A SERMON PREACHED At the Opening of the LECTURE AT MALDON in ESSEX Lately Established By the Lord Bishop of London In Vindication Of the Antiquity of the Doctrine of the CHURCH of ENGLAND By William Bramston Late Fellow of Queens-College in Cambridge and Rector of Woodhamwater in Essex Published at the Request of the Auditory LONDON Printed for R. Clavell at the Peacock in St. Paul's Church-Yard MDCXCVII A SERMON PREACHED At the opening the Wednesday Lecture in All-Saints Church in Maldon Acts Chap. 24. Verse 14. But this I confess unto thee that after the way which they call Heresie so worship I the God of my Fathers IN the way to my Text I judge it a reasonable tribute of our gratitude to our Diocesan to observe how those blessed Effects and Influences of his paternal care and watchfulness which are conspicuous in all places of his Jurisdiction are in the most sensible manner made apparent to you the Inhabitants of this remote and almost forgotten corner of the Kingdom and that in the occasion of our present meeting wherein you have restored to you a most laudable Privilege which you have long wanted your Weekly Lecture In which you must needs acknowledge your engagements to your Bishop who hath made himself a debtor to many Brethren for your sakes Nor is the Benefaction its self more worthy of your Gratitude than the piety of his Lordships intention in this Lecture may be commanding of your Thankfulness Our Bishops Hopes and Counsels and Prayers are not only that you may have the gracious Arguments of Virtue Patience Righteousness and Holyness without which No Man shall see the Lord unfolded and recommended to your Practice in the most perswasive Applications but also that you may continue in all soundness of Doctrine and become armed against the arts and surprises of false Teachers who do either obtrude their own Traditions for the Commandments of God or attempt to withdraw the Affections of Men from our most excellent Church by false and unwarrantable misinterpretations of her Doctrines I say our most Excellent Church which is loaded by Rome with the imputations of Heresie because the endeavours to shrowd her Members from the taint of Rome's Defilements And has been reviled by another sort of mistaken Christians as being her self Popish because she labours to preserve the Holy Services of God clean from the unhallow'd violence of Man's Profaneness Now there cannot be a greater Service done to the Church of Christ than when his precious Depositum is kept unviolated or to the Edification of his Faithful than when the Instructions tendered to them proceed purely from Truth and Soberness This being our Bishops now Charitable intention in this Lecture which I am to open I have made choice of this passage of St. Paul who here answers the impeachment of the Jews who had censured his Labours in Christ his professing and propagating the Christian Religion just as our Adversaries of the Church of Rome do all our holy Ministrations and Services in the support of the Faith and truth of the Blessed Jesus as a work of Heresie with this Confession But this I confess unto thee that after the way that they call Heresie so worship I the God of my Fathers That which I shall endeavour at present shall be the vindication of the Doctrines and Measures of our Church as to some Matters of her Faith and Practice which are quarrelled at by our Roman Adversaries which in the most insolent Pomp and disdain are exploded by them as Spots and Deformities in our Reformation First then That wherewith they think they shake us most is this that we are of a new Religion a novel and up-start Church not able to make out a continuance for two of sixteen Centuries This I take to be the most gainful plea of the Crafts-men of their Diana that by which she most fatally allures many into the Labyrinth of her Delusions Certainly as to her Doctrines the Monstrosities of Transubstantiation Purgatory of the Sacrifice of the Mass and Prayers in a strange Language these can have no appearances so beautiful and tempting as to prove Charming in themselves and captivate our Souls enlighten'd by the wisdom of the Gospel But when they are told they embrace a new Religion a Religion not heard of in the Christian World till these last two Hundred Years this may possibly startle ignorant Men and justly requires our Consideration In answering therefore this Objection I doubt not to expose the vanity and disappoint the impressions of such light pretences and manifest them to be no other but Noise and Cant. First Then if by a new Church they mean a Church introducing a new Scheme of Faith and Belief methinks that main part of old essential Verities wherein they and we agree together with our explicit belief of all the known Doctrines of the Scriptures and our implicit belief of all things therein contained may in great measure declare the Antiquity of ours especially since we retain all that Faith and religiously adhere to all those Creeds which the third General Council held at Ephesus adjudged to be so material and comprehensive as positively to forbid the imposition or addition of any other if that was the Old Faith which was professed by the Primitive Fathers of that Council how can ours now be denominated a new one who have neither diminished nor added to the Articles of their Belief The Creeds confirmed and authorized in that Council were that of the Apostles and that of Nice and therefore methinks the Faith founded on them may with some face pretend to Antiquity Again if by a new Church they mean a National Church of but late Strength and Establishment we deny not the present Church of England to be a new Church in such a sense but then we answer withal that such a new Church may be said without a Paradox to contain as Old a Religion as the ancientest foundation of Christ though not for the Age of its Establishment yet for the Antiquity of its Truths and Doctrines which only properly speaking can Entitle any National Church a part of the ancient Church of Christ And this is the highest mark of Antiquity our Church pretends to assume that she now professes that very Faith which our Saviour taught which his Holy Apostles profess'd and propagated in the first Ages of Christianity And let Men pretend what they will the only Demonstration and Test of any particular Churches Antiquity as it is a true or a corrupted part of the Catholick Church of Christ must be the Antiquity of her Doctrines and Principles by reason as no Christian Church can be ancienter than Christ the Author and Finisher of our Faith So again no particular Church professing his ancient Faith and Truths can be said to introduce or embrace a Religion younger than that of Christ because it then professes that very truth of Christ which has been professed by his Faithful in all Ages So that
which belong to God Nay which is apparently to profess Doctrines which 't is impossible they shou'd render a Reason of for without knowledge there can be no Reason given and no Man will pretend to know that explicitly of which he professes purely an implicit Belief nay perhaps which he understands not that he does believe till the Church upon an occasion rubs up his Faith and Memory and tells him he must and he does believe it I am sure this is such a kind of Faith which Christ himself detested to impose for we may observe that he never recommended any thing to the belief of the Jews but what he still confirmed with such Tokens as might convince the meanest Spectators of its Truth nay we find he taught his Disciples many essential Doctrines before his Death which they believed not but did not Anathematize their incredulity till they became able to bear them till they had beheld that most convincing Demonstration then remaining even the irresistible sign of his Resurrection Nay that nothing of certainty might be wanting to the satisfying the Reason of Man even after that glorious Demonstration he humbly condescended to let mistrustful Thomas thrust his Fingers into the very holes of the Nails and behold the Prints in his Side Is here any thing like the imposition of an implicit Faith or such a groundless Belief as obliges us not only to abandon our Reason with all the strongest Convictions of our Senses but also to renounce the helps even of the inspired Writings of that blessed Comforter which was sent on purpose to lead us into all Truth Since Christ himself was pleased thus meekly to condescend in the giving satisfaction to our Infirmities what kind of relation can that Church bear to him which disdains a submission to an Examination either by Reason or the blessed Rule of God's own Word I am sure it must be a shrewd sign that that Church which makes this refusal is reconcileable neither to Reason nor Scripture for were she agreeable to either why shou'd she so imperiously decline a tryal by the two most Godlike Principles we are enriched with which certainly Scripture and Reason may be acknowledged to be neither can it be any great disgrace to the purest Church to be made appear conformable to them I confess I can't but admire the subtilty of the Church of Rome in usurping thus an Authority above all Examination since her Definitions of Faith are such as far transcend the Explications either of Scripture or Reason the clearest measures which God has left us to examine by Is it not much the wisest way to put off such Commodities by the Gross which we are satisfied won't bear a particular inspection Is there not much greater security to such a Cause in an implicit Faith which swallows down all at a lump than such an explicit one as may be curious and inquisitive and desire the satisfaction of Sense and Reason I see no false step here on their Churches side in point of Carnal Prudence and Worldly Policy but methinks that must be an unintelligible Devotion indeed which does thus contentedly ensnare his Soul for a Pig in a Poke for what he is neither to scruple nor yet to understand And thus you see upon what contradictory and irreconcileable positions the Church of England and the Church of Rome are founded at present that they are as far from one another as Scripture and no Scripture Reason and no Reason Antiquity and Innovations Truth and Falshoods and as the Churches stand at variance so have the faithful Members of our Church upon all occasions and opportunities appear'd in defiance of Rome's Corruptions it is not many years since most of us beheld and all of us heard with what steadiness and Devotion with what Resignation to the will of God and disdain to the pollutions of Men the Members of our Church like so many Illustrious Confessors withstood the attempts and sollicitations the threatnings and invitations of the Whorish Woman Withstood them I say even then when many of the Members of our separate Congregations who had before shew'd themselves most uneasie in their fears of Popery gave life and boldness to her growing hopes by their unseasonable Addresses and Compliances I speak not this with a desire to make advantages of the weakness or by way of insult over the inconstancy of our fellow Christians now in Charity I perswade my self they were rather outreach'd by the policies than debauch'd by the principles of Rome and there is nothing we ought all more heartily to pray for or more religiously endeavour than a mutual forgetfulness of all infirmities but I speak it with hopes that as such Protestants must acknowledge their error in siding with Popery then so they will blush when they upbraid our Church as a Daughter of Babylon now if Men wou'd but credit their own eyes or give place to the arguments presented to their own understandings we need not appeal to other than our adversaries themselves whether they can still believe our divine service to be what some people do ignorantly miscall it Popery in English who remember the toleration and liberty given to every Soul to run as far out of our Church and the sound of its divine service as they pleased managed by the artifice set on foot and carry'd on by the influence of the Papists if the way to Rome lies through a Communion with our Church as such Men dream how come the Romanists who are no strangers to their own interests to seduce Men out of our Communion as the readiest road to Popery had they seen with some Mens eyes amongst us and found any thing in our Communion which looks kind and serviceable to the cause of their own superstitions 't is not to be believed they wou'd so publickly have tempted all Men out of our Communion with the alluring promises of the royal favour I take that liberty and toleration then given by the Papistry to be so manifest an argument and declaration of that opposition which our Church in every particular of its constitution bears to Popery which as every eye might discern it so every well-meaning Man ought to be convinced by it and retract his censures The Papists knew well enough there wou'd be no enlarging their own without first thining our Churches that the Mass Book cou'd make no advances whilst the Common-Prayer stood in reputation that the only probability they cou'd have of making any Proselytes must be to get Men as far out of the bosom of our Church as possible Methinks the pretences of some in separation from us who reproach our service for Popish and the practices of the Papists who were for drawing all Men out of our Communion as a bar to Popery are very hard to be reconciled The Conclusion from such considerations must be this Either the Papists understand not what makes up the Popish Religion or the divine service of our Church which they appeared so
though the Church of England may be later than the Church of Rome in such respects as these either because our Conversion to the Faith might possibly have been after theirs or again because our particular establishment as it now stands was enacted many Ages since the first settlement of a Christian Church at Rome Yet our Religion now may be ancienter still than their's at present if they are now changged and degenerated as 't is demonstrable they are from that Christian Purity which anciently denominated them an uncorrupted part of the Catholick Church and we now faithfully adhere with all Uprightness and Integrity which we are ready to make appear we do to that Faith of Christ which was once delivered to the Saints and as by many other Churches so anciently maintain'd by the Church at Rome For as their new corruptions and additional definitions of Faith must fall short of those Ages wherein Christianity flourished with all Truth and Purity and those can be no other than the Days of Christ and his Apostles so the old truths retained and prosessed by us must have been then most triumphant and prevailing And therefore that which has puzzled so many weak and unlearned People of our Communion to wit the question about the Age of our Religion and our Church may easily be resolved if they distinguish the Antiquity of Seat and Place which is nothing to the business from the Antiquity of Truths and Doctrines and this distinction must be allowed good even by our Adversaries themselves if they consider that the dispute now is not about the Antiquity of particular Sees and national Constitutions but the Antiquity of Faith and Religion its self which I hope may be the same in a Church of Yesterday's Conversion as it was in Antioch which had the honour to give the first Name to Christians Did the Church of Rome at any time esteem her own Antiquity lessened upon such a Consideration as this that St. Peter erected his Apostolical Seat first at Antioch before ever he had arrived at Rome Or will she acknowledge a deference due to that Church in point of Faith and Purity because she had the happiness to be Christened before her I doubt the Mother and Mistress of all Churches as she delights to stile her self could never stoop to such a Condescension If my Faith be found and perfect now can it be believed the more new and up-start because not professed by my Fore-fathers who knew not the Truths Or does my late Conversion if good and upright diminish or derogate from the Antiquity of Truth its self The Antiquity of all other things is calculated from their Original and beginning in the World and why the same rule won't do in Faith and Religion I understand not Indeed if any particular Church cou'd make out a continu'd Succession in all circumstances of Doctrine and Discipline from the times of the Apostles unto this very day this wou'd no doubt be an incomparable Argument both of her Antiquity and of God's especial Goodness and Providence over her But the present Roman Church can no more make out such a Succession than the present Church of England and if she could still such a Succession is not to be esteem'd the only mark of Truth and Antiquity And this I think cannot be more clearly illustrated than from Matter of Fact to which we may appeal in this case for instance there can be no Question but the ancient Faith of Christ is now professed by the true Faithful of Christ and shall continue to be so professed till the Day of Judgment and yet there is now no particular Church of the Faithful that can make out such a Succession nor any one Church endowed with an assurance of continuing indefectibly in that very State in which she is now till the Day of Judgment I know the Church of Rome wou'd fain have us believe her inspired with these infallible Accomplishments but she must produce a better Scheme of her Perfections than what we meet in her Trent Definitions or she will never perswade us that she is any more like the Church Establish'd at Rome by St Peter than St. Peter himself was like the most changed and backsliding Apostle For as to her Magnificent Stile in writing her felt the Church Apostolick this must appear rather a Character of Ornament and Shew than any certain signification of her necessary continuance in Truth and Purity For were not the Apostolick Sees as liable to relapse and degenerate as any founded by their Successors Where is the glory of Antioch Ephesus and Alexandria which the Apostles themselves planted and watered with the Dew of Heaven which those Heavenly Shepherds nourish'd with the blessed Food of Evangelical Righteousness And notwithstanding all the applauses with which the present Romanists exalt themselves I doubt not but were St. Peter to arise this moment from the Dead and visit the Conclave or inspect the Councils of Rome but he wou'd be very much put to it where to find Faith on Earth I say therefore her being founded by an Apostle if we grant thus much can no more Entitle her indefectible in the Faith than it has the Churches of Antioch Ephesus and Alexandria which have either altogether failed and forsaken the Name of Christ or are at least according to their own Roman Tenents quite cut off for Schism or Heresie from the Communion of what they call the true Church let her shew when and where God has anointed her with this Oyl of Perfection above her Fellows But now then if an Apostolick Church may thus recoil and become impure nay since Christianity shall not fail why must not some Churches be most pure which yet are not Apostolical I mean taught and instructed by the lively voice of the Apostles If this be bad arguing what may we think of all the Churches Converted and founded many Ages since the days of the Apostles Or if this be a good Inference what Objection can it be against any particular Church which is sound and upright in all her Doctrines that she has not continued for ever that she is yet but of a very late Birth and Duration If her Doctrines are as Old as the Scriptures can the Religion of such a Church fall short of the Age of the Gospel If her holy Principles flourished in the ancientest Creeds and Councils can she reasonably be Reproach'd for an Innovation of Two Hundred Years ago This is the very case of the Church of England and for the truth of it we appeal to the Scriptures to the ancientest Creeds and Councils Indeed the Church of Rome makes a great noise and show with the flourish of her Succession but if she means a Succession in purity of Doctrines we may easily convince her of Vanity and Tattle if she means a Succession in the outward circumstances and appearances of a Church such as consists in true Pastors Bishops and the like I answer that there may be such