Ship which carry'd the Mother of the Gods which many Mariners hawling all together could not stir Plutarch also in Coriolanus relates that the Image of Fortune spoke and often as the same Author relates in the same Life the Images and Statues were seen to Sweat Bleed and Weep St. Austin likewise tells us of many such Portents that happen'd among the Gentiles lib. 10 de civitate Dei. Tacitus also Hist lib. 4. relates of Vespasian that by his single Touch he restor'd Sight to the Blind and Strength to the Lame Bellarmin cap. 14. de Not. Eccles That both their Diseases proceeded from the Devil who having seiz'd the Eye of the one and the Leg of the other hindred the Use of their Limbs to the end he might seem to heal when he ceas'd to hurt I do not see why the Protestants may not use the same Exception against so many Miracles which the Romanists seign by the Touch either of their Images or their Reliques But I shall here furl my swelling Sails Mr. Prior being ready to explain and enlarge my self whensoever you shall be pleas'd to re-assume and examin this Matter II. Miracles do not of necessity follow Truth For tho' they were necessary in the time of Infant Christianity yet the true Religion being now establish'd and setled over all the World if not manifestly profitable they cease however to be absolutely necessary So that St. Austin lib. 2. de civitate Dei with very great reason said Whoever still enquires after Prodigies to confirm his Belief is himself a great Prodigy I forbear any more let it suffice me only to produce the Fathers of the Second Nicene Council act 4. Why do our Images at this day work no Miracles I answer with the Apostle Miracles are not for Believers but for the Vnbelievers Now then if the Protestants embrace the Doctrin of Christ and his Apostles the Miracles of Christ and his Apostles are sufficient for them Which would be necessary again were they to follow some new and never heard of Gospel before Nor does the difference whatever it is between the Reform'd Churches and the Lutherans whatever it be either in Ceremonies or some Points of Doctrin savour a jot more your precipitate Judgment concerning the Eternal Damnation of the Protestants For you Romanists your selves acknowledge that the Greek and Eastern Christians would be in the way of Salvation would they but submit to the Empire of the Pope tho' they retain'd their Ceremonies and Opinions differing in many Circumstances from the Rites and Doctrin of the Roman Church It is apparent from the Epistle of St. Austin to Januarius that all the Churches did not make use of the same Rites and Ceremonies In the Apostolic Churches also soon after the first dawn of Christianity Disputes and Contentions arose to pass by those that fell out between Cyril and Theodoret Chrysostom and Epiphanius St. Jerom and St. Austin nay between those very Men themselves that reproach the Lutherans and the Reformed with their differences which I would to God they were clos'd up There is the greatest difference among these Upbraiders not only as to Ceremonials as is apparent from so many Orders of Monks varying among themselves in Habit Rules and Public Worship but also as to Opinions as is evident from those most terrible Controversies about which your Theologists most sharply contend and quarrel one with another of the Authority of the Pope above a Council of a Council above the Pope of the Infallibility of the Bishop of Rome of his Power over Kings and Secular Princes the Conception of the Blessed Virgin of the sort of Adoration due to the Cross and Images of Predestination Grace Free-will and the like So that the Doctors of your Communion split themselves into various Sects according to which some are Thomists others Scotists others Real others Nominal others love to be call'd Jansenists and others Molinists Nay there is not any Article of the Christian Faith about which you have not rais'd Contentions and Disputes if not more sharp and eager yet of no less moment then all those which are stirring between the Reformed and the Lutherans And that diversity which you object against us is far inferior to your Dissentions nor is it concerned in the Fundamentals of Christianity in which the Reformed of both Parties are plainly agreed So that it is a kind of Miracle that there should be so little variance between so many Reformed Churches dispers'd all over Europe compos'd of various People and under several Princes tho' among them there is no Church which commands over others nor any intervening Political Tye to constrain them to such an Agreement in Matters of Faith. In the mean time there is no Schism between ours and the Lutheran Churches seeing that we neither separated from Them nor they from Us. In Poland the Brethren of the Helvetian Bohemian and Augustan Confession setting a laudable Example communicated before together by virtue of the Decree of Sendomir And in the Year 1631 in the National Synod of France a Decree was made for admitting the Lutherans as Brethren in Christ and Members of the same Mystical Body to our Communion of the Lord's Supper and for allowing them Brotherly Toleration in those Points wherein they differ from us And tho' they in their Anger pretend that we Err in Fundamentals which through the Mercy of God they will never be able to prove yet we judge more tenderly and better of them so disproving the Opinions which they obstinately defend that we deny them to be in themselves deadly or pernicious to Salvation or that they are such as ought not to hinder Christian Peace between us and them or prevent an Ecclesiastical Communion which might be obtain'd between Churches not agreeing in all things if the Foundation were sound Now we believe that to be a Fundamental Error wherein there is according to the ancient Phrase of the Synagogue a Denial of the Foundation which cannot comply with true Faith and Holiness For neither all Truths even those that are reveal'd are of the same necessity Neither are all Wounds which are given to Truth Mortal nor is every Disease an Epelipsie or the Falling-sickness St. Paul distinguishes between the Foundation and the Superstructure 1 Cor. 3. 11 12 13 14 15. He that meddles with Fundamentals is lyable to an Anathema Gal. 1. 8. In others there is room left for Exhortation Rom. 14. 1. Phil. 3. 15 16. Here the Gnat is not scrupulously to be strain'd at as there the Camel is not to be rashly swallowed We break Friendship with those that are openly Wicked but we bear with the blemishes and infirmities of Friends Nor is that presently to be thought of the necessity of Faith which yet may have a near Relation to it And therefore you canot blame us for offering our Communion to the Lutherans and rejecting the Papal For that between us and them there is not only a Harmony in the Foundation
and Friend YOur Reverend Mr. Prior in the late absence of your Lordship sent me a sharp Letter full of thundrings of Eternal Damnation against me and all those who forsaking your Church embrace ours Truly I trembl'd at so rash a Judgment of a prudent Man. But in regard it is lawful at all times and in all places to repel Force by Force to resist an unjust Aggressor and to Answer modestly to one that proposes a hard Question Nay since it is our Duty to convince Gainsayers Tit. 1. 9. I could not think it a piece of Injustice to oppose the foresaid Mr. Prior with the Treatise annex'd that he may be certainly assur'd that he has judg'd of our Differences as a Blind Man doth of Colours or as the Shoemaker did of the Picture drawn by Apelles All that I beg of your Reverend Worship is this That you will be pleas'd so to order the Matter that this necessary Answer may be deliver'd to his hands by which he may understand that it is the part of a Fool to Triumph before the Victory and of one that is far from a Christian to Judge so prepost'rously of the Salvation of his Neighbor I had Answer'd sooner had I not bin hinder'd by my public Duties and Transcribing a Copy of this Original Writing which I intend shall shortly wear a German Cloak to the end that all People may understand it Farewel and continue your Favour to The most faithful Observer of your Lordship in all good Offices J. H. Dalhusius In the mean time the Lord Abbot having Intelligence of my Design that he might remove the impending Burd'n from his Prior the strength of whose Shoulders he did not well understand was at first unwilling to receive this Answer of mine till tyr'd with the Importunity of the Messenger he took it and retir'd into the next Room Where he did not keep it long but by his Servant sent it me back the same day with these words upon the outside Paper BY reason of Strangers that are with me and other necessary Occasions I have not leisure to Answer the Enclosed as it ought to be be pleased therefore to receive back again what you have thought good to write but what is not convenient for us to read So may the Reverend Inspector live to the years of Nestor Your Brother Charles Abbot of Rommersdorff But the Lord Abbot was not so fearful to keep the Answer as an Abbot of the same Order of the neighbouring Abbey of Seinen Gulichius was daring to accept it with a cheerful Mind and willing Hand after I had address'd him in the following short Oration writing after this manner Most Reverend most Famous and most Learned Lord Abbot my most esteemed Favourer and Friend TOward the beginning of the Year I found my self involv'd in new Contentions of which the Author and Beginning is the Worshipful Prior in Rommersdorff whose Name is John Casper Baldem who in Answer to a Writing which ought to have bin instead of a pleasing New-Years-Gift gave me to understand That my self more especially and all those whom you unjustly call Vncatholic are unavoidably subjected to Eternal Damnation It was but just therefore that I should Answer him according to the Matter which such a rash Judgment requir'd Presently I did that which is just and this day took care that the Original Writing at my urgent Request might be deliver'd to the Prior himself by the Lord Prelate Charles Wirtzius in hopes the Lord Abbot as my singular Friend would have bin so favourable and sincere as to have deliver'd him the Original Copy which I sent But Right Reverend Abbot seeing the Consideration of your most Exquisite Learning and the Justice of your Friendship contracted four years since may seem to demand so much that I should inform you at least by a Copy of your business in some measure importing the Honour of your Order and that you should not remain Ignorant according to the Greek Proverb in Homer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 what Good or Ill is done within our Houses I thought it necessary to impart to you the Nature of our Quarrel In the mean time by the love of Jesus Christ I conjure you that laying aside inveterate Prejudices you would peruse this present Treatise and afterwards with an Answer first to be communicated to the Brothers in Rommersdorff to oblige the longing Expectations of him who am was and will be to the end of my Life Heddesdorff Jan. 14. 1681. The sincere Observer of Your Worship in all good Offices Here we stopt most Worthy Reader proceeding no farther for the Reverend Abbot of Seinen Gulichius has hitherto left me nothing but the desire of a future Answer But to the end the Church of the Protestants so often nay daily after the manner of Baldem in the Desks and Pulpits of the Monks abandon'd to the Infernal Devils may be furnish'd with farther Arms against such a Customary Damnation and that the Innocence and Eternal Salvation of it may be more and more asserted and established with Triumphant Arguments and Reasons we thought it worth our while to publish this Orthodox Answer wrested and extorted from us by the Force of a Fire-breathing Quill and drawn out of the dark shades of my Study I will not here meddle with any Man besides the Prior my Antagonist who because he has spoken what he pleas'd shall hear perhaps what he will not like so well I shall only speak of Errors I shall spare Persons and which is the chiefest thing of all I shall examin and correct all things by the Rule of Christian Charity and Invincible Truth In the mean time Reader make use of this necessary Answer to the Advancement of God's Glory the Establishment of thy own Faih and the Encrease of the true Catholic Church May it please the God of Peace to heal these Divisions that so Christians being recal'd to Truth and Charity may once more constitute one Sheepfold under one Shepherd Christ Not Antichrist Amen To the Right Reverend the BISHOPS The Reverend and Learned PASTORS And To All and Singular the MEMBERS Of the Reformed English Church The AUTHOR wishes The Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ The Love of God the Father And the Fellowship of the Holy Ghost Most Honoured Lords and Dearly Beloved Brethren in Christ IN like manner as the Jews of old when they past their little Children through the Fire in Honour of Moloch that they might not be mov'd with their pitiful Outcries and Lamentations endeavour'd to deafen and silence those doleful and ruthful Moans and Shrieks of the distressed Infants with variety of Sounds and Noises loud and shrill such are the labours of the Followers of the Church of Rome to leave no Stone unturn'd to stop the Mouths of the Detectors of their False Doctrins And in regard they are not able to compass their Ends by the way of Truth they not only rage with Fire and Sword against the Orthodox but persecute
Jesus Christ God blessed for ever Amen Reverend and most Learned Mr. Prior THere has been an idle report spread up and down that the Reverend Abbot of the Monastry of Seinen propos'd to me several things concerning the Catholic Religion if not in Writing yet by Word of Mouth which I either am or was not able to resolve From which trifle of a Report those of your Party have thought to gain a Petty Lawrel Wreath and those of our side have been in a deep Suspence not knowing what was done or what was to be done for that Fame is as well an obstinate Retainer of what is feign'd and bad as a Divulger of Truth I am not willing to believe that the Prelate aforesaid is the Father of this Abortive Birth in regard that since a Non-Entity can have no Accidents He could never in the Truth of the Matter divulge that he propounded any thing to me to be resolv'd when assuredly I remember it no more then I do an Act that never was done This indeed is true that about three years since returning from the Visitation of the Church of Grentzhausen and going into the Monastery in my road at what time my Fellow-Brethren Mr. William Simonis and Mr. Arnold Schnabel the one Pastor of the Church of Alsbach the other of Ruchroeten both most vigilant and learned Persons were with me he read to us many and various Manuscripts taken out of our Doctors and Arguments against those Authors and highly vaunted them to be invincible but we Three so well at that time defended the Truth that your Party had no reason to boast of Advantage But now that the Reverend Prior not only extends his Prayers for my Health but also heartily wishes and desires That after I had adjur'd and forsaken my Religion I should consult the good of my Soul by returning to Peter 's Nett which is the Roman and only Soul-saving Church lest after I had finished this life I should not only be deprived of Eternal Felicity but with the rest of my Doctors burn in the Everlasting Fire of Hell truly as upon the sight of the first I return him many Thanks so in respect of the latter I cannot forbear but that out of Duty and Conscience and for the love of Truth I must Answer as follows that I may not be again reproach'd to have thrown away my Buckler when the Duel was offered me which was infamous among the Romans or to have sought for Safety by ignominious Flight And I sincerely and constantly adjure you Reverend Prior together with your Companions that with impartial Minds and laying aside all fore-conceived Opinions you would vouchsafe to read and weigh what shall be here written Therefore that I may hasten to the thing it self the whole Hinge of your Epistle turns upon this to persuade me that the Romanists give me leave to call you so throughout this Writing are only worthy and fit to obtain Salvation On the other side that all the Protestants are damn'd nay irrevocably consign'd to a sad Eternity Is not this your Thesis Nay most certainly it is It will be my part therefore to Prove and Assert the Salvation of the Protestants and to Examin and Correct your rash Judgment by the Rule of Charity with regard however to the Civil Friendship of both more especially of that which is between me and your most reverend and famous Master Charles Wertzius whom I here name with Honor. I wish he had bin at home for then you would not have presum'd to have dealt so disingeniously by me But the Proverb says When the Cat is gone abroad the Mice play But to the purpose There is nothing which the sacred Scriptures more frequently recommend to us then Charity This is that sacred and perpetual Fire which it behoves us more religiously to keep burning then that which formerly was intrusted with the Vestals in Rome or with the Priests in the Temple of God. For Charity saith St. Paul is the bond of perfection Col. 3. 14. The end of the Commandment 1 Tim. 1. 5. Nay The fulfilling of the whole Law Rom. 13. 10. And if a Comparison should be made between the three Theological Vertues there is no question but the Palm would be given to Charity as the Principal 1 Cor. 13. 13. Faith represents the Porch of the Temple in regard it holds forth to us the Propitiation of our Sins upon the Altar of the Cross Hope represents the Holy Place as being that which shines out to us with the sevenfold Lamp of Evangelical Promises in certain Expectation of Eternal Beatitude But Charity representing the Holy of Holies and glittering on every side with pure Gold is only worthy to be the Seat of the Deity for as God is Love 1 Job 4. 16. so the Empyrean Seat and the fiery Throne of Charity in our Minds have a mutual Resemblance Now there may be numbred several Duties of this Christian Charity the Queenof all Vertues as well toward God as toward our Neighbor Toward God there are two sorts of Duties incumbent upon every Man by the Command of Charity of which some are Positive others Negative By the one a Christian is oblig'd to Exercise Benevolence and Bounty toward his Neighbor as much as in him lyes affectionately and effectually in Word and Deed. By the other he is deterr'd from all manner of Ill-will and doing Injury to his Brother not only directly by hurting him but also indirectly by throwing Scandals upon him not only openly and outwardly with Hand or Tongue but also covertly and inwardly by bearing Malice Envy Hatred or by unjust Suspicions and rash Censures as St. Paul witnesses 1 Cor. 13. 5. For Charity thinks no evil suffers all things believes all things hopes all things endures all things More particularly the Scripture in more places then one condemns rash Judgments by which Men for the most part violating the Laws either of Divine Truth or Christian Charity judge evilly of the Actions or Persons of their Brethren To which purpose that Sentence of our Savior is express and positive Mat. 7. 1. Judge not lest ye be judged Such were the Judgments of the Pharisees formerly concerning others so that they lookt upon all others beside themselves as Ideots prophane and polluted Sinners And at this day there is nothing more frequent among Men then these unjust Censures who are often wont to receive with the Left-hand what is reach'd forth with the Right and to interpret all things in the worst sense according to the variety of their Passions For Example if any Man grows Rich through the blessing of God he is adjudg'd to have acquir'd those Riches by evil means If he fall suddenly into extreme Calamity this is presently deem'd to befal him by the secret Judgment of God revenging his secret Transgressions If any one be averse to Superstition he is accounted Profane If he professes Piety he is said to be an Hypocrite If Liberal he is taxed for a
Prodigal If Frugal he must be Covetous If Prudent he is a Coward If Magnanimous and Sedate in the midst of the raging Waves he is pronounced Rash and Bold Such is that Judgment of yours most Learned Mr. Prior which you give in your Letters of Me and all the Protestants rather with a blind Fury then a quick Understanding That is to say that we are all Damn'd to Eternity and that unless we return to Peter's Ship by submitting our selves to the Pope we are adjudg'd in this Life to the Torments of Hell. You are not the only Person who lye under this Mistake for there are not wanting among ye those that in their Harangues to the People in affrighting terms do pawn their own Salvation upon it that all the Protestants are Damn'd By vertue of which precipitate Condemnation the hatred of many is kindled against us for it is a difficult matter to love those whom they believe to be so hated of God that they are already destin'd to the Flames of Hell And in regard there is but little difference between a Damn'd Person and the Devil it is but rational that they should abhor such Persons as the Devil who by an anticipated Sentence are already numbred among the Damn'd Nay those of your Party who either out of Duty or Inclination are better and more tenderly affected towards us are wont to look upon us with Horror and a kind of Commiseration saying That they are very sorry that Men of such excellent Endowments and otherwise born to Vertue should be out of the way of Salvation and willingly throw themselves headlong into Hell. For these Reasons therefore I thought it necessary to examin by the Rule of Charity and Truth this Judgment so frequently given and inculcated against us to the end that if it be found to be rash and prohibited by the Sentence of Christ not only you Mr. Prior may be brought to remit somewhat of your rigor and blush at what you have so unjustly written but that we our selves also slighting and contemning this preposterous Judgment may continue cheerful and constant in the Truth of God saying to our Prior and such like supercilious Censurers as He what St. Paul said to the Corinthians 1 Cor. 4. 3. With us it is a very small thing that we should be judged of you or of mans judgment It is better to be condemn'd by a Physitian then a Judge by Men then by God. Wherefore as no Man can be a Judge in his own Cause it is not for the Accuser to pass Sentence upon the Guilty So that it might be sufficient to plead in Opposition to this unjust Judgment that Mr. Prior would sit Judge in his own proper Cause and that being carried away with various Affections he never regarded what was true and honest but what was profitable and convenient This Judgment certainly is not to be imputed to Equity and pure Reason but to Anger and Hatred As Parents are wont to love their Children tho' Maim'd and Lame so your Doctors are so preposterously devoted to their own pre-conceived Opinions that they hate all Men who go about to impugn or correct them and that so much the more by how much the greater force they find in the same Opinions to establish their Authority in the World and to encrease and preserve their Earthly Riches The Condition of the Protestants in this respect resembles the Condition of our Savior while he was upon the Earth For because he oppos'd himself against the Corruptions both of Manners and Doctrin which abounded in the Church and propounded a sort of Justice quite different from the Pharisaical Pride and rejecting unwritten Traditions labour'd to cleanse the House of God and restore all things to the Primitive Fountains of Purity and Truth therefore he was accounted a Samaritan and proclaim'd a Seditious Person a Demoniac a Blasphemer Turbulent and an Innovator The same things befal the Reformed for therefore are they unjustly condemn'd because they desire that the Temple may be cleans'd that Abuses and Corruptions may be reform'd which Time Ambition Avarice Negligence Ignorance and other Pests have brought into the Church that the Justice of our Savior may be fully acknowledg'd that unprofitable intolerable and superstitious Traditions may be cut off and all things as much as may be restor'd to the Primitive state of the Church and the Exemplar and Pattern of purest Antiquity And indeed if you would but lay aside your Affections and give never so little attention to the Word of God you would there find how unlawful 't is for you to give any such Judgment upon Christians and to devote them to Maledictions whom Christ has redeemed with his Blood whose Faith is conformable to the Scripture and who repose their whole Confidence in the Grace and Mercy of God and the Merits and Cross of Christ Certainly the Point of Eternal Salvation is of a higher Nature then to be wrested away by little blind miserable Animals to their Tribunal or that any Man should presume to pronounce any thing concerning it beyond the revealed Will of God. For God has assum'd it to himself his Sentence is to be expected and not to be anticipated by our Judgment For what Mortal was ever privy to his Secrets or whom did he ever permit the perusal of the Book of Life and the Catalogue of Election St. James c. 4. of his Epistle v. 11 12. positively admonishes us to condemn that Law which condemns his Brother and that he who judges of the Law is not a Doer of the Law but a Judge And that Men for this reason should not invade the Laws of God he adds There is one Lawgiver who is able both to save and to destroy who art thou shat judgest another Excellent also was the saying of the Ethnic Poet Those things which it concerns us not to know let us not take care to believe let Secret things be left to God. Many are number'd among Wolves in this World whom Christ will joyn to his Sheep at the last Judgment Many who are weigh'd in the Ballance of human Censure are rejected as Brass which the Touch-stone of Divine Judgment will demonstrate to have bin fine Gold. First therefore I would fain know of you Mr. Prior upon what ground you come to be more certain of the Damnation of others then of your own Salvation For if it be a piece of Arrogance as you commonly teach against us for any Man to assure himself that he is the Son of God and Heir of Heaven certainly it must be a great piece of rashness to determin as to others that they are the Sons of Wrath and Hell. I rather am of Opinion that the Religion of the Protestants is so far from being an Obstacle to Salvation that it rather serves in a high measure to promote Salvation I confess there is no hope of Salvation beyond the Pale of Christian Religion so that Salvation cannot be obtained in the Communion
the Novatians and Donatists made a Schism in the Church because they wou'd not submit to Bishops of Places Canonically instituted but set up Bishops of their own chusing who for that they were destitute of Canonical Election wanted a lawful Calling But there was no such thing could be said of our first Pastors in the Work of Reformation For they were not elected and constituted hand over head in Opposition to others already Canonically instituted as the Novatians in the Roman See oppos'd Novatus against the Council but were lawfully and canonically constituted in their Functions according to all the Ceremonies then us'd in the Church and by the nature of their Calling by which they knew themselves bound to propagate the Truth were constrain'd in their Consciences to oppose themselves against the Abuses and Corruptions at that time crept into the Church and to apply themselves to a Reformation But as they were lawfully Call'd so they could impart that Calling to others and by that means it is deriv'd to us and so by us may be deriv'd to our Successors For they are not to be thought to have lost their Calling for opposing themselves against the Abuses of that Church wherein they receiv'd it Nay they had bin unworthy of it had they not oppos'd themselves against those Corruptions that were so well known to them For every Church that confers upon any Man the sacred Function of the Public Ministry seems to say to him what Trajan the Emperor was wont to say to the Person whom he created Master of the Horse by the delivery of a Sword Vse this in my defence if my Commands are just but if unjust make use of it against me Thus a Pastor Canonically ordaind ought to make use of his Calling to support the Doctrin of the Church wherein he receiv'd it if it be conformable to Truth but if not to oppose it Nor does their being Excommunicated deprive them of their Calling because it was unjust and made use of to support the Errors which they impugned and to keep up in the Temple the Money-Changers Tables which they endeavour'd to overturn Nay the very Romanists themselves confess that the Character of the Clergy is indelible and that an Excommunicated Person may Consecrate Preach and administer the Sacraments effectually Neither is it to be said that the first Reformers were meer Presbyters that could not confer their Calling upon others in regard that Ordination belongs only to the Bishops For in regard the sacred Scriptures do not so plainly teach us what is the difference between a Presbyter and a Bishop and that some of yours particularly Medina confess that the Function of Ordaining may as well belong to a Presbyter as a Bishop you ought not to make any great difficulty in this Case in regard the Dispute is not yet determin'd To which I add That in several places the Reformation began from the Bishops who therefore held their former Dignity in the Reformation which they held before And it is a wonder Mr. Prior that you and yours should carp at the Calling of our Pastors to prove our want of Succession of Pastors when your selves acknowledg that any Man without Orders without a Character without any Call may Consecrate the Eucharist I am contented with one unanswerable Argument Your Durandus in his Rationale lib. 4. cap. 35. § 7. also the Author of the Curates Manual de Sacr. Eucharist cap. 10. and many others give this Reason for the Secreta i. e. the speaking the words of Consecration so low as not to be heard being introduc'd in the Canon of the Mass Because that formerly when the Canon was repeated with a loud Voice the People readily learnt the Rites of Consecrating whence it came to pass that the Shepherds in the Country laying the Bread upon a Stone and repeating over it the Canon and Words of the Consecration presently changed their Bread into Flesh Now either this must be a Fable which however you frequently make use of to establish your Figment of Transubantiation or else you must allow that any Man may Consecrate and Celebrate the most August of all Sacraments tho' neither Call'd nor Ordain'd as we cannot believe those Shepherds to have bin But as the Crime of Schism is falsely laid to our Charge so are we most falsely said to be without the Church without which there is no Salvation We have separated indeed from the Roman Communion but it does not thence follow that we are out of the Church of God in regard that by the Grace of God we are Members of the Catholic Church professing Christianity baptiz'd in the Name of the most holy Trinity in all things adhering to the Head and Foundation Christ Jesus Cardinal Hosius in his Confession acknowledges That the Church is there where-ever the Belief of the Mediator is We have a Belief of a Mediator through the favour of God and therefore we are hated at Rome becaose we acknowledg Christ to be the only Mediator Besides that we have not departed from your Roman Church unless in such things wherein she first departed from the Word of God and the Purity of Antiquity adhering still to the same Communion of Faith and Charity with Her in the Fundamentals of Christianity and knowing that we and the Members of your Communion are Brethren in Baptism as the Israelites and Jews were Brethren in Circumcision tho' in External Worship they differ'd very much Nor can any probable Reason be invented to convince us that any Man ought to be subject to the Bishop of Rome and retain his Communion to the end he may be in a Church out of which there is no Salvation So many Christians as are within the ancient Patriarchates of the East and who exceed you Romanists far in number are not rashly to be said to be out of the Church of Christ because they refuse to be under the Pope's Yoke The Churches of Asia were not excluded from the Covenant of Christ by the rash Excommunication of Pope Victor because they separated from him upon the difference about Easter-day The Roman Clergy separated from their Pope Liberius who had subscrib'd to Arianism without incuring the blame of Schism or the loss of Salvation The Famous St. Cyprian Bishop and Martyr whom your Church afterwards worshipt among the rest of her Saints dy'd out of the Communion and Subjection to the See of Rome divided from her both in Faith and Affection by reason of his Doctrin of Re-baptizing Heretics was very hardly thought of by Stephen Bishop of Rome and yet no Man hitherto made any doubt but that he obtain'd Salvation And therefore 't is an idle thing to exact from us Subjection to the See of Rome to the end we may be in the Church and obtain Salvation especially if the Papacy be now Extinct and that there has bin no lawful Pope for a long time Now this is easily prov'd For that I may pass over in silence so many Schisms
of our Faith and all the most solid and necessary Points of Christian Religion but also in common Protestancy against the Idolatry Tyranny and foul Errors of the Church of Rome both Sides impugning the Adoration of the Bread Transubstantiation Sacrifice of the Mass Communion under One Kind Justification by Works Traditions not written Purgatory Worship of Images Infallibility of the Pope c. So that it would be much better for us to arm our selves with mutual and brotherly forbearance against the continual Conspiracies of Antichrist then to lay our Sides open to them through our unhappy Discords and Wars by which neither side can hope for Triumph Far more absurd it would be to upbraid the Protestants with their small Number or to infer their Damnation from that For much more numerous is the Number of Christians under the four Patriarchs in the East and the Great Duke of Muscovy and Russia then of those who in the West adhere to the See of Rome Without question the Number of the Orthodox was very small at what time as St. Jerom testifies The whole World groan'd and admir'd to see it self all Arian Scarcity makes things valuable we are not to adhere to a multitude in Evil nor is the broad Way to be trod but the narrow Path which leads to Life not pervious to many If we must be excluded from Salvation for the smallness of our Number By the same reason the Pharisees of old might have damn'd the Apostles and the Heathens the Christians In the mean time they who reproach us with our small Number and glory in their own Multitude when they come to view the face of Europe are compell'd to talk after another rate Bellarmin praefat in Tom. 1. Controver cannot restrain his fury Who is ignorant saith he of that same Lutheran Pest for Truth was a Plague to the Seat of Pestilence as Christ was the Death of Death and a Pest to Hell that sprung up not long since in Saxony and soon after over-ran almost all Germany then spreading to the North and East delug'd all Denmark Sweadland Norway Gothland Pannonia Hungary and then with equal rapidness shooting to the West and South poyson'd all England France and Scotland flourishing Kingdoms once and at last crossing the Alps extended it self even as far as Italy Nor are we to be condemn'd because we call our selves Reformed or Protestants rather then Catholics For we were first call'd Protestants in the public Dyet at Spire Anno Dom. 1529. because our Electors and Princes there protested against the Errors and Superstitions of the Romish Church plainly in the fame sense as in the old Old Version of the 2 Chron. 24. 19. they who after the Death of Jehoiada oppos'd themselves against Idolatry were mark'd out and differenc'd by the same Name but those Idolaters would by no means give ear to the Protesters So that there being no Satisfaction given to our Consciences upon that Protestation deservedly we deserted that Communion which we believ'd to be pernicious to our Salvation Nor are we therefore to be thought to have deserted the Church For as St. Chrysostom says very remarkably Hom. 46. in Mat. He does not separate from the Church who separates Corporeally but he who Spiritually relinquishes the fundamental Truths of the Church We have left them Locally They have forsaken us in Point of Faith We in departing from them have left the Foundation of the Walls They in forsaking us have forsak'n the Foundations of Scripture We are call'd Reformed not because we reform'd the Religion deliver'd us by Christ and the rest of his Apostles but because we cleans'd it from the Rust of Abuses and Corruptions which that holy Religion had contracted through length of time the Subtilty of Satan and the Vices of Men. And this Reformation the People the Princes and Magistrates and those not a few most earnestly and importunately long'd for all over Europe So that the Tridentine Fathers to satisfie the public Demands at least in outward shew were compell'd to add something of Reformation to every one of their Dogmatical Sessions However we do not renounce these Names of Catholic Protestants Reformed or Lutherans seeing that addition of Catholic belongs of right rather to Us then to you Romanists for that the Doctrin which we profess is the Sincere Orthodox and Catholic Doctrin of the Christian Church as the Apostles deliver'd it from the Beginning Reformed we are in reference to the rejecting Abuses and human Inventions but Catholics as we retain the fundamental Articles of the Christian Religion Nor can this Name suit with them from whom we have departed in any other respect then as they retain some fundamental Truths which as yet are common both to them and us but not in respect of their Additions and Traditions in which we dissent from them In vain do you glory against us of retaining this Name by Force For as Salvian of Marseilles says lib. 4. de Provid What is a holy Name without Merit but an Ornament in the Dirt All the particular Assemblies of Heretics says Lactantius lib. 4. Divin Institut cap. ult believe themselves to be the chiefest Christians and their Church to be the Catholic The very Turks would be called Musselmanni that is the Faithful or Catholic but it suffices us to be really Catholics Good leave therefore have you from us O Romanists to usurp this Name as we call the Saracens Mahumetans who nevertheless derive not their Original from Sarah as Sons of the Promise but from Agar the Egyptian Bond-woman Thus all the Prejudices and Foundations of your precipitate Judgment being repell'd and remov'd Venerable Mr. Prior you constitute at length the only Foundation of your Opinion upon this That in regard that Ours is a new Religion it is impossible we should gain Salvation by the Profession But those things which now are old were formerly new The Christian Religion is at this day New to the Chineses and Japanners nevertheless they ought not to reject it for that Reason For this very sake of Novelty the Heathens refus'd Christianity but in vain There is nothing more Ancient then Truth which beheld the true World in its Infancy But false Religion the Older it is so much is it the more Mischievous True it is the Reformation which we profess is New and newly done but the Rule of it which is comprehended in the Word of God is of great Antiquity according to which whatever was added of Human Invention is separated from the Orthodox and Catholic Doctrin to the end that true and refin'd Antiquity might be retain'd Hence the famous Peter Moulin a Frenchman in a large Treatise against Cardinal Perron has more then sufficiently demonstrated the Novelty of Popery and the Antiquity of the Reformed Religion Therefore our Religion cannot be call'd New since that alone propounds to us things to be believ'd which were believ'd by all Men and every where from the Time of the Apostles according