by joyning with the publick Worship whilst they attend and understand what the Church saith to God and what he saith to us are much improved in those great Principles of Religion which they learn'd in their Catechism and are made to grow in Grace and in the knowledg of the Lord. They have in these two what perpetually informs their Judgment and excites their Will to cleave to God and Goodness and after their best Endeavours to rely upon those infinite Mercies of God in Christ our Redeemer on which the greatest of Roman Champions confessed that it is most safe to repose our whole Trust and Confidence Answerable to those are the publick Exhortations of our Church by the Mouth of her Ministers and the Books of Religious Instruction wherewith she entertains her Children Their Time and Zeal and Attention are not taken up in Sprinklings Kissings of Reliques going in Pilgrimage visiting of Shrines paying devout Veneration to Saints and Images and reciting Beads and Rosaries and the Offices of St. Bridget or the like Neither these things nor any of this Nature which can neither instruct nor reform the World nor give Comfort to Christian Souls are recommended to our People They are clearly taught wherein true Religion and substantial Goodness consist and exhorted to lay on them the great Stress of their Hopes and of their Endeavours and devoutly to make use of those means of Grace which are of Divine Appointment and thereby to establish their Hearts in the Love of God and a chearful dependence upon the infinite Merits and Mercies of our dear Saviour Nothing of the whole Counsel of God is by our Church kept back from us our Belief is unquestionable being truly Primitive and Universal our Worship of God is according to his Will and his most blessed Nature and our Rule of Life and Conversation comprehends all Duties To fear God and honour the King and love one another and continue patient in well-doing Ours is indeed a Doctrine according to Godliness and of it it may be testified in the Words of St. Peter that it is the true Grace of God wherein we stand If we are not wanting to our selves we want nothing that can either shew us the Way to Happiness or help and forward us in it we ought to express our Charity to them that err and want many of those Blessings and Advantages which we have for the obtaining eternal Salvation we should earnestly pray for them and what we can promote their Instruction but by no means fear their Threatnings and Sentences of Damnation He that in earnest would go to Heaven and professeth Christianity not to obtain Favour with Men but to please God and to save his immortal Soul can be no where safer than in our Church Therein he professeth that Faith which all Christian Communions hold to be truly Divine and therein he may make his Calling and Election sure if he will but practise answerably to his Belief add to his Faith Vertue and not be unfruitful in the knowledg of our Lord Jesus Christ The more he understands his Religion the more he will love it and be convinc'd that he is in the right And the more carefully he lives according to his Profession with a Conscience void of Offence towards God and towards Men the more assurance will he have that he shall be happy All other Grounds of Hope besides Truth and Righteousness will prove vain But he that stands upon the Foundation of the Apostles and Prophets Jesus Christ himself being the chief Corner-Stone He that studies and minds his Duty and earnestly begs for the Divine Assistance that he may live to God and remain faithful unto Death he shall receive the Crown of Life though some presumptuous Men dare condemn him to Death Whatever Confidence or high Pretences some may have whatever Ways and Devices they invent for to gain Heaven Christ is the Way the Truth and the Life no Man cometh unto the Father but by him there is no other Name under Heaven given unto Men whereby they can be saved but only the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ He that calleth and believeth on him shall not be confounded Here let us fix and not regard what Men say nor what they can do But look unto Jesus the Author and Finisher of our Faith firmly relying on his Almighty Goodness who is able to save them to the uttermost that come to God by him being ever living to make Intercession for them FINIS BOOKS lately Printed for Richard Chiswell THE Pillar and Ground of Truth A Treatise shewing that the Roman Church falsly claims to be That Church and the Pillar of That Truth mentioned by S. Paul in his first Epistle to Timothy Chap. 3. Vers 15. 4o. The Peoples Right to read the Holy Scripture Asserted 4o. A Short Summary of the principal Controversies between the Church of England and the Church of Rome being a Vindication of several Protestant Doctrines in Answer to a Late Pamphlet Intituled Protestancy destitute of Scripture Proofs 4o. Two Discourses Of Purgatory and Prayers for the Dead An Answer to a Late Pamphlet Intituled The Judgment and Doctrine of the Clergy of the Church of England concerning one Special Branch of the King's Prerogative viz. In dispensing with the Penal Laws 4o. The Notes of the Church as laid down by Cardinal Bellarmin examined and confuted 4o. Preparation for Death Being a Letter sent to a young Gentlewoman in France in a dangerous Distemper of which she died The Difference between the Church of England and the Church of Rome in opposition to a late Book Intituled An Agreement between the Church of England and Church of Rome A PRIVATE PRAYER to be used in Difficult Times A True Account of a Conference held about Religion at London Sept. 29 1687 between A. Pulton Jesuit and Tho. Tennison D. D. as also of that which led to it and followed after it 4o. The Vindication of A. Cressener Schoolmaster in Long-Acre from the Aspersions of A. Pulton Jesuit Schoolmaster in the Savoy together with some Account of his Discourse with Mr. Meredith A Discourse shewing that Protestants are on the safer Side notwithstanding the uncharitable Judgment of their Adversaries and that Their Religion is the surest Way to Heaven 4o. Six Conferences concerning the Eucharist wherein is shewed that the Doctrine of Transubstantiation overthrows the Proofs of Christian Religion
Noise of Damnation dashing against them and therefore I will pursue things no further than to shew That neither the Judgment of our Adversaries nor any thing wherein both Churches disagree any ways endangers our future Happiness But that as to the securing the eternal Welfare of our immortal Souls ours is to be preferred before the Roman Communion A DISCOURSE shewing c. THE Concerns of Eternity being so tremendous and many not so well instructed as they should 't is no wonder if some Men are frighted with the fearful Sentence pronounced against them by the Zealots of the Roman Party To any Man serious or timorous Threats of Damnation are terrible even in the Mouth of a Mortal Creature Though it only betrays the Presumption of any sinful Man that dares sit on the Tribunal of his Almighty Judg yet because some are so tender and so weak in this Point as to be much disordered and dismayed to see themselves adjudged to Hell though it were but a Dream or a melancholy Fancy therefore it may be worth the while briefly to state the Case and consider on what Grounds they proceed that so freely pronounce our Doom And I doubt not but to make it appear that we want only their good Word or also their good Will when for Safety and a sure Foundation we are at least as well as they It may surprize and startle to see one stare and with great Confidence denounce that you are a dead Man that cannot live an Hour but having recovered your self and reflected upon 't you pass by without further Harm and smile at the Humour There is one Law-giver who is able to save and to destroy Who art thou that judgest another Our intire dependence is upon God as well for the state of Eternity as for the present We do not fall when we go hence under a new or an unknown Power neither are left to Mens Mercy but the same God by whom we were taken out of our Mother's Womb and to whom we were left when we hang'd yet upon her Breasts he that took care of us and provided for us here upon Earth is still to dispose of us in our future State And we shall be judged by him by whom we were made and redeemed This God whom we now serve and under whose Almighty Dominion we must ever remain is infinitely good He would have all Men to be saved and to come to the knowledg of the Truth Therefore he doth not seek Advantages against them nor lay Snares in their Way nor wrap up his Saving Light in Obscurity but deals with them in much Mercy making that Grace of his which bringeth Salvation appear unto all Men that they may know the Way to Life and clearly see what they must do to obtain Eternal Happiness This God shews Men by that Revelation he hath made of his blessed Will how they ought to walk and to please him Therein all things necessary are very plainly exprest that they may be understood of all And for a further Help and a greater Security to Men of all Capacities a Summary of Divine Truths such as are fundamental and needful was by times made and propagated together with the Christian Religion over all the World So that we have the Word of God and the Apostolick Creed both of them always attested by the whole Christian Church as two firm Pillars whereon to repose our selves That we might be strong and immoveable in the Faith assured that we are not imposed upon by our Guides and that length of Time hath made no Alteration but that we hold now the same things which were taught by Christ and received of his Church and that we make nothing necessary to Salvation which from the Beginning was not so First then The Word of God contained in the Holy Bible is by Consent of all that Saving Truth of God by which we must live and by which we shall be judged so that whatsoever is there written is to be embraced as certain and as coming from God Whether it relates to the Creation and the Government of the World or to the many Wonders which God wrought in former Ages to deliver his People and to confirm and attest his Revelation or to the Fall of Man and the Promise of a Saviour or to his Mission into the World and his accomplishing the great Work of our Redemption or to the Gospel-Promises and Doctrines and Mysteries or to Laws and Rules of Righteousness and Institutions of Divine Worship whatsoever it relates to it is to be embraced with an humble and obedient Faith Nothing is to be questioned that is contained in the Bible all humane Authorities and humane Reasonings must submit to it for the Bible is the Word of God Go into all the World and you shall find all Churches every where assert the same as well as we The Jews concur with us in the Divine Authority of the ancient Oracles before our blessed Lord's Coming But all Christians in every Part and in every Age of the Church embrace and reverence both the Old and New Testament as the Book of God wherein are contained the Declarations of his Will and the Words of eternal Life If you enquire what they thought of it in the first or second Ages after our Saviour or at any other time or if you go to the Eastern or African Churches or any the most remote Place where Christianity is profest you shall find all agreed in this that the Bible contains the Doctrine of eternal Salvation and is the Word of God This is not a thing wherein the Greeks differ from the Latins or Protestants from the Papists but is the firm Belief of all This is a most constant and invariable Tradition which for Extent of Time and Place is universal and therefore of the greatest Credit altogether unquestionable So here is a very great Number of Divine and undoubted Truths agreed upon by all the Christian World even all the plain and clear Propositions contained in Holy Scripture Although they be of things not seen that are past or to come yet being there revealed they are assented to by all And he that should deny any of them would be condemned by Christians of all Communions his refusing to acknowledg the Truth of any Contents of the Bible would be interpreted a Denial of God's Veracity because they are all perswaded that the Bible is the Word of God written by the Guidance and the Inspiration of his Holy Spirit He that rejects this Foundation on which all Christians are grounded ought never to concern himself in the Differences among them nor pretend to be of any Church for by his denying the Truth of that Revelation which they all own to be Divine and whereon they rely he makes himself an Infidel and a Party against them all And yet if we could see to the bottom of Things I doubt not but it would appear that the Disputes and Contentions which are among Christians
Christians believe a Judgment to come and a Retribution to Men according to their Works so we have all the same Promises of God and the same Rewards propounded to encourage us to do good we believe the same Threats and the same Punishments to deter us from Evil we all think our selves obliged to Morality and to be truly vertuous knowing that without Holiness no Man shall see God and I make no doubt but that in other Christian Communions as well as in ours there are many who truly fear God and work Righteousness The Difference betwixt us and the Roman Church is not whether or no we ought to be good but every one in either Church according to his Sincerity and his firm Perswasion of the Truth of Christianity endeavours to approve himself to the Searcher of Hearts so far we are agreed They have many things in their Roman Creed and in their Worship which we cannot approve but we have the same Rules of Life the same Divine Laws to direct our Obedience And I would to God we did all join in those things which admit of no Dispute and wherein we are all agreed and did lay the great Stress of our Hopes and of our Endeavours on them viz. the hearty Profession of the same Christian Creed the sincere Worship of the same God Father Son and Holy Ghost and a serious Earnestness to follow the Example and the Precepts of our common Saviour and to live in this present World soberly righteously and godly These that are the great things of God and the Foundations of Christian Religion and of true Goodness being owned on both sides if they were minded as our Interest in them and their Certainty do require would go near to compose our Differences in other things and to restrain that uncharitable Zeal which hath doom'd to Damnation Millions of good Christians However they that truly believe all the Articles of the Christian Faith and worship God according to his Will and our Saviour's Institutions and are careful to live like Christians worthy of the Gospel need not regard those Devices nor fear those Judgments which proceed only from Men they may be true and happy Saints both here and hereafter that have for Faith and the Service of God and for a Holy Life all that is of Divine Appointment without the Roman Additions Our rejecting what the Church of Rome hath for her Interest imposed where her Power doth reach will in no wise exclude us from Heaven if we be true to what we own If by our Life and Profession we confess Christ here before Men and are not ashamed of him nor of his Words we need not fear he should hereafter disown us because of their Anger that would have us take for Gospel whatever they dictate Damnation shall not be inflicted according to Mens Passions and Uncharitableness we ought to run from the Danger of it as far as is possible by preserving that Faith we were baptized into pure and undefiled and by living according to it But had the Promises of Mercy and Salvation been annexed to our Submission to Rome either the unversal Church would have clearly expressed it in making Men Members of Christ and Heirs of his Kingdom or to be sure God would have revealed it And seeing none of these is done it doth plainly demonstrate that such a Submission is designed for Temporal Power but no ways requisite to bring Men to Heaven and that consequently the hard Sentence of Roman Bigots against us may be prejudicial to them but can do us no Harm This might suffice to shew that we are safe notwithstanding their Outcries of Damnation against us that Part of their Religion which is called Popery being no Part of God's revealed Will and Saving Truth nor of the Primitive and Catholick Christianity embraced by the whole Christian Church In point of Faith or of Divine Worship what is peculiar to them is far enough from being necessary and for Rules of Conversation we have the same Precepts and believe the same Promises and the same Punishments So that though we reject many of their own Inventions yet still we want nothing necessary to Salvation and in order to it they have no Advantage over us But I may not stay here The Interest of Truth and human Souls obligeth me to say farther that we are safer in our Church and have several Advantages for the obtaining Comfort and eternal Happiness of which they are destitute in the Church of Rome First I say that we are safer What we believe as an Article of Faith is undoubtedly true owned by all Christians in all Ages of the World and plainly revealed in God's Word whereas those Traditions which the Church of Rome hath tack'd to the ancient Faith are newly coyn'd yet more newly made a Creed are not warranted by Divine Revelation nor embraced by Christians of other Communions And what a Presumption is it to change the Terms of Salvation and make those things necessary which God hath not prescribed and the Christian Church for many hundred Years hath not owned as a Part of her Saving Faith This is so like adding to the Book of God preaching another Gospel and teaching for Doctrines the Commandments of Men that we think our selves much safer within the ancient Boundaries and look upon it as a very dangerous Attempt to make new Creeds and impose them upon Mens Consciences especially when those Additions are not only beyond what is written but also of another Nature and even contrary The Christian Creed is for Life everlasting the Roman for the Roman Greatness the Christian expresseth our Obligations to God and our dependence upon him the Roman is a Profession of Subjection to Rome the Christian engageth Men to serve God only the Roman to worship Creatures also the Christian makes our Blessed Redeemer to be our only Mediator the Roman joyns to him the blessed Saints and the Blessed Virgin There are so many things in all Appearance very irreconcileable betwixt these two Confessions of Faith that the Roman cannot be safe and that we may conclude without Uncharitableness that they of that Persuasion that shall attain to Heaven shall not come thither by the Help of the Roman Doctrines but by discharging their Baptismal Engagements which are the same with ours and by professing the ancient common Creed of all Christians The Points of their own Creed are so far from conducing to Mens Salvation that they rather will prove great Hindrances to it They engage Men in a Worship very unlike to what we read in the Apostolical Writings or the antient Fathers Besides the unknown Tongue and the maim'd Communion there is so much of it that is meerly humane and ceremonious so much of it that relates to the Souls in Purgatory or the Saints in Heaven that we wish it may meet with Pardon but cannot think it should find Acceptance There are so many strange Exorcisms and Consecrations in their Rituals and Pontifical that after