believe whatever he takes to be the sense of Scripture these are the Principles from which the Reformation proceeded No man is to be constrain'd to believe any Doctrine against his Judgement and Conscience and therefore it is quite contrary to the Spirit of the Reformation to force us by Acts of Parliament Decrees of Synods Invectives and Persecutions of Indiscreet Brethren to drive us to this or that Religion No every one ought to be Permitted to believe what he pleases as for instance If he thinks Bigamy or Self-Murder to be the Doctrine of Scripture to have freely liberty to profess and practice the same In the first place let my Reader consider that the Pure and Orthodox Dostrine of the Reformation I purpose in this Treatise to describe in its native Colours It 's the Doctrine of the Reformation that we may with a safe Conscience be to day Protestants to morrow Lutherans in France Hugonots in Hungary Trinitarians in Poland Socinarians and in London of any Religion but Popery they allow to be Lawful to change Religion as Time and Occasion require this is the practice of the first Reformers This Truth requires not much to justify it be pleas'd only to consider how you came to Change the Antient Religion profess'd in the Kingdom for 1500 years together It 's uncontestedly true that the Rule of Faith in common to the whole Reformation is Scripture as the humble of Heart assisted with the Spirit of the Lord understand it for Lutherans will never admit their Rule of Faith to be Scripture as Interpreted by the Church of England but as Interpreted by themselves nor will England admit Scripture to be the Rule of Faith as it is Interpreted by the Presbyterians but as Interpreted by the Church of England So that the Doctrine of each Congregation is but Scripture as interpreted by them and whereas all these Congregation joyntly compose the whole Body of the Reformation and each Congregation is truly a Member of the Reformation the Doctrine of the Reformation comes to be Scripture as each Congregation and Person of sound Judgement among them Interprets it This being an uncontrouled truth what Man of ever so sound Judgement but may read to day Scripture as Interpreted by the Lutheran Church and judging in his Conscience that Interpretation and Doctrine to be true consequently he may with a safe Conscience profess that Religion Soon after he may meet Calvin's Books and charm'd with the admirable strength of his reasons and glosses upon Scripture he may judge in his Conscience he is to be preferr'd before Luther and so may lawfully forsake Lutheranism for Calvinism then again he hits upon Scripture as Interpreted by the Church of England whose Doctrine ravishes him with that decency of Ceremonies that Majesty of her Liturgy that Harmony of her Hierarchy he is convinc'd it's better than Calvinism and embraces it Then again he reads the Works of Arrius and convinc'd by the energy of his Arguments and Texts of Scripture may alter his judgement and become an Arian Wherein can you say does this Man transgress the Doctrine or Principles of the Reformation Does he forsake the Reformation because he forsakes Lutheranism for Calvinism No sure for Calvinism is as much the Reformation as the other Is not Protestancy as much the Doctrine of the Reformation as Presbytery though he changes therefore one for the other he still holds the Doctrine of the Reformation Is not the Doctrine of the Reformation Scripture and that not as Protestants only or Presbyterians interpret it but as any Congregation or Man of sound judgement holds it It is therefore evident that according to the Doctrine and Principles of the Reformation he may with a safe Conscience change Religions and be to day of one to morrow of another until he run over All. Point me out any Congregation the obstinate Papists excepted that will dare say I cannot live with a safe Conscience in any other Congregation but in it self all other Congregations will laugh at it Why then may not I lawfully forsake any Congregation and pass to another and be in England a Protestant in Germany a Lutheran in Hungary a Trinitarian or Socinian It is against the grain of Mans reason that we can with a safe Conscience change Religion If you be a Protestant and you judge it to be the true Religion you are bound to stick to it and never to change it If I discourse with a Papist I would not wonder he should say it 's against the grain of Mans reason to believe it lawful but I admire that a Child of the Reformation be he of what Congregation he will should be so ignorant of his principles as to say a Man cannot change Religions when he pleases Nor do I undertake to prove against the Papist that this is lawful but I undertake to prove it lawful against any Reformed Child or force him to deny the Principles of the Reformation Is it against reason that a Man may read to day Scripture and the Lutherans Interpretation upon it and like it very well and that he should in this case embrace that Religion Is it against the grain of Mans reason that this same Man should next Year afterwards hit upon Calvin's works upon Scripture and after better consideration think his Doctrine to surpass that of Luther and could not he then being obliged to chuse the best forsake Lutheranism and stick to Calvinism And is it against Mans reason that he after this may meet other Books of Arians
withal That without Faith in Jesus Christ no Man can be Saved This is not only the Belief of all that wear and deserve the Noble Title of a Christian but certain also out of the Word of God. Act. 4.12 There is not Salvation in any other for neither is there any other Name under Heaven given to Men to wit but the Name of Jesus wherein we must be saved Mark 16.16 But he that shall not believe namely the Gospel and Religion of Christ shall be condemned Heb. 11.6 Without Faith it is impossible to please God. Rom. 5.1 Being therefore justified by Faith let us have Peace toward God by our Lord Jesus Christ By whom also we have access through Faith to his Grace This Ground then is certain and cannot be denied by any Christian For my second Ground I lay That this Faith in Jesus Christ which by God's Ordination is of necessity required to Salvation is not a meer Natural Faith or Humane Credulity which Men may have by their own natural Forces without the help of God's special Grace such as is the Faith of Heathens of Jews and Turks and such indeed as is the Faith of all Hereticks But it is a Divine and Supernatural thing which Men acquire and attain to by the special Aid of God by the help of Divine Grace and therefore this Faith is called and truly is The Gift of God. This ground is certain first out of the Word of God which clearly teacheth That saving Faith is the gift of God Phil. 1.29 To you it is given for christ not only to believe in him but also to suffer for him Eph. 2.8 By Grace you are saved through Faith and that not of your selves for it is the gift of God Not of Works that no man may glory Joh. 6.44 No man can come unto me that is believe in me for our first step toward Christ is Faith unless the Father that sent me draw him And Verse 65. Therefore did I say to you that no Man can come to me unless it be given him of my Father Joh 15.5 I am the Vine you the Branches he that abideth in me and I in him the same bringeth much fruit for without me you can do nothing Namely appertaining to Salvation and therefore not believe as is requisite to Life Everlasting without the help of Christ that is of Divine Grace by Christ merited and purchased for us These places are clear Secondly This ground is strongly proved by Reason For the end of Man being to enjoy Supernatural Glory that is the clear Vision of God in his blessed Kingdom The means to obtain this high and divine End must be suitable to it that is Divine and Supernatural For who will say that Man of himself and by his own forces without the Aid and special Favour of God is able to make himself fit and proportionate to be associated to the Saints to the Angels to Christ to God in Eternal Glory Who will say that of himself he is able to cleanse his Soul from the stains and filth of Sin and to put upon her a Wedding Garment a Golden and Resplendent Vesture suitable to the Banquet and Banqueters of Heaven The special Operation then of Divine Grace must Purifie and Embellish the Soul of Man and Attire her in Holy and Divine Vertues that so she may be fit to be the Consort of God in the Fruition of his Eternal Glory And so Faith which is one of these Virtues and the very Ground and Foundation of the rest must be Divine and Supernatural and spring in Man from the help of God's Grace and be Adorned and Dignified by it that so there may be a fit proportion betwixt the Root and the Tree the Seed and the Fruit the Egg and the Brid a Christian Life and the Glory of Heaven Whosoever will deny this ground must not only forsake the Doctrine of the Holy Scriptures and go against the light of Reason but he must also fall into the Pelagian Heresie condemned by the Church of Christ Twelve Hundred years ago Which held That the Gospel of Christ being proposed by his Preachers men of themselves without any further help of Divine Grace are able to believe the same and do all therein required to Life Everlasting Which proud fancy of Pelagius St. Hierom St. Augustine and especially the Bishops of Rome by the invincible force of God's Word did crush confound and beat to the ground My third Ground is That as God cannot be the Author of a Lye of a false Doctrine of a false Faith of a false Religion That is of a Rligion and Doctrine of Faith that is mixed with falshood and is partly true and partly false So he neither doth neither can stir up and draw Men by his special Grace Aid and Operation to believe those Religions or Doctrines of Faith which are so mixed with Falshood This seems to be evident even by the light of Reason for as it is the proper work of the Devil to mix Religions and to pollute them with Falshood So it is his continual and studious endeavour to stir up and induce Men by proposing some pleasing and delectable thing or other to believe and embrace the same that so he may deprive them of Divine Faith which is the Gift of God and bring them assuredly to Everlasting Damnation Neither let any one be so simple as to imagine That the Devil is only the Author of those Religions which are wholly False For scarcely is there any Religion in the World that doth teach no Truth at all And therefore it is sufficient to prove a Religion to be the work of the Devil if there be any falshood in it at all at St. Paul doth seem to teach 1 Tim. 4.1 where foretelling the rising of the Manichean Heresie which long did pester the Chruch of God he calls the Doctrine thereof the Doctrine of Devils Notwithstanding that those Hereticks with some falshoods did teach many Truths even as all Hereticks do who nevertheless are the Instruments of the Devil to seduce and destroy Souls Wherefore whosoever do culpably Believe and follow Religions or Doctrines of Faith partly true partly false do never believe the same with Divine Faith which is the Gift of God though they esteem the Religion which they follow to be the best of all others yea to be the pure Light of the Gospel of Christ But their Faith is ever a meer Humane Credulity such as is the Faith of all Mis-believers which can never bring them to Eternal Happiness how laudably soever they live because without Divine Faith that is the Gift of God no Man can be saved according to the settled Ordination and Providence of God as I before have clearly shewed out of his Word Out of this Doctrine which is most true doth appear First The Reason of the Doctrine of of Christ deliverâ—d Matt. 7. where he declares That false Prophets that is false Expounders of the Word of God in