the Church is no further Visible then it is Catholick ANd thus shall the Church become Visible according to the Will and Ordinance of God which being in decay by the malice of man though not Invisible yet must needs become hard to be seen at least to the purpose of Gods goodness For by the discourse premised it appears why it pleased God to provide that the true Church should be Catholick That is to say that when it was so easie to discern the True Church from all that pretended being indeed Hereticks or Schismaticks the simplest were left without excuse if they made a wrong choice Which if it be true how can it be in the Power of any Church or of the secular Powers that maintain it being bound to continue a Member of the whole Church to introduce that for Reformation which cannot appear to be restored but may seem to be innovated Which how should it be done without owning that ground of Reformation which I have delivered and by consequence those bounds which the said ground inferreth And I do very well believe that none of those who decline Conformity with the Church would have the Face to deny this had they to do with the now Missionaries of the Church of Rome For it would not serve their turn in answer to them to plead that the Pope is Antichrist and the Papists Idolaters having Reason to challenge that God hath founded a Visible Church It would be absolutely necessary to plead though the goodness of God hath instituted a Visible Church yet that by the malice of man it might be and is become Invisible for the difficulty of finding Salvation by it though absolutely Visible because Salvation might always be had in it It is easie for him that would answer them with a good Conscience for Truth and not for Victory to maintain the Church to be Visible so far as the Faith and the Laws thereof continue Visible But that so far as the Faith and Laws thereof may be disguised from that which was from the beginning so far it may and is to be said that the Church which by Gods Ordinance is and ought to be Visible by humane disorder is become Invisible Which being said it follows immediately that as all estates in the Church are obliged in their several qualities to do their utmost that the Church may be Visible the Salvation of all Christians requiring them to Resort to the Communion of the Church which they believe to be Catholick so there is no other way to make it Visible but to restore the Faith and the Laws of the Church that from the beginning made it Visible And therefore no Christian Church or State can have Power to Reform the Church any otherwise then by restoring that Faith and those Laws which the Church may appear to have had from the beginning It would be Sacriledge and Vsurpation upon the Faith which God hath built his Church upon and upon the Laws which either the Apostles have delivered to the Church or inabled the Church to deliver to posterity to introduce any thing else for the Reformation of the Church Which seeing it must needs bind over the Church and Kingdom to the wrath of God as either destructive or at least prejudicial to the Salvation of the People must needs bind over him that hath this opinion to the same if upon so just an occasion he should forbear to publish and to plead it as he may without offense And therefore I take leave to blame all those who declare in behalf of this Church that it departeth and separateth it self from the Church of Rome For seeing it hath been granted in and by this Church ever since the Reformation that there is and always was Salvation to be had in the Church of Rome as a true Church though corrupted I am very confident that no Church can separate from the Church of Rome but they must make themselves thereby Schismaticks before God though before the Church they cannot be condemned for such because the Church of Rome the Authority whereof must needs be ingredient into the Sentence cannot oblige any Body to stand to the Authority which it so abuseth For if God have tied all Churches to Communion with all Churches how should it not be Schism to profess Separation from a true Church And it is every whit as easie to say that we intend only to Reform our selves and that the Separation hath come to pass by the rigour of the Church of Rome Excommunicating those that Reform themselves without her leave CHAP. V. How far this Rule is owned by this Church HEre it will perhaps be demanded whether or no the Law of this Land make this the Rule of the Reformation which we Profess And my Answer is that in effect and by consequence it doth For by maintaining the three Creeds to be part of the Service wherewith we glorifie God by Professing the Catholick Faith and by maintaining the four Councils whereby both the Faith and the then Canons of the whole Church are established it doth in effect maintain the Primitive Church not only till that time but beyond it For seeing it is evident that the fifth and sixth Councils are but appendances of the Fourth tending only to maintain and inforce the decree of it how can it be doubted that the Article of this Church receiving all Councils that have decreed according to the Word of God receiveth and inacteth those which tend only to inforce the Fourth which it owneth for decreeing that Faith which the Word of God teacheth Besides the prayers for the prosperity of the Catholick Church whereby we prove our selves no Schismaticks to the See of Rome when we repay the Curses of it with our prayers Besides that Injunction of Edward the VI which obligeth all Preachers to expound the Scripture according to the Consent of the Ancient Fathers Which as no man can say why it should not be in force So had it been in force we need not have come to the question now on foot And indeed it is in effect that which I demand For it will be found that the Consent of the Fathers is not to be had but in the common Faith and in those Laws which the whole Church either enjoyned or allowed particular Churches So that to expound the Scriptures according to the Consent of the Fathers is to expound them within those bounds and to trouble the heads of Christian people with nothing that is without the same As if their Salvation could be concerned all being safe within those bounds Here I must take notice that the reason why the Church Catholick is to be held may be miskenned if it be extended to all that is called Christians and not limited to that which maintaining the Faith violateth not the Vnity of the Primitive Church If the profession of Christ and Christianity were enough to make men members of the Catholick Church why should not Socinians and Anabaptists belong
A DISCOVRSE OF THE FORBEARANCE OR THE PENALTIES Which a Due REFORMATION REQUIRES BY H. THORNDIKE One of the Prebends of Westminster Church LONDON Printed by J. M. for James Collins at the Kings-Head in Westminster-Hall 1670. THE PREFACE ARistotle and Experience teacheth us that no Positive Law can provide for all the Cases that may arise upon the Terms of it Religion indeed in General is a Moral Vertue But the true Religion that bringeth Salvation is a Positive Constitution of Gods Grace requiring the Condition of Christianity to qualifie for the Promise of life everlasting But upon several Terms heretofore under the Law of Nature and Moses and now under the Christian Faith The Church of Christ in all Ages hath been constrained to provide new Decrees and seek new Laws for the quenching of new Heresies and Schisms They that ever hoped to do that by an Act of Comprehension which the Act of Uniformity hath not done would have proved themselves deceitful Workers They would have made many Breaches by stopping of One. That which I am able to propound I confess is rather possible than probable For were it so far advanced as to be inacted for a Law of the Kingdom I should never believe that it would take effect unless the Faith and the Laws of the Catholick Church might be received to give Bounds to all emergent Disputes No more then I can believe that the Reformation will ever prevail after one Breach in Germany after another since in the United Provinces and these last here amongst us unless we unite our selves upon the same Principle Whether I have said enough to prove it well grounded or not I must refer that to Judgment But he that excuses me not in such an innocent Proposition as this How would he have Almighty God to excuse me if having attained this Resolution I should not declare the Consequence of it in our present Case Especially considering the Duty which the Law of the Land justly and necessarily imposes upon all of my Order to Reduce Recusants to Church For there are now two sorts of Recusants And those that are bound to reduce them must do it upon such Reasons that by reducing the one sort they drive not the other sort from Church Let them that have more skill then I shew how it can be done without imploying my Principle I that am resolved it can by no other means be done must declare my Resolution though I were to suffer for it Which from a Christian Kingdom I cannot do One thing I have adventured upon my own Head Granting that the Government of the Church was Regular till after the sixth General Council And so that the the Acts of the Church before that time are effects of it But that is not to say that the Corruption of the Church which we Protest against and Reform began not till that time Religion began to be corrupted earlier in some and later in other Points But this Corruption had not the force of Law till after that time And especially till the Vsurpation of the See of Rome It is enough that there is difference Visible in any Point between that which was from the beginning according to the Scriptures and that which was when the Reformation was attempted That which can be made out hereof will serve to cramp both sorts of Recusants That which cannot should be no cause of difference He that reduces the sense of the Scripture within the Faith and the Laws of the whole Church warrants the Penalties of Recusants Let the Laws do their Office and make it a Disgrace to be out of the Church And then we may expect to see the Blessing of God upon his own Ordinance But without restoring Discipline without Canons and Laws to restore it without the Office of the Synods in providing those Canons let no man think that temporal Penalties will serve to do the business For though there can be no reason sufficient for violating the Vnity of the Church yet if the dissatisfaction that hath caused it resolve into a defect of the Laws it can no more be ended without redressing the Laws then a Disease can be cured without taking away the Cause of it Errata PAg. 10. lin 13. r. Prophesies sent since the Ground o Salvation was declared is p. 17. l. 5. the Church read this Church p. 20. l. 27. the Article of this Church r. the Law of this Kingdom p. 22. l. 3. Christians r. Christian p. 25. l. 27. decay r. decays p. 36. l. 1. or to be believed to r. to be believed or to p. 42. l. 29. Laws r. Law p. 63. l. 20. the best r. their best p. 99. l. 28. Churches r. Church p. 109. l. 28. making r. and making p. 113. l. 5. Christs r. Christ p. 121. l. 12. which r. of whom p. 125. l. 21. to come to r. come to p. 151. l. 17. Idolaters r. Idolatry p 153. l. 18. Invocations r. Invocation p. 263. l. 16. these r. those OF THE FORBEARANCE OR PENALTIES Which a due Reformation requires CHAP. I. The Case in which forbearance is pretended for weak Consciences IT is a long time that the forbearance due to tender Consciences hath been alledged for the means to restore Unity in this Church And certainly were the Case stated in which S. Paul prescribed it to the Church of Rome that so it might be drawn into Consequence in our Case the Scripture must needs produce that which would be of advantage for Peace without prejudice to Truth But when the bare Phrase of Scripture is tossed up and down in the discourse of them that care not to understand either the Reason upon which it is grounded or the Effect to which it sorteth no marvel to see the decay of Religion proceed from the abuse of the Scripture We need not the Heresies of the Primitive Times even the abominable Villanies of the Gnosticks to tell us what irreligious pretenses may be set forth in Scripture Phrase Our own Fanaticks would furnish sport enough with the fooleries which they pretend as from Gods Spirit because they can deliver their non-sense in the Phrase of Scripture could such irreligious madness move any thing but the compassion and lamentation of Christians It is enough for my purpose that unless the Precept of the Apostle be limited to that consequence which the reason of the Case will produce the two-edged Sword of the holy Scripture may prove an edge tool to cut their shins with who take upon them and have not the skill to handle it For the state of the Case to which S. Paul speaks I will say no more at present but this That he prescribeth only to the Church of Rome at that time when the care was not to loose the Jews by winning the Gentiles to be Christians There could then be no question of establishing a National Church by the Law of a Kingdom which Church and which Kingdom shall by that Law reform that which it protesteth
can have Power to introduce any thing for Reformation in the Church but that which the Consent of the Whole Church either injoyneth or alloweth Not as if the least Tittle of Scripture were not enough to warrant that which it injoyneth to be the Reformation of the Church But whereas the sense of the Scripture is that which remains questionable not the Authority of it that nothing can be the true sense of the Scripture which the Consent of the Whole Church contradicteth And therefore that though there be an appearance of truth in such a sense yet it is not for a Christian Kingdom to inact it for Law till it be duely debated And that being done it will infallibly appear in all which in most things appeareth already that the Consent of the Whole Church cannot contradict the true sense of the Scripture And that it is nothing else but not knowing the one or the other that makes it seem otherwise If the Scripture it self is not nor can be owned for Gods Word but by the Consent of Gods people from the beginning attesting the Motives of Faith related in the Scripture to have been infallibly done by submitting to the Faith which they inforce Then must the same Consent be of force to assure common reason that the Faith and the Laws wherein the whole Church agrees came from the Authority setled by God not by any Consent of all Christians to fall from that which they Profess And therefore though a Kingdom may force the Subjects thereof to call that Reformation which they inact yet they can never make it Reformation in that sense which the Salvation of Christians requires if it be not within these bounds It may be called Reformation to signifie a New form but it can never be Reformation to signifie that form which should be unless it signifie the form that hath been in Gods Church For that being One and the same from the first to the second Coming of Christ can authorize no other form then that which it may appear to have had from the beginning CHAP. IX That it cannot be done without the Synods of this Church ANd therefore it being granted on both sides that the Soveraign Power of Christian Kingdoms and States proceeding duely obligeth the Subjects to submit to the Reformation of the Church and cannot exact Legal Penalties of them which refuse upon any other Terms I do except in the second place that it ought to proceed in all Reformation by and upon the Authority of this Church That is of the Synods For what doth the whole Church agree in so Visibly as in this That the Authority which God hath instituted in his Church should give Laws to his Church And how can a Christian Kingdom promise themselves Gods blessing upon such Acts as they have no Power nor Right from God to do For granting there is such a thing as a Catholick Church it is not possible that any Christian Kingdom which must be a part of it should have Power to inact any thing Prejudicial much less destructive to the Whole to the Visible Being which is the Visible Communion of it And therefore the Faith and the Laws of the whole being the Condition under which the parts are to communicate no Christian Kingdom can have Power from God to give New Laws in Religion to the Subjects thereof which the Church of the Kingdom warranteth not to be according to the Laws of the whole Church If any thing may appear to have been in force in the Primitive Church and by the abuse of succeeding times to have become void I do not deny that the Secular Power may Reform the Church by restoring it though the Church should refuse their Consent to it The reason is because the Church would be without help if there were no Lawful way to restore the decays of it Which we agree have come to pass without the consent of them that are chargeable for the decay of it Now the Faith and the Laws of the Catholick Church are the Birth-right of all Christians Purchased by undertaking to Profess one Catholick Church at their Baptism And Christian Powers are to protect their Christian Subjects in their Birth-right And the Authority of the present Church is not seen in the Faith and the Laws of the Whole Church For it is meer matter of Fact what they are The evidence whereof praeexistent to the Authority of the present Church cannot be understood to require or to presuppose it And therefore the Authority of the Church cannot be violated by reducing the Faith and the Laws of the Primitive Church into force Nevertheless in regard that which is decayed can seldom be restored without determining new Bounds which the present state of the Church requires It is manifestly the Office of the Church to determine the same Nor can it be done by Christian Powers of this World without assuming to themselves that Authority in which they are to maintain the Church For though Soveraign Power hath Soveraign Right in all Causes and over all Persons Ecclesiastical yet is it capable of no Ecclesiastical Power or Right But is to maintain those that have it by the Laws of the Church in the use of it If any thing were done at the Reformation setting aside the Synods of this Church which I am here neither to deny nor to acknowledge it must be justified upon this Account that they refused the Authority of the Whole Church in authorizing the Reformation of this Church If any thing now may appear to be demanded upon the same Account let the Authority of the Synods be passed by for their punishment if they hinder the Reformation of the Church by refusing it But that cannot appear till it may appear First that the matter demanded ought to have the force of Law in the Church having been of force and since decayed by the injury of time or corruption of men Secondly that it is of such weight that Religion is like to have more advantage by restoring it then the Vnity of the Church shall suffer by violating the Regular Authority of the Church What thanks I shall have of my LL. the Bishops for this I know not For I deny that they themselves can have any Authority in the Case that shall not be confined within the same bounds But it is not possible for him that is the most jealous of the Rights of the Crown in Church-matters to say what danger there can be to this Crown in securing the Conscience of the Kingdom by the Authority of the Church For the acknowledging of those Bounds which the Authority of the Church is confined to as well in respect of Soveraign Power in the Dominions whereof it subsisteth as of the rest of the Church leaveth no Plea for it to Vsurp either upon the Crown or upon the Christian Subjects of it And all this I claim by S. Paul where he commandeth all Christians to abide in that state in which they are called
they can challenge by their Orders what pretense is there to imagine that there can be any such Crime as Schism if this be not it That God should bless that which is done by such gross Vsurpation as this is And when all this is said it remains free for me to say That there is no other way to restore and to preserve Vnity within the Reformation but by establishing and maintaining Episcopacy in that Authority which it hath always had for the determining of differences Nor maintain that Authority but by confining it within the Bounds which the Faith and the Laws of the whole Church do limit As for the Fanaticks which make our Orders void because the Pope is Antichrist and the Mass Idolatry whence our Bishops received and where they exercised their Orders I will only consider the Case of the Donatists forejudged by the whole Church They pleaded in point of fact that Caecilianus was Ordained by Apostates A thing which the Church was so clear in that the African Bishops offered to give up their Sees if it were proved But besides in point of Right had it been proved and Caecilianus owned by the Church because it did not appear or because they thought the Canons ought to be dispensed with for Unities sake those that Ordained Caecilianus having repented of their Apostacy shall we imagine that the Church was lost by owning those that had been Apostates and their Ordinations The Donatists are branded for Hereticks and Schismaticks maintaining all the Laws of the Church but that of Unity And shall Lay-Christians presuming to authorize Lay-Christians to consecrate the Eucharist and set up Churches be esteemed less then Hereticks and Schismaticks Let those that pretend to Unity find that Forbearance which a favourable construction of their actions signifies But Charity to the sound obligeth to take the profession of Schismaticks in the worst sense which if we do the making of Independent Congregations Churches will be the denying of One Catholick Church and the making of them Hereticks that do it CHAP. XVI That changing the Laws for the Weak is not Forbearance BUt if it be a thing absurd in common sense to allow them their Orders much more absurd will it be to change the Ecclesiastical Laws of the Land for their sakes Which is nothing else but to purchase their Ministry at the price of our Religion which the Ecclesiastical Laws contain Here we must distinguish two questions For it may be lawful for Christian people to live by those Laws which it was not lawful for Superiors in Church and State to make A thing evident to all that believe that it was possible for our Ancestors before the Reformation to be saved under the abuses of the Church of Rome But our question is whether or no the Laws of Superiors injoyn that which Gods Law forbids Inferiors to do Otherwise it is pernicious to all Government that Inferiors should take upon them to judge the Acts of Superiors But if the matter of the Law be within the Power that makes it to require an Exception for tender Consciences is to say that there is no Power in the World to give any Law to those tender Consciences Was there ever any Heresie any Schism any Religion pretending Christianity that did not alledge Scripture for themselves Did ever any man alledge it that would not be thought to be touched at the heart with it What is there for a Christian to doubt at where the Exception of tender Consciences lyes not Or how shall we that agree against the See of Rome but agree not in the terms and grounds of Reformation be tryed in the sense of the Scripture Can any man imagine that S. Paul intended to destroy his own Authority of giving Law to the Church which he exercised when he ordered the Jews and Gentiles at Rome to forbear one another Or is this Authority dead with the Apostles What Church then can there be alive if there be no Authority deriyed from the Apostles to give Law to it But the Authority is not questioned so it provide for weak Consciences Episcopacy will be owned if the Secular Power will force it to take them for their Presbyters whose Ministry they cannot give account to God of Being both authorized and exercised by Laws made without and against their Authority This no Christianity can justifie Christianity maintains the Estates of the World in all the Right they had when they became Christians And cannot justifie it self to the World otherwise How should the World receive it upon other terms But if the World stand upon the same terms having received Christianity as afore then must Christianity and the Church continue in the same Rights which it had before the World received it No exception to be allowed but as afore If it appear that the Faith and Laws of the Primitive Church be decayed Not if it seem to private Spirits that the Scripture is not fulfilled In the mean time is it for the honour of the Religion we profess that Weakness which at the best is negative ignorance in truth perhaps wilful ignorance should give Law to it Is it reason that they who have failed to destroy both Church and Kingdom should give Law to both As if a Child should govern the House because he will be framfold and disquieted otherwise Surely it is that which the Emperor said to his Niece Put as tibi injuriam fieri nisi imperas But is that the way to have Peace in Religion When Inferiors shall be made to tread upon the necks of their Superiors they will be so modest for the future as to stay there They will be content to have their Doctrine regulated by them as the Law of the Kingdom requires Or they will think fit that the Bishops be content with their Revenues and leave them to Preach what they please Surely they that can carry the dispute of a hundred years wherein the Bishops had so visibly the better that Club-law was found requisite to get the advantage will not lay down the Cudgels here So they that agree in conforming to the Laws differing every day in that which the Law determines not the Recusants on both sides may make hay in the heat of our Contentions and profit more by such a Law then by the War which destroyed this Church But especially the Atheists who have profited so well under these Contentions as to make that visible which was but foreseen under the Usurper That no Religion would in time stand to be the Religion of the Kingdom They having the Priviledge of the Laws and not liable to any Infamy when the differences maintained make Religion contemptible shall have cause to thank all that shall have done their work by solliciting such Laws CHAP. XVII Of the Opinion of Regeneration by Baptism ONe point I must not pass over in silence which hath been named for a point to be changed That all passages seeming to determine the Opinion of Baptismal
Regeneration be altered in the Liturgy and Rubricks of it For this point is an instance how easily the substance of Faith necessary to Salvation may be questioned or abated or renounced by a Clause of such an Act. I grant it is clearly S. Pauls Opinion S. Peters Opinion our Lord Christs Opinion the Opinion of Gods whole Church Be it the Opinion of those whose Opinion is our Faith But he that would have it no more then Opinion must teach us a new Faith No Remission of Sins but by Baptism Entring us into the Covenant of Grace which the Vow of Baptism inacteth Entring us into the Church into which the Sacrament of Baptism introduceth Abate the Covenant which the Sacrament of Baptism inacteth and how shall a Christian be regenerate Abate the mention of it in the Service and where will be the Faith which this Church with the Whole Church hitherto professeth Shew me any Christian that ever questioned it till it was questioned what was to be Reformed in the Church and let it be abated Could Pelagius have questioned it his Heresie had not so easily been quelled He that travelled all the Church from Britain to Jerusalem had he found any Church any received Doctor of any Church that durst maintain Salvation due by the Covenant of Grace to any man that dyes unbaptized he had made the Church more work then he did No Baptism no Original sin no Cure for Original sin but Baptism no Salvation without the Cure They that think to confute Anabaptists abating this point of Faith no marvel if they make Anabaptists when they make men think that the Church hath no better Reason to confute them with then they will use Some perhaps that are not so well taught as they should be may think it unagreeable with Christianity that Salvation should depend upon a Bodily act as the washing of Baptism and that in the Power not of him that is Baptized but of the Church or of him that is to minister in behalf of the Church But S. Peter hath answered this Objection by distinguishing two things in Baptism 1 Pet. III. 21. the one the washing of the Body which saves not The other the Answer that is made out of a good Conscience to the Examination tendered him that is Baptized whether he will undertake Christianity or not And this saves if S. Peter say true And what account can any Christian give himself to ground the hope of his Salvation upon but 〈◊〉 Christianity which the Gospel tendreth which Baptism inacteth Or what can be necessary to Salvation if the ground of the hope thereof be not This is that one ground which overthroweth both those Heresies in which I said all the erroneous Doctrines of that Confusion which we have seen do resolve The Profession which we make at our Baptism is the Condition on our part upon which the Promise of the Covenant of Grace becomes due on Gods part The Profession so made nothing can defeat the hope of a Christian but the transgressing of it Being transgressed nothing can repair this hope but the restoring of it All Arts to disguise this Faith all over the Scripture signifie nothing but the hope of Salvation without living the life of Christians I will hope whatsoever Fanaticks or Atheists would have that there was never any intent to demand so great an Apostasie from the Faith to be inacted by a Law of the Kingdom I will hope much more that had it been demanded it would have been rejected with that indignation which so great Apostasie deserveth But I am glad and give God hearty thanks that I have lived to the day when I may and do testifie to my Country and to the Church of God in it that he who should demand of them to renounce this point must demand of them to unchurch themselves and to be for the future that which the See of Rome would have us to be CHAP. XVIII Conference for Satisfaction is Forbearance BUt is there then no effect of S. Pauls precept in our Case Can we break the Unity of the Church without breading the Charity of Christians Or can particular Christians be tyed to forbear one another and Christian Powers not be tied to cause both to do the same Here is indeed the Hinge upon which the truth turns and resolves all questions and clears all difficulties which must and will intangle the World in confusion upon the account of Christianity till it be owned Christian Powers may constrain their Subjects that profess Christianity to be Christians and punish them if they be not But they must protect them for their Subjects though they be not The reason of this hath not been declared by the Reformation though they have just cause to complain and do as they have cause complain of the See of Rome for authorizing capital Penalties upon Hereticks Under that name they comprize also Schismaticks And Schismaticks in their language as also in the language of all that claim the Authority of the Church signifies all that maintain Communion apart though the Cause make the Crime before God But if S. Paul have Reason when he commands every Christian to continue in the Estate in which he was called to be a Christian then can no mans Life or Estate become forfeit for not being a Christian And much less for not being Orthodox but an Heretick If the Life or Estates of Subjects should Eschete to the Soveraign for not being Christians that temporal Dominion of Soveraigns must be founded upon the Grace they have to be Christians All such Right S. Paul disclaims and discharges But shall Soveraign Power that is Christian be therefore disabled to give Law to Subjects professing Christianity That is our Case the whole Kingdom professing Christianity though the Whole cannot so properly be said to profess the Reformation For the Reformation setled by Law we see is refused as well by those that separate from it for a Reformation of their own as by those that adhere to the See of Rome Shall the Soveraign then lose the Right that all Christian Soveraigns have of giving Law to their Subjects in point of Religion because he is a Christian Or shall the Subject by being a Christian stand obliged to the Laws of his Soveraign commanding him to stand to the Christianity which he professeth Suppose the Christianity commanded to be Visible before Christian Powers command it and you inable their Laws to oblige their Subjects Not supposing it you cannot say how the Laws of Soveraign Powers should oblige Christian Subjects seeing the Papacy as well as the Reformation maintained by Christian Soveraigns For by the same Reason for which the Subjects of those Powers that maintain the Reformation are tied to their Laws by the same Reason should the Subjects of those that maintain the Papacy be obliged to obey the Laws by which they maintain it There can be no Reason for a difference if that which they maintain be not Visible before the