his Church and People and he was still their God according to his promise Lev. xxvi 11 12. I will set my Tabernacle amongst you and will walk among you and you shall be my people and I will be your God And indeed God in Scripture is said to walk among them by his gracious presence in his Tabernacle 2 Sam. vii 6. 1 Chron. xvii 5. Psal ix 11. cxxxv 21. Es xviii 4. Joel iii. 21.2 Chr. vi 2. xxxvi 15. Psal lxxiv. 7. lxxvi 2. lxxix 7. Es xviii 4. Joel iii 17.2 King xiii 23. Hos xi 9. he dwelt among them by dwelling at Jerusalem in that Temple and that City or by continuing his special presence there and upon this account in Scripture the Temple is oft stiled his dwelling place Now even in the times of the Idolatry of Israel and Judah God still was present with them he walked and dwelt among them and was their God in Covenant he I say was still graciously preent with he walked and dwelt among them for yet he had not cast them from his presence he was still the holy one in the midst of Ephraim he was not yet departed from them for he by way of commination saith Wo unto them Hos ix 12. when I shall depart from them After that they had even broken God with their whorish hearts which had departed from him and with their eyes which went a whoring after their Idols yet the glory of the Lord was not departed from the Sanctuary but still appeared in the Temple Ezek. vi 9 13. Ezek. ix 3 4. x. 3 4. xviii 19. Ezek. xvi 20. and between the Cherubims they after this bare sons and daughters unto God Moreover that he was still their God in Covenant appears from those expressions of the Prophets when pleading in behalf of this backsliding people they speak thus Break not thy Covenant with us thou art our Father Jer. xiv 21. Es lxiv. 8 9. Jer. iii. 14. we are all thy people turn O backsliding Children for I am married to you and from innumerable places in which he owns them for his people still and is not yet ashamed to be called their God This will be farther evident from the New Testament for in the Church of Corinth there were many of the strongest Christians who being in thier Consciences convinced that an Idol was nothing and so could have no power to defile the meat which had been offered to it did upon this presumption sit down with others in the Idol Temples and eat and drink that which they knew was offered to the Idol This the Apostle plainly tells them was Idolatry that it was in effect to have communion with Devils 1 Cor. x. 7 11 â—0 21 to drink he cup of Devils and to be partakers of the table of Devils and yet he clearly doth insinuate that they who through that error or mistake were guilty of this Idol worship might still remain his Christian brethren and beloved Moreover that Babylon was the Mother of Harlots and Abominations that she commanded all her subjects to commit spiritual Fornication or Idolatry St. John doth frequently inform us Rev. xviii 4. and yet that even here God had his Church and People is evident from that voice from Heaven saying Come out of her my people for how could God have said Come out of her my people had he not then preserved alive within this Throne of Satan a people to himself Lastly the Jewish Synagog in the days of our Saviour Christ had taken away the Key of knowledg Luke xi 52 Matt. xxiii 13. they neither entered themselves into his Kingdom who were the keepers of that key nor suffered others so to do That little knowledg which remained among them was damnably corrupted not only with the Saducean Heresie which mightily prevailed amongst the wealthiest of them but also with the leaven of the Scribes and Phraisees who had by their Traditions made void the Law of God Matth. xv 6 9. and rendered his worship vain these Scribes and Pharisees are by the Baptist styled a Generation of Vipers Matth. iii. 7. Matth. xxiii by Christ Blind foolish Hypocrites persons that coald not scape the damnation of Hell Of the whole people Christ pronounceth that they were of their father the Devil Joh. viii 44. and his works they would do and yet God had his Church even then among them in which both Zacharias Elizabeth the Virgin Mary and our Lord was born of which both he and his Apostles were then members and into which they were admitted by Circumcision Their Priests were owned by our Saviour who sent the Lepers to them Matth. viii 4. Matth. xxiii 2 3. he acknowledged that these Scribes and Pharisees still sat in Moses Chair and that obedience was therefore due unto them in all lawful matters Nor could it possibly be otherwise seeing Christs Church and Kingdom was not begun till after his own Resurrection nor do we read of any that were added to the Church till then Answ § VI 3. Tha the Church of Rome may be a true visible Church in that sense in which our English Protestants confess she is so i. e. as having truth of visible existence though not truth of doctrine and yet be guilty of Idolatry will be apparent from these considerations 1. That the notion of a visible Church which they lay down as the true ground of this their Charitable judgment containeth in it nothing inconsistent with the practice or allowance of Idolatry For to the visibility of a Church say they is only requisite an outward profession of those things which supernaturally appertain to the very essence of Christianity Eccl. Pol. l. 3. §. 1. p. 126. and are necessarily required in every Christian man So the judicious Mr. Hooker Now among the things which supernaturally appertain to the essence of Christianity they do not reckon Moral Righteousness and Honesty of life because although the want of these excludeth from Salvation yet are they not of supernatural Revelation but are discovered to us by the light of Nature they are the duties as well of Heathens as of Christians and so concern us saith Mr. Hooker not as Christians only but as men Hence they infer that every thing which excludeth from Salvation excludes not from the visible Church this therefore cannot be say they essential to the being of a Church visible that it doth hold or practise nothing which excludeth from Salvation For instance Despair want of Charity secret Infidelity the proud and envious spirit are all exclusive from Salvation but none of them exclude a person who outwardly professeth all the essentials of Christian Faith from being a true member of a Chuch visible Should we then grant that the Idolatry now practised in the Church of Rome was totally exclusive of Salvation it would not follow that she did not continue a true visible Church in the forementioned sense Agreeable to this we
are told by Zanchy De Nat. dei Praefat. p. that in spight of Satan the Church of Rome retained still the chief foundations of the Faith though weakned with the Doctrines of men it retained the publick Preaching of the word of God though in many places misunderstood and misconstrued the Invocation of the name of Christ though joyned also with the Invocation of dead men the administration of Baptism instituted by Christ himself howsoever defiled with the addition of many superstitions so as together with the Symbol of the Covenant the Covenant it self remained still in her the Church of Rome therefore is yet the Church of Christ Apud Bishop Hall To. 2. p. 94. In the Roman Church saith Dr. Primrose God doth still keep his word in the Old and New Tetament as the contract of his Marriage with her in her is the true Creed the true Decalog the true Lords Prayer in her Christ is Preached though corruptly in her the Trinity and Incarnation of Christ are believed in her the Father Son and Holy Ghost are prayed to though in an unknown tongue to the most part in her the little Children are Baptized in the name of the Father Son and Holy Ghost and no man will deny that their Baptism is a true Sacrament whereby their children are born to God seeing we do not rebaptise them when leaving them they join to us Who then can deny that she is a true Church seeing out of the true Chuch there is no Baptism and the Church alone beareth Children to God Now the belief of all these things here mentioned by Dr. Primrose and Mr. Zanchy are well consistent with the practice and allowance of Idolatry and therefore in their judgments the truth of the visible Church may be consistent with it also 2. They also add that a true visible Church may still continue so to be even when she most deserves to be Divorced provided God doth not give her a Bil of Divorce remove her Candlestick or take away the Kingdom of God from her Two things are requisite Lect. in Apoc. p. 430 431. saith Episcopius to Vnchurch a people 1. That she merit a Divorce by reason of some deadly or fundamental error 2. That God doth deal with her accordng to her merit by sending her a Bill of Divorce both these are necessary to cause a Church to be so for as a wife by being an Adulteress doth not yet cease to be a wife whilst her own husband will acknowledg her and not Divorce her from him so is it with the Church of God The Church of Sardis is by Christ owned as a Church though as himself pronounceth Ibid. p. 521. V. Hall To. 2. Tr. of the Old Religion p. 76. she only had a name to live but really was dead The being of a Church saith Bishop Davenant doth principally stand upon the action of God calling men out of darkness and death to the participation of light and life in Christ Jesus so long as God continues this calling to a people though they as much as in them lies darken this light and corrupt the means which should bring them to Life and Salvation in Christ yet where God calls men to the participation of life in Christ by the Word and by the Sacraments there is the true being of a Church let men be never so false in the exposition of Gods word or never so untrusty in mingling their own Traditions with Gods Ordinances Thus the Church of the Jews lost not the being of a Church when she became an Idolatrous Church Thus to gran that the Roman was and is a true visible Church though in Doctrine a false and in practice an Idolatrous Church is a true assertion and of greater use and necessity in our Controversie with Papists about the perpetuity of the Christian Church than is understood by those that gainsay it 3. They say that a true visible Church ceaseth not to be so though she doth add to the profession of those essentials which constitute her a true visible Church such tenets as by unseen consequence do overthrow some of them The Church of Rome saith Bishop Hall Advertis p. 51. professing to hold those things diectly which by inferences she closely overthrows she is a truly visible Church but an unsound one Again the Church of Rome saith he under a Christian face hath an Unchristian heart overturning that foundation by necessary inferences which by open profession it avows that face that profession those avowed principles are enough to give it claim to the true outward visibility of a Christian Church nor can those inferences Dischurch it whilest those main principles are kept alive in that crazy and corrupted body And again p. 63. if we measure the true being of a visible Church by the direct maintaining of Fundamental Principles though by consequences indirectly overturned and by the possession of the word of God and his Sacraments though not without foul adulteration what judicious Christian can deny that the Church of Rome hath yet the true visibility of a Church of Christ In respect of the common truths yet professed among the Papists they may Apud Bishop Hall To. 2. Part 2. p. 82. saith Dr. Prideaux and ought to be termed a true visible Church in opposition to Jews Turks and Pagans who directly deny the foundation howsoever their Antichristian additions make them no better than the Synagogue of Satan 4. They whilst they do allow her to be a true visible Church do also say she is Heretical and do allow Heretical Churches to be true visible Churches Advertisement p. 51. also that which Rome holds with us makes it a Church saith Bishop Hall that which it obtrudes upon us makes it Heretical and elsewhere to this question is the Church of Rome still a part of the truly existent visible Church of Christ Reconciler p. 61. He answers Surely no otherwise than an Heretical and Apostatical Church is or may be Their Roman Church saith Dr. Crakenthorp is Heretical yet must she be accounted both to be in the Church and be a Church not simply not according to the integrity of Faith not according to any inward virtue Defens Eccl. Angl. adv Spalat c. 16. not so effectually that it should avail to Salvation for a man to be in it but yet a Church it is in some respects according to the external profession of Faith and of the word of God accordin gto the Administration of the Sacraments according to some Doctrines of true belief by which as by so many outward ligaments she is yet knit to the Orthodox and Catholick Church And to this Question Is the Roman Church at this day no part of the Church of God Appen part 3. p. 883. our learned Dr. Field thus answers Surely as Austin noteth that the societies of Hereticks in that they retain the profession of many parts of heavenly truth and the ministration of the Sacrament
of Baptism are so far joined with the Catholick Church and the Catholick Church in and by them bringeth forth children to God so the present Roman Church is still in some sort a part of the visible Church of God but no otherwise than other societies of Hereticks are in that it retaineth the profession of some parts of heavenly truth and ministreth the true Sacrament of Baptism to the Salvation of the Souls of many thousand Infants We must acknowledg even Hereticks themselves to be though a maimed part yet a part of the Church visible saith the judicious Hooker Eccl. Pol. l. 3. §. 1. if the Fathers do any where saith he as oftentimes they do make the true Church of Christ and her companies opposite they are to be construed as separating Hereticks not altogether from the company of Believers but from the fellowship of sound Believers Lastly They also do assert that an Idolatrous Church may yet continue to be a true Church visible Lo say the Romanists Reconcil p. 64 65. we are of the true visible Church why then forsaken Ans Alass poor souls saith Bishop Hall do they not know that Hypocrites leud persons Reprobates are no less members of the visible Church what gain they by this but a deeper damnation to what purpose did the Jews cry the temple of the Lord whilst they despighted the Lord of that Temple They are of the viâ—â—â—le Church but shamefully Idolatrous in practice Our Saviour saith Mr. Hooker ubi Supra compareth the Kingdom of Heaven to a Net which gathereth together good Fish and bad and to a Field where Tares manifestly known and seen of all men do grow intermingled with good Corn and even so shall continue to the consummation of the world When the people of God worshipped the Calf in the Wilderness when they adored the Brazen Serpent when they bowed the knee to Baal and served the Gods of the Nations when they burnt Incense and offered Sacrifice to Idols true it is the wrath of God was most fiercely inflamed against them and they were forsaken of God in respect of that singular mercy wherewith he kindly embraceth his faithful children howbeit retaining the Law of God and the holy Seal of his Covenant the sheep of his visible flock they continued even in the depth of their disobedience and rebellion wherefore among them od always had a Church not only because be had thousands who never bowed the knee to baal but even they whose knees were bowed to Baal were also of the visible Church of God Of the same judgment are Bishop Davenant Dr. Primrose Zanchy and Episcopius in the fore-cited places § VII Now to admit the Church of Rome to be in the large sense a true visible Church of Christ serves no designs of Popery and is sufficient to justifie the Ordinations and succession of the Clergy of the Church of England For I. admit the first Reformers of our Church received their Ordination from those Bishops which were themselves guilty of Heresie or Schism or both and therefore no true living Members of Christs body nor any other ways to be reputed Members of the Church visible than Schismaticks and Hereticks may be This is abundantly sufficient to justifie our Ordination and Succession and our entrance into the visible Church by Baptism conferred by them For of the Baptism of Hereticks without exception and therefore of those Hereticks who by the judgment of the Universal Church have been esteemed Idolaters Sess 7. cap. de Bapt. Can. 4. the Church of Rome in her Trent Council hath determined that it is valid and hath pronounced an Anathema on those who say the contrary Jews Hereticks Part 2. Cap. II. Sect. 24. and Infidels may confer true Baptism saith the Roman Catechism as many Antient Fathers and Decrees of Council teach particularly the General Council of Constantinople and the sixth General Council held in Trullo the Council held at Florence and the Lateran Council Moreover that the Ordination of Hereticks is valid Preface to his Answer to several Treat Sess 7. Can. 9.23 Can. 4. Cap. 68. Act. 1. the Learned Dr. Stillingfleet hath largely proved from the definition of the Trent Council from the Code of Canons of the African Church from the judgment of the second Nicene Council from the General reception of this Doctrine in the Roman Church for as Morinus witnesseth De Sacris Ord. Part 3. Exercit 5. c. 1. n. 12. the opinion of the validity of Orders conferred by Hereticks hath only obtained in the Roman Church during the last four Centuries to which I add the definition of the first Nicene Council in the Case of the Cathari Can. 8. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Con. Nicen. 2. Act. 1. p. 68. or the Novatian Hereticks that they returning to the Catholick and Apostolick Church should remain in that Order of Clergy in which they were only receiving 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the imposition of hands for benediction and reconciliation and that if any of them were found either in Villages or Cities to be the only Bishops that were there Ordained they should continue in that same rank Whereas concerning the Pauliani who as St. Austin thinks De Haeres Cap. 44. did not observe the essentials of true Baptism the Council doth determine that if any of them should be found among the Clergy they should be Rebaptized and then receive 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Ordination by some Bishop of the Catholick Church Can. 19. so that the Ordination of the Novatian Hereticks who were very numerous and whose Bishops had continued in a long Succession at Constantinople Ephesus Socrat. Hist Eccles l. 2. cap. 38. p. 114. l. 7. cap. 11. at Cyzicum and in most other places is by this great and holy Synod here pronounced valid and they who were Ordained by their Bishops were not received into the Church as Greeks or degraded into the rank of Lay-men whereas by reason of some fundamentla error in the case of Baptism it is determined that the Pauliani who were of their Clergy should be by Baptism admitted first into the Church and then by Ordination of the Bishop into the number of the Clergy The judgment of St. Austin is so clear in this point that we need nothing more to evidence the Faith and practice which then obtained in the Church For that the Ordination of Hereticks is valid he both asserts against the Donatists and proves by these two mediums 1. That their Baptism being valid according to the determination of the Church their Ordination must be deemed so there is no reason Lib 2. Contra Epist Parm. c. 13. saith he that they who cannot lose their Baptism should lose the power of giving Baptism to others for they both of them are Sacraments both of them are given by Consecration one when the person is Baptized the other when he is Ordained and therefore in the Catholick Church it is not lawful
2. saith that the Apostle seems to speak of a departure from the Catholick Faith not that all shall recede from it but that the major part shall do so Bellarmin adds that it is certain that it will be so L. 13. Doct. Prin. c. 2. L. 2. de temp nov c. 15. To the same purpose speak Stapleton Acosta with divers others And all this they ground upon those passages of the Revelation which seem very concluding to this sense and clearly to intend it as the slaughter of the two witnesses by whom the Orthodex members of the Church is understood the flight of the woman that is the Church into the Desert and the worship which the whole world will then pay to the Beast Where note that these Witnesses which represent the Church are but two and they at last are slain Rev. xiii 7 16. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Aret. in locum and that the Dominion of Antichrist is over all Kingdoms Tongues and Nations and he is said to cause the earth and him that dwelleth therein to worship him and both small and great rich and poor free and bond to receive his mark All which seemeth to signifie as much as the testiinonies forecited Now seeing it is Prophesied concerning Antichrist that he should exalt himself above all that is called God Rev. ix 20. and of the people of those Antichristian times that they should worship Devils and Idols of Gold and Silver and of Brass and Stone and of Wood which can neither see nor hear nor walk Rev. xiii 12. and that the earth and they that dwell therein should become worshippers of the Beast and of his Image therefore it must be also Prophesied that Idolatry should reign and spread it self over the Christian World CHAP. IV. The Contents Ob. 3. That if the Church be guilty of Idolatry the Gates of Hell would have prevailed against her Answered by shewing that by this phrase the Gates of Hell errors in Doctrine or Corruption in manners cannot be understood but only the state of death § I. Ob. 4. That if the Church be Idolatrous she cannot be Holy Answered by shewing what is the Holiness of the Church visible § II. Ob. 5. We grant the Papists may be saved and consequently must grant they are not guilty of Idolatry Answered I. by shewing that moderate Papists grant that Protestants may be saved whom yet they charge with Heresie and Schism and such like damning sins § III. 2. That their Repentance for their unknown sins and consequently their unknown Idolatries may obtain mercy for those who wanted means of better information § IV. 3. That in the same circumstances we believe that Idolaters may be saved ibid. Ob. 6. The Church of Rome cannot be guilty of Idolatry because we do acknowledg her to be a true Church Answered I. By shewing that true Church may still continue so to be when it is guilty of Idolatry § V. 2. That the Church of Rome may be a true Church in that large sense in which the Protestants confess she is so and yet be guilty of Idolatry they only saying that she is a true visible Church in that sensein which Heretical and Idolatrous Churches may be so § VI. To admit the Church of Rome to be in this sense a true visible Church is sufficient to justifie the Ordination and Succession of our Clergy I. Because the Ordination of Hereticks is valid § VII And so is also the Ordination of Idolaters § VIII Some of our Divines acknowledg that in the Church of Rome when Luther first begun his Reformation there was a saving profession of the truth of Christ § IX This acknowledgment is explained and the inference thence made that the Church of Rome was not then Idolatrous though Idolatry prevailed much in it ibid. Ob. 7. That if the Church of Rome be truly charged with this crime she must be guilty of Heathenish Idolatry answered by shewing that she is so only in that sense in which all Idolatry may be stiled Heathenish § X. And 2. by divers instances of such Idolatry which in the judgment of the Romanists themselves is not exclusive of salvation ibid. § I Ob. 3 AND this is all that is needful to be said in answer to this Argument p. 125. But yet ex abundanti I will add some remarks upon those Arguments which T. G. and R. H. do further offer to demonstrate 1. That the whole Church of Christ cannot be guilty of Idolatry which is the minor proposition of this objection And first T. G. thus Argues that if the Church which is Christs Kingdom could Apostatize so far as to enjoyn and allow the belief and practice of Idolatry the Gates of Hell would have prevailed against it but the Gates of Hell cannot prevail against it Ergo. Answ These words the Gates of Hell do not contain a promise of preservation of the Church from sin or error of what kind soever but only signifie that all true Christians who die in the Lord shall be delivered from death and shall obtain a joyful Resurrection For the Gates of Hell in Scripture phrase do never signifie the power of Heresie or Satan sin or error but both in the Old Testament the Jewish writers and the Antient Heathens it constantly is used to signifie the state of death as will be evident to any person who consults the places cited in the Synopsis and doth with them compare the passages in which this phrase is used in the Old Testament and in the Jewish writers I said Es xxxviii 10. saith Hazekiah in the cutting off of my days 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I shall go to the Gates of Hell I am deprived of the residue of my years and what is in the Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Gates of death is by the Septuagint Translated 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Gates of Hell Chap. xvi 13. Mac. v. 37. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Praepar Ev. l. 1. c. 3. p. 7. D. Job xxxviii 17. Thou hast the power of life and death saith the Author of the Book of Wisdom 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 thou bringest down to the Gates of Hell and raisest up again They cryed to the Lord to have mercy on them now being even at the point of death 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 at the Gates of Hell Nor did Eusebius doubt the truth of this exposition of the words for he declares that God had hereby promised that the Church should not be overcome by death and that by virtue of this one voice Vpon this rock will I build my Church and the Gates of Hell shall not prevail against her the Church continues not subdued by her enemies nor yielding to the Gates of death 2 This Scripture may concern the Church considered as invisible Ecclesia in iis est qui aedificant supra petram i. e. qui audiunt verba Christi faciunt Aug. de unit Eccl. c. 16. c. 18. De Bapt.
all honour dignity function and power ecclesiastical as was the case of Anthimus the intruder into the See of Constantinople and may be censued as unfit to be accunted Christians which was the censure that Felix the Third and a Roman Synod past upon Acacius but when the Church by proscribing and condemning them hath taken from them all it can it cannot ake away the power of Baptism and Ordination and therefore the Church Catholick hath judged that they who were Baptised and Ordained by Hereticks and Schismaticks have both true Baptism and true Orders and hath rejected those that think otherwise as Hereticks which both innumerable Synods and Orthodox Fathers among whom Austin doth excel have proved against the Luciferians the Donatists the Arians and other Pests of the Church § IX There be some eminent Divines among us who are I hope not without reason more candid in their apprehensions of the Roman Church before the Reformation admitting it to have continued when Luther and his friends began their Reformation to have been a Church in which Salvation might be had not only for the ignorant but also for many others who did not openly renounce Communion with her That we yield no more to our Adversaries now than formerly we did Appendix part 3. p. 880. saith Dr. Field in that we acknowledge the Latine or Western Churches subject to Roman Tyranny before God raised up Luther to have been the true Churches of God in which a saving profession of the truth of Christ was found and wherein Luther himself received his Christianity Ordination and power of Ministry I will first shew that all our best and most renowned Divines did ever acknowledg as much as I have written Now that which doth induce them thus to judg was the consideration of these things 1. That notwithstanding those very many and very grievous errors which then obtained too generally and which were too much countenanced by the most powerful members of the Roman Church there still remained a profession and acknowledgment of so much truth as being joyned with Piety might be sufficient to bring her members to eternal life If at this day saith Bishop Vsher Sermon before his Majesty at Wansled p. 28. we should take a survey of the several professions of Christianity that have any large spread in any part of the world as of the Religion of the Roman and the Resormed Churches in our quarters of the Aegyptians and Aethiopians in the South of the Graecians and other Churches in the Eastern parts and should put by the points wherein they differ one from another and gather into one body the rest of the Articles wherein they all do generally agree we should find that in those propositions which without all controversie are universally received in the whole Christian world so much truth is conteined as being joyned with holy obedience may be sufficient to bring a man to everlasting Savlation neither have we cause to doubt but that as many as do walk according to this rule neither overthrowing that which they have builded up by super-inducing any damnable Heresies thereupon nor otherwise vitiating their holy Faith with a lewd and wicked conversation peace shall be upon them and mercy Which doctrine he confirms 1. from the constant practice of the Apostles in their first receiving men into the society of the Church For saith he in one of the Apostles ordinary Sermons we see there was so much matter delivered as was sufficient to convert men to the Faith and make them capable of Baptism and yet these Sermons treated only of the first principles of the Doctrine of Christ in these first principles therefore must the foundation be contained and that common unity of Faith Ibid. p. 20. which is required in all the members of the Church Again p. 16. As there is a common Salvation so is there a common Faith which is alike precious in the highest Apostle and the meanest believer for we may not think that Heaven was prepared for deep Clerks only and therefore besides that larger measure of knowledge whereof all are not capable there must be a rule of Faith common to small and great which as it must consist but of few propositions for simple men cannot bear away many so is it also requisite that these Articles should be of so much weight and moment that they may be sufficient to make a man wise unto salvation If then Salvation by believing these common principles may be had and to Salvation none can come who is not first a member of the Catholick Church of Christ it followeth that the unity of Faith generally requisite for the incorporating of Christians into that blessed Society P. 17. is not to be extended beyond these common principles Which may farther be made manifest unto us by the continual practice of the Catholick Church herself in the matriculation of her Children and first admittance of them into her Communion For when she prepared her Catechumeni for Baptism and by that door received them into the cougregation of Christs Flock we may not think her judgment to have been so weak as to omit any thing herein that was essentially necessary for the making of one a member of the Church Now the profession which she required of all that were to receive baptisin was for the Agenda or practical part an abrenuntiation of the Devil the World and the Flesh with all their sinful lusts and works and for the things to be believed an acknowledgment of of the Articles of the Creed which being performed solemnly she then baptized them in this faith intimating thereby sufficiently that this was that one faith commended to her by the Apostles Ibid. p. 17. as the other that one Baptisin which was appointed to be the Sacrament of it And that the creed of the Apostles as it is explained in the latter Creeds of the Catholick Church was esteemed by the general suffrage of the Greek and Latine Fathers and the whole Antient Church See P tters answer to Charity Mistaken § 7. from p. 216. to 233. Mr. Chill c. 4. § 83 8â— Bishop Tayor diss part 2. l. 1. § 4. a sufficient Summary or Catalogue of fundamentals that even by the Trent Council the Trent Catechism and the best learned Romanists it is acknowledged so to be is very largely and convincingly demonstrated by many eminent Writers of our Church 2. They add that those prevailing doctrinâ—s which thwarted the great fundamentals of our faith and made salvation more difficult were indeed docrines strongly then prevailing in but not received and owned as Articles of Faith by all themembers of the Church of Rome Answ to Charity Mistaken § 3. p. 64 65. In the latter Ages before the Reformation saith Dr. Potter though the Court of Rome by cunning and violence had subdued many noble parts of Christendom under her yoke yet the servitude of that Church and her misery was somewhat more supportable
because these base and pernicious adjections were not yet the publick decisions or tenets of any Church but only the private conceits of the domineering Faction Of the Church l. 3. chap. 8. p. 85. We most firmly believe saith Dr. Field all the Churches of the world wherein our Fathers lived and dyed to have been the true Churches of God in which undoutedly Salvation was to be found and that they which taught embraced and believed those damnable errors which the Romanists now defend against us were a faction only in the Church as were they that denyed the Resurrection urged Circumcision and despised the Apostles of Christ in the Churches of Corinth and Galatia So Bishop Brambal frequently Dr. Potter § 3. p. 76. Others do charge these things not on the Church but Court of Rome betwixt which two there might be some considerable distinction then though now there is no difference betwixt them in any of those Doctrines which concern the objects of their worship 3. Dr. Field Append part 3. p. 881. They add that the Roman Church that then was though it had in it all the abuses and superftitious observations it now hath yet it had also others who desired the removal of all those abuses and superstitious observations which we have removed the Roman Church which then was was the whole number of Christians subject to Papal Tyranny whereof a great part desired nothing more than to shake off that yoke which as soon as he began to oppose himself they presently did but the Roman Church that now is is the multitude of such only as do magnifie admire and adore the plenitude of Papal power or at least are contented to be under the yoke of it still The gross corruption of the service of the Church was then complained of by all good men Idem Append. to his third Book of the Church p. 190. and amongst other Articles of Reformation they desired that the Breviaries and Missals might be purged Now in respect of those persons who were the prevailing faction of the Church maintaining these corrupt Doctrines as Articles of Christian Faith and upholding these superstitious abuses and pertinaciously persisting in their errors the Roman Church saith Dr. Field was verè Ecclesia truly a Church Append. 3. part p. 882. that is a multitude of men professing Christ and Baptized but not vera Ecclesia a true Church that is a multitude of men holding a saving profession of the truth in Christ But in respect of those who groaned under the yoke who secretly disliked and disowned her corrupt Doctrines and earnestly desired and wished the Reformation of her superstitious abuses and of those also who submitted to them only for want of better information in those obscure times the Roman Church was vera Ecelesia a true Church that is a multitude of men holding a saving profession of the truth in Christ So the Church of the Jews at the coming of Christ had in it the Scribes Pharisees and Saduces as well as Zachary Elizabeth Simeon and Anna in respect of the former it was truly a Church but not a true Church in respect of the latter it was a true Church Ob. But why then did not these persons if they were of any considerable number more publickly oppose what they so much disliked Answ If you look into Father Pauls History of the Council of Trent you will find them censuring most of their determinations you will find there the German Bishops determining against the adoration of Images in a Provincial Council and delcaring that the Saints departed are to be honored but with the worship of society and love P. 278 279. as also gadly men may be honored in this Life Which Explications saith Father Paul being well considered do shew how much the opinions of the Catholick Prelates of Germany do differ fromt hose of the Court of Rome youwill there also find sthem quarrelling with that saying of the Synod that Divine worship was due to the Sacrament as improper and saying it was well corrected in the sixth Canon which said that the Son of God was to be worshipt in the Sacrament 2. There was no reason to expect more open opposition of these Doctrines and abuses there being no probability of success against the Court of Rome which was then very powerful and had not only worsted mighty Princes but used extreme severity against such dissenters destroying them without all mercy V. Mr. Dodwel Answer to Qu. 2. p. 59 67. which had all the Bishops engaged to them by their oaths and worldly interests which lastly declared all things Heresie in which men differed from them and prosecuted them upon that account with the extremest infamy and highest punishments here then we have a true Western Church not Idolatrous before the Reformation in which Salvation might be had Ob. 7 § X But saith R.H. if the Church of Rome be guilty of that Idolatry with which the Writers of the Church of England charge her Discourse p. 76 77. she must be guilty of Heathenish Idolatry for according to Dr. Stillingfleet and others her Idolatry is the same with that of Heathens and surely that excludeth from Salvation and must be inconsistent with a true Church Answ When we say the Idolatry of the Church of Rome is the same with that of Heathens we do not mean that it is so either in reference to the object viz. those evil spirits which the Heathens worshiped or in respect of the rites with which they worshipped their Deacons viz. human sacrifices and unclean performances but only in this respect that both of them do worship the creature for the Creator or give that worship to the creature which belongs to God alone 2. Although the Papists be in some single actions guilty of Idolatry yet do they in the general service of their lives give God the honor due to him they pray to God trust in him they praise and love him and perform to him all the positive duties of the first Table though they do not perform them all to him alone whereas the Heathens paid their whole worship to their Demons and gave no worship to the God of Israel they were without God in the world Ephes ii 12. saith B. Paul and God was without service from them Rom. i. 21. and even they that knew God yet did not glorifie him as God Now that Idolatry which robs God of his whole service performing it intirely to evil spirits or in an undue manner may very well be damnable and inconsistent with the being of a Church whilst that which is consistent with the performance of all those positive duties which we ow to God and doth not wholly rob him of any part of our Religious worship may not deserve so hard a censure This is apparent 1. From the instance of St. Leo Sermon 7. in Nativ Dom. who speaks of some foolish persons who from some eminent places did
the extremity of madness and stupidity for any man to worship what he eats or eat what he doth Worship i.e. to worship as the Church of Rome commands all men to worship under the highest penalties and therefore it is plain Phrensie to imagine the determination of the Trent Council and the Doctrine of the Church of Rome to be agreeable to truth When we call Wine Bacchus saith Cicero and our Fruits Ceres we use the a Cum frugâ—s Cererem vinum Liberum dicimus genere nos quidem Sermanis utiâ—ur usitato Sed eâ—quam tâ—m amentem esse putas qui illad quo vâ—scatur Deum credat esse Cicero Nat. Deâ—r Lib. 3. common mode of speaking but do you think any of us so mad as to imagin that which he eats to be his God Averroes was a learned Heathen who flourished about the XL Century when this portentous Doctrine first obtained in the Christian World which he could not forbear to brand in this sort b Apad Person Eâ—â—â— l. 3. cap. 29. p. 973. Vide etiam 12. Metaph. I have enquired into all Religions and have found none more foolish than the Christians because that very God they worship they with their teeth devour and thus he concludes because the Christians eat what they do worship let my soul go to Philosophers Lib. 2. de Euch. Cap. 12. § 2. And Bellarmin himself confesseth that this amongst the Infidels was always judged to be stuliissimum paradoxum as from the words saith he of Averroes doth appear Hence as the highest calumny which the Mahumetans can cast upon us we are by them reproached as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the Devourers of our God And Mounsieur La Boulay informs us that being angry with him Voyag Part. 1 cap. 10. p. 21. Armed Ben. Edris apud Hosing Hist Eccles Sec. 16. par 2. p. 160. they amongst other names of infamy did call him Infidel and Mange Dieu i. e. an Eater of his God Nay they affirm that by thus eating of his flesh the Christians use him worse than did the Jews that crucified him because say they it is more salvage to eat his flesh and drink his blood than only to procure his death Baruch vi 72. the Prophet Jeremy in his Epistle to the Captive Jews informs them that what the Babylonians worshipped should afterwards be eaten and by this saith he you may know they are no Gods Why therefore should not the same argument suffice to shew the vanity of the supposed Godhead of the Host If as it follows there these Gods which shall be eaten be a reproach unto the Country where they are adored this Romish God must be a great reproach to all those Christian Countrys where he is eaten and adored Some of the Antient Fathers do represent this as the extremity of folly that men should worship that which other Nations eat If it be pious for all the worship God saith Origen â—Contra Celsum 5. p. 249. according to the custom of their Country as Celsus pleads then must some worship that which by other Nations is destroyed or eaten and consumed at meals for some esteem it pious to worship a Crocodile and to devour that which is adored by others some count it piety to adore a Calf and others to Deifie a Goat and would not these things introduce a great confusion into the Laws of Justice Piety Contra Gentes p. 25 26. and Religion This Athanasius reckons as an instance of the abominable and the repugnant worship of the Aegyptians that the same Fish which some of them did Consecrate as a God was made the food of others The Aegyptians saith he do adore a Calf the Lybians worship Sheep both which in other Nations are sacrificed and fed upon this saith he is a certain indication of the folly of the Heathen worship can we then possibly conceive these very Christians did dayly worship as their God what they themselves and others who participated with them did continually eat Moreover some of the Fathers do represent this as the most evident conviction of the folly of the Heathen Worship and Religion that they devoured what they themselves adored Do you not worship Nonne Apim bovem cum Aegyptiis adoratis pascitis p. 32. and also feed upon an Ox which you call Apis saith Minutius and is not this as great a folly as the worship of an Asses-head which without shew of reason you object against us Christians They saith Theodoret who changed the image of the incorruptible God into the likeness of Birds and beasts and creeping things should have considered that some of those beasts were eaten by them and should not they by parity of reason who adore the Host as their Creator and their incorruptible God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Com. in Rom. i. 23. consider that this Host is eaten by them but they saith he through the extremity of madness and stupidity did Deifie the Images of that God which themselves have eaten and if the Host which they themselves confess to be truly stiled the Image of our Lord be worshipped as a God and eaten by them must not the Romanists betruly charged with like stupidity and madness 3. Some of the Fathers do expresly say that 't is the extremity of madness to worship what we eat and that God by the prohibition of unclean beasts and by permitting his own people to eat the clean designed to preserve them from the irrational folly of the Heathens who worshipped birds and beasts c. God saith Theodoret seeing that men would fall to such extremity of madness as to worship beasts as Gods the better to restrain that wickedness permitted that they should be eaten which in the judgment of Theodoret was the most natural preservative against this mad Idolatry because saith he 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 qa 55. in Genes it is the highest folly or stupidity to worship what is eaten God therefore doth pronounce some living creatures clean and some unclean that abborring the unclean they might not Deifie them Again he adds that God pronouncing some beasts unclean and others clean persuades us not to think that any of them could be Gods for how can any man of sense think that to be a God which he abominates as unclean Quest XI in Levit. p. 104. D. or which is offered to the true God and eaten by himself He farther saith that God enjoyned the Jews to eat those Creatures which the Aegyptians worshipped as Gods Ser. 7. ad Graecos Infideles p. 150. ed. Sylb. that they might be induced to despise what they did eat For knowing that they were superstitious and yet were lovers of their Guts he cures one Disease by another and to their supperstition he doth oppose their appetites for causing them to abstain from Swines flesh as unclean which was the only flesh the Aegyptians fed upon and by his Law permitting them to eat of other creatures as
things should be changed that had obtained in the Church to hazard their own lives by speaking their minds freely when they could do but little good and being more desirous it should be done by others than themselves Who knows not that when the reformation was begun by Zuinglius and Luther they were encouraged and approved of by the best and the most learned of that Age And that innumerable persons did presently embrace and testifie their approbation of their Doctrine which is an evidence beyond exception of their good inclinations to it Doth not Elias complain that all besides himself in Israel had shamefully revolted to Idolatry and yet we are assured by God himself that the was certainly deceived And if such a great Prophet erred in his judgment touching his own time and his own Country why may not you mistakein thinking that in the former Ages of the Church all the professed members of it did bow the knee to your Baal 2. There is no necessity there should be Histories or Records of all those persons who disliked any of the practices which commonly obtained in the Church Apud Hott Hist Ecc. Sec. 16. Part. 2. p. or were possessed with that hatred of the false worship generally received Cat. test ver l. 19. p. 867. as Wesselus was or said as did Domitius Calderinus when by his friends constrained to go to Mass Eamus sanè ad communes errores Nor 3. Is it necessary that all the Histories and Records of this kind which have been written should remain and much less that they should continue perfect and uncorrupted especially considering your Church which had lately all the power in her hand hath been so wickedly industrious by her Indices expurgatorii to corrupt all Histories Records and Monuments of Antiquity which make against her But to omit all these advantages I shall ex abundanti shew the falshood of this suggestion in all those three particulars out of those Records which yet remain and have escaped her destructive hands And § III 1. Idolatry as it imports 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The worship or religious service of an Idol or the similitude of any thing in heaven or earth made to be worshipped in the service of Religion I say Idolatry in this which is the prime and natural import of the word was not the practice of the whole Church of Christ for many Ages before Luther For 1. The German and the French Churches saith Cassander Consult Cap. de Imag. p. 201. after the Council held at Frankfort most constantly continued for some Ages in that sentence which they first received from the Church of Rome viz. That Images were neither to be broken nor yet to be worshipped If then the German and French Churches continued firm in this opinion for some Ages after the Council held at Frankford A. D. 794. they must have constantly maintained it in the VIII and the IX Centuries And that they held the same opinion in the IX Century is evident from Agobardus Bishop of Lyons who was make Bishop by consent of the whole Clergy of that Nation For he wrote a Book against this Image-Worship Sect. 30. wherein he hath declared that it is contrary both to Scripture and Tradition and the Doctrine of the Old Roman Church Sect. 35. and also that whosoever worships any molten or graven Image doth not honor God Quod omnes tum in Gallia ut etiam Sirmondo observatum est consentiebant Balhuz Not. in Agobar p. 88. or Angles or holy men but Idols and in which he doth fully Answer the exceptions and evasions of the Roman party And yet Balbuzius and Sirmondus do ingenuously confess that Agobardus hath writ only that which the whole Church of France did then acknowledge Moreover in this IX Century the Second Nicene Synod was declared to be a Pseudo Synod or falsly to retain the name of Synod L. Contra Hincmar Laudun Cap. 20. Ad. A. D. 792. A. D. 794. Chrot A. D. 794. because it Decreed for Image-worship by Hincmarus Rhemensis and Ado Viennesis In the X. Century it is so stiled by Regino Abbas Prumiensis In the XI by Hermannus Contractus an Author of great Credit and Reputation in the world And that the Germans continued of the same mind in the XII Century Lib. 2. de Imp. Isaachi Angel F. 199. is evident from the plain words of Nicetas Choniates who saith that then among the Germans and Armenians the worship of Holy Images was equally forbidden And that the French Church then believed the Doctrine of the Second Nicene Council to be against the definition of the Orthodox and Antient Fathers is evident from the Continuator of Aimoinas De Gestis Francorum l. 5. c. 28. who plainly tells us that the Fathers of the Nicene Synod otherwise decreed concerning Image = worship than the Orthodox Doctors had before defined And Ivo Bishop of Chartres then declared this to be the judgment of the Council of Eliberis Nos illas non adoramus l. 1. c. 3. Num. 1. that Pictures ought not to be worshipped but that they only should be memorials of what is worshipped Was it then received by the French Church in the XIII Century No Durandus a French Bishop in his Rationale doth expresly say we do not worship Images and he moreover gives this admonition to them that do so L. 4. C. 39. N. 3. If neither men nor Angels are to be worshipped let them consider what they do who under pretence of Piety do worship divers Images for it is not Lawful to worship that which is made with hands Was it then received in the XV. Comp. Theol. in explic praecepti primi Ed. Paris 1606. Century No Gerson Chancellor of Paris who flourished Anno Domini 1420. saith we do not worship Images and that they are forbidden to be worshipped and that the words of the commandment Thou shall not bow down to them nor worship them must be thus interpreted Thou shall not bow thy body or thy knees unto them thou shall not worship them with the affection of thy mind When therefore was it that this Image-worship obtained in the Gallican Church Answ Pithoeus doth ingenuously confess that it is but of yesterday If we be willing saith he Praes in Hist P. Diaconi seriously to confess the truth it is but very lately that our people began to be in love with Images Moreover in the VII Century it was condemned by a Karolus Rex Franciae misit Synodalem librum ad Britaniam sibi à Constantinopoli directum in quo proh dolor multa inmconvenientia verae fidei contraria reperichantur maximè quod poene omnium Orientalium doctorum unanimi assartione confirmatum fuerit Imagines adorari debere quod omnino Ecclesia Dei execratur contra quod scripsit Albinus Epistolam ex authoritate divinarum Scripturarum mirabiliter dictatam illamque cum eodem Synodali libro in
l. 6. c. 3. 24. Contr. Don. l. 3. c. 18. Orig. in Matt. Hom. 1. not as visible for as the Fathers say it concerns those only which are built upon the Rock and such are only they who hear the words of Christ and do them Now as in the defection of the Church of Israel to Idol Worship 7000 souls remained who had not bowed the knee to Baal so may it be in the defection of the Church visible into the like sin § II Ob. 4 But saith R. H. of the Catholick Chuch Disc p. 75. we say in our Creed I believe one Holy Catholick Church but how is it Holy if it may fall into and teach so gross and so manifold Idolatry Answ Even as the Church of Israel and Judah was Holy notwithstanding their Idolatry and wickedness and the City of Jerusalem was Holy notwithstanding the wickedness of the people that lived in it the Church is therefore always Holy Expos on the Creed p. 343. saith the Reverend and Learned Bishop Pearson 1. In reference to the vocation by which all the members of it are called and separated from the rest of the world to God which separation in the Language of the Scriptures is a sanctification and so the calling being Holy 2 Tim. i. 9. for God hath called as with an holy calling the body which is separated by it may well be called Holy 2. In relation to the Offices appoined and the powers exercised in the Church which by their institution and operation are holy and so that Church for which they were appointed and in which they are exercised may be called Holy 3. Because whosoever is called to profess Faith in Christ is thereby engaged to Holiness of life according to the words of the Apostle let every man that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity 4. The Church is stiled Holy because the end of constituting a Church in God was for the purchasing a Holy people and the great design of it was for the begetting and increasing Holyness that as God is originally Holy in himself so he might communicate his sanctity of the Sons of men whom he intended to bring to the fruition of himself to which without a previous Sanctification they cannot approach because without Holiness no man shall see the Lord. But as for real inward Holiness either it is necessary to constitute a member of the visible Church or it is not if it be not then can it not be necessary to constitute any part of the whole Church visible and consequently it is not necessary to constitute the whole and so it is not necessary to believe that the Catholick visible Church is thus Holy if it be said that this inward Holiness is necessary to make a member of the visible Church then are none to be reckoned or approved of as members of the Chuch visible who are not inwardly Holy nor is a wicked Bishop or Church-Governor to be obeyed because such are not members of the Church and are without the Church and therefore have no right to Govern these within 2. Seeing I can have no assurance that any members of a Council are inwardly Sanctified it follows that I can have no assurance of the truth of their definitions because I can have no assurance that they are members of the Church to which the promise of Divine assistance is confined Disc 3. ch 10. §. 115. unless perhaps R. H. will say that the acceptation of their definitions is an evidence of the Sanctification of the Major part of the Council which he may say with as much reason as that it is an evidence that they were truly Ordained and Baptized Ob. 5 § III Moreover it is objected that Protestants confess that Papists may be saved from which confession it will follow that they are not Idolaters because the Scriptures frequently declare that no Idolater can be saved P. 75. Idolatry saith R. H. is an error which excludes from salvation for it must needs be a mortal sin and so unacknowledged and unrepented of it must not only hazard but destroy salvation Answ To this objection we answer 1. By retortion thus it is confessed by Papists that Proestants may be saved from which confession it will follow that they are not guilty either of Heresie or Schism because the Scripture hath declared concerning these offences Gal. v. 21. that they who do such things shall not inherit the Kingdom of God that Protestants may be saved is confessed implicitely and consequentially 1. By those who do assert that even an Heretick Vide St. Clar. Problem 15. whilst he conceiveth his own Sect more credible is not obliged to believe because the Faith is not sufficiently propounded to him for if he be not obliged to believe he cannot sure be damned for not believing what the Church proposeth 2. That they are to be excused who labor under the want of Teachers 3. That they do many of them labor under that ignorance which is invincible and therefore doth excuse from sin it is confessed more expresly by many sober Papists Exomol p. 546. Ed. Par. 1647. for Mr. Cressy hath declared in behalf of all his Brethren that Catholicks will not doubt to say that to many thousands of our Religion neither their Heresie nor their Schism shall prove de facto damnable but that supposing they die with an intention to renounce whatsoever of their opinions should appear to them to have been erroneous their invincible ignorance N. B. caused by Education misinformation of Catholick Doctrines c. may probably find pardon from our merciful judg The incomparable Chillingworth concludes from the Concessions of Mr. Knot Ch. 1. Part. 1. S. 4. that whatsoever Protestant wanteth capacity or having it wanteth sufficient means of instruction to convince his Conscience of the falshood of his own and the truth of the Roman Religion may be saved notwithstanding any error in his Religion which is indeed the conclusion of Mr. Knots discourse in these words thus we allow Protestants as much Charity as Dr. Potter spares us for whom he makes ignorance the best hopes of salvation 2. That nothing hinders but that a Protestant dying a Protestant may die with contrition for his Schism and Heresie and doing so may be saved for saith Mr. Knot when the man that is esteemed a Protestant dyeth we do not instantly conclude him in Hell because we know not what light might have cleared his errors or what contrition retracted his sins And this is sutable to the determination of many Roman Catholicks that Christians may be absolved who are ignorant of that which under pain of mortal sin they are obliged to know because they may be contrite for their ignorance and be desirous to learn Prob. 15. p. 97. Sancta Clara speaking of our English Protestants saith thus I wholly judg many of them free from all crime and that if after Baptism received they exert acts of
unhappy circumstances he hardly could discover to be errors 3. I answer that if the defect of a particular Repentance for or an acknowledgment of every mortal sin committed by a Christian will certainly obstruct the possibility of his Salvation then the Salvation of a Papist must be exceeding hazardous upon their own avowed Principles for it is evident beyond denial and proved by a late Author that Roman Casuists do teach The Practical Divinity of Papists c. that Murther Fornication Uncleanness Adultery Theft Lying Anger Revenge Reviling Drunkenness and Covetousness which is Idolatry and all those sins which by the Scriptures are pronounced mortal and so exclusive of the soul from Heaven are either in some cases which may often happen none at all or only venial sins 't is also certain that these Casuists are often subject to very gross mistakes in passing this determination when a sin is venial and when 't is mortal and very often contradict each the other nay some of them confess they are not able 〈…〉 â—um 〈…〉 ialia 〈◊〉 à Gra 〈…〉 i non exâ—â—â—imur taceâ—â—â—citra culpam â—â—ssunt Sess 14. c. 5. after all their study to lay down any certain rules in this particular If then the Lay-man being deceived by his Priest judge that to be only a venial sin which in reality is mortal he being also taught by the trent Council and his Roman Doctors that he may without fault conceal a venial sin and not at all confess it he according to the Doctrine of R. H. must be condemned to eternal misery for following the judgment of his blind mistaken Priest Ob. 6 § V It is objected that a true Church R. H. Disc 78. whilst it continues so to be cannot be guilty of Idolatry since therefore we acknowledg the Church of Rome to be and to continue a true Church we cannot truly say that she is guilty of Idolatry Answ It is already truly answered by the Reverend and Learned Dr. Stilling fleet Answ to Sev. Treat Part. 1. p. 20. that this objection is very disingenuous because it doth not answer any of those Arguments which we have used to prove the Church of Rome Idolatrous but only doth oppose the judgment of Charity to that of Reason which doth engage us to conclude they are Idolatrous and therefore to believe that if Idolatry be not consistent with the true being of a Church we err in this our Charitable judgment and therefore stand obliged to reverse it For instance suppose one of the Church of Judah should have called the Chuch of Israel in the time of Jeroboam a true Church because they did acknowledg the true God and did admit the Law of Moses in all other matters and did believe the acknowledgment of those truths to be sufficient to preserve the essentials of a Chuch among them and afterwards the same person should endeavour to convince the Ten Tribes of their Idolatry in worshipping God by the Calves of Dan and Bethel would this be thought a sufficient way of answering him to say that he contradicted himself by granting them a true Church and yet charging them with Idolatry No the true consequence would be that he thought some kind of Idolatry consistent with the being of a Church and if this were not so his Charity must be mistaken provided that his reason could not be gainsayed 2. That a true Church may yet continue so to be when it is guilty of Idolatry may be made evident from the consideration of the Jewish Church For first that the whole Church ws guilty of Idolatry in worshipping the golden Calf the Romanists do not deny the Scriptures having clearly said that by so doing they changed the image of the incorruptible God into the Similitude of a Calf Ps cvi 19 20. That they who worshipped the Calf did offer Sacrifice to an Idol Acts vii 41. and more expresly that they were Idolatrous 1 Cor. 10.7 2. That notwithstanding this Idolatry they still continued to be Gods Church and People if he had then a Church on earth is evident and therefore Verse 14. it is said that God repented of the evil which he thought to do unto his peoples Moreover that the worship of the Calves which Jeroboam had set up in Dan and Bethel was Idolatry is evident from these considerations 1. That it was a worship like to that of the Golden Calf which we have proved to be Idolatrous 2. God so esteemed this action for thus he speaks to Jeroboam 1 King xiv 9. Thou hast done evil above all that were before thee for thou hast gone and made thee other Gods and molten Images to provoke me to anger 3. These Calves are by the Scripture called Idols Hos viii 4 5. 2. That even from the time of Jeroboam to the Captivity of Israel the worship of the Calves was the Established Religion of the Ten Tribes For from the time of Jeroboam even to the days of Hosea that is the time when Israel was carried away into Assyria we find not any King of Israel who Reigned above one Month of whom it is not said expresly that he walked in all the ways of Jeroboam the son of Nebat and in his sin wherewith he made Israel to sin Moreover it is said expresly that when once Jeroboam had prevailed with Israel to commit that great sin of worshipping the Calves of Dan and Bethel the Children of Israel walked in all the sins of Jeroboam which he did they departed not from them till the Lord removed Israel out of his sight Whence it must necessarily follow that from the days of Jeroboam to the Reign of Hosea the Church of Israel continued in her Idolatry 3. That God during that time or at the least some portion of it did still esteem and own them as his Church and people for Jehu was by a Prophet of the Lord Anointed King over the people of the Lord N. B. even over Israel 2 Kings ix 6. Israel was therefore then the people of the Lord though they continued in the sins of Jeroboam as also Jehu did 2 Kings x. 29. 2 King xiii 6. 2. In the days of Jehoahaz it is Recorded that the Children of Israel departed not from the sins of Jeroboam who made Israel to sin but walked in them 2 King xiii 23. and yet it is Recoded also that then the Lord was gracious to them and had compassion on them and respect to his Covenant with Abraham Isaac and Jacob and would not destroy them nor cast them from his preence as yet Now his Covenant with Abraham Isaac and Jacob was this that he would be their God and the God of their seed after them to have respect to this Covenant must therefore be to continue still to be their God and own them for his people 3. They with whom God was present amongst whom he walked in the midâ—â— of whom he dwelt and with whom he was God in Covenant were still