Many more promises might be collected out of the Old Testament but I come to shew Fourthly that Christ by his own mouth and by the mouthes of his Apostles hath promised to us likewise such a Church Mat. 16. 19. Upon this Rock I will build my Church which he had foretold by his Prophets should be of so vast extent And the Gates of Hell shall not prevail against it Mat. 18. 17. He that will not hear the Church let him be unto thee as a Heathen or a Publican but if Christ by his spirit doth not preserve this Church from all possibility of teaching me error instead of a truth I may from this Church which Christ obligeth me to hear and unto which obligeth me to submit receive such errors as may damn me Mat. 28. 20. And Loe I am with you alwaies even unto the end of the World this must be meant of the visible Church which was to be in every Age for the Apostles were not to live and to Baptise and teach alway unto the end of the world And therefore if the same assistance and presence of Christ was promised to the Church after the Apostles I think we shall not doubt but that it is the same that is infallible But that it may clearely appear that the Assistance promised by Christ to his Church extended to an infallible security from all errors consider Iohn 14. 16. I will pray the Father and he shall give you another Comforter that he may abide with you for ever even the spirit of Truth whom the world cannot receive and v. 26. The Comforter which is the Holy Ghost whom the Father will send in my Name he shall teach you all things and bring all things to your remembrance whatsoever I shall say unto you and ch 16. 12. I have many things yet to say unto you but you cannot hear them now howbeit when the Spirit of Truth is come he will guide you into all truth But all Truth excludeth all Errors and this for ever which was longer then the Apostles were to live If we therefore enquire by what means this teaching shall be by whom the people shall be taught all Truths and how preserved from all errors St. Paul will tell us Eph. 4. 11. He gave some Apostles succeeding in full Apostolical Authority some Prophets expounders of the Prophets some Evangelists Preachers of the Gospel some Pastors and Teachers to what end For the perfecting of the Saints for the work of the Ministry for the edifying of the body of Christ For what time Till we all come in the Union of the faith But will these secure us the next verse will tell you That we henceforth be no more children tossed to and fro and carryed about with every wind of Doctrine by the sleight of men and cunning craftiness whereby they lye in waite to deceive Gods intent then was to provide such means for mankinde as might secure them in their beleif in every Age that they might not be deceived by the cunning craft of false Teachers such as now think themselves able by pretending inward Lights Private Spirits and evidence of Scripture by themselves Interpreted to teach us a doctrine contrary to all those who for almost fifteen Ages before them have been and none others teaching a contrary Faith can be named who have been the Apostles Prophets Evangelists Pastours and Teachers in the Visible Church of Christ In the last place I shall urge that Text of St. Paul to Timothy 1. Tim. 3. 15. The Church of the Living God the Pillar and ground of Truth And may we not securely rely upon that Pillar which God hath erected for us and found our Faith upon that Ground of truth which the God of all truth hath given us for that end To elude their plain and evident Texts I know you are wont to say in the first place that they may have other Interpretations and therefore this is not the truth But will not the same reason hold the Apostles cited many Texts of Scriptures and interpreted them so as to prove Christ the Messias and his Doctrines to be true whereas those Texts might have had other interpretations therefore the Interpretation put on them by the Apostles were not true Who sees not the weakness of this Argument Can you shew with any assurance that these Texts are not capable of these interpretations If not then according to your own principles these interpretations may be true for you who say the contrary are not infallible but may be mistaken Another answer which you use to give is that you are willing to agree that so long as the Church of Christ teacheth conformable to Scripture she is infallible and so long as she doth her Duty she may and ought to be beleived But this is as weak as the former for who sees not that it gives the Church no more priviledge nor allowes it to have any more benefit from these promises then the Divel hath for so long as he teacheth conformable to Scripture he may be beleived A straw may be a Pillar until it bends and Quick-sands sure ground until they yield What assurance can we have that the Holy Apostles did their duty in writing what the Holy Ghost did dictate unto them For if they did not their writings are not to be beleived consequently we are not nor can we be infallibly secure that the Scriptures which we have were dictated by and are by Inspiration from God If you can answer this so as to be secure that the Apostles did their duty the same will be our answer that the present Visible Catholick Church of Christ at all times doth her Duty The fift Argument is that the Church of God was this Rule and Judge this only means to convey Faith and this infallible Guide and Authority when our Blessed Saviour was alive and before the New Testament was written and also in the Apostles times both before and after the whole New Testament was written If not I obliege you to shew some evident Text which proves certainly that after the New Testament was written the Church in the Apostles time was deprived of this priveledge and Authority and that it had been no sinne then to oppose or not submit to the guidance direction government and authority of the Apostles But if notwithstanding this you shall without giving any other Reason insist that the Apostles were this infallible Rule and Judge in their times only until the Canon of Scriptures was finished and then lost their Authority when they had compleated the Canon I pray consider what will be the consequence in case it stands proved that the Canon of Scripture which they finished is now uncompleated by the loss of those Epistles and parcels of the Apostles writings which I have proved to be lost Will it not follow that for the same Reason that an infallible living rule and Judge was necessary before the Canon was compleat the same is now necessary some part
deceived therfore this not the Rule Nor hath this any effect amongst those who pretend it for by this none of them ever as yet reconciled any differences but each pretender grows perverse and obstinate and seperates from all who pretend to have the spirit as well as himself and so endless Heresies and Schisms arise without any possibility to allay them or for either the Learned or the Ignorant to judge which of these bold pretenders hath a true spirit In the mean time it will not possibly be hard for a sober man to find that they are all of them governed by the Spirit of Error who pretend thus audaciously if he considers well the Rule which St. Iohn gives for discerning the spirit of truth from the spirit of error 1 Ioh. 4. 6. v. We are of God he that knoweth God heareth us he that is not of God heareth not us Hereby know we the Spirit of Truth from the Spirit of Error As if he should have said Christ hath placed Apostles and Teachers and Doctors to govern and teach his Church we are those and therefore of God therefore whoever pretends to know the Will of God must hear and obey and submit unto us or it is evident what he saith is but a pretence and he doth not indeed know God nor is he of God for if he did know God or were of God he would certainly hear us Here therefore is your Rule to know true from false spirits The spirit of truth is alwaies remaining with that Authority which God hath placed in the World to teach truth to the world and bring them to the Faith and all that are actuated and lead by this spirit are taught by it to submit to this Authority and to hear those whom God hath sent and doth send by this Authority since Faith only comes by hearing those who are truly sent but the spirit of error is a spirit of Pride which refuseth to submit to that Authority which God hath set up and heaping to themselves Teachers having itching eares turn away their ears from the Truth 1 Tim. 4. v. 3. 4. By this I saw that although the Rule and the Judge which I looked for must have the assistance and influence of the Holy Ghost the Spirit of Truth yet it could not be every private man or woman who laid claim to such influences and who could no more satisfie another that they are guided by the Spirit of Truth then many who are cast into Bedlam for affirming themselves to be God can evince themselves to be so and whose affirmations for ought I know are as concluding as the other In this therefore I was satisfied The next thing which I considered was Reason which I found could not possibly be this Rule and Judge that I sought for because first it was to submit as a Subject and Vassall to that Rule and Judge therefore it could not be it Secondly it was fallible and strangely apt to mistake which is against the Nature of this Rule and Judge to be For if God should obliege us upon pain of damnation to submit unto and to be governed ruled by an Authority that might deceive us and might teach us that for a truth which is not we should be bound to beleive that for true which is not so and yet be damned for not beleiving the truth Thirdly if Reason were to be this Rule and Judge then it would follow contrary to the Scripture that it is not impossible to please God without Faith for Reason would teach us sufficiently how to please God yea it would be a breach of this rule to beleive what we do not understand and then every Religion would be the truth consequently contradictions would be true consequently there would be many Religions and not only not one faith but no faith at all for there is scarce a man living but his reason differs from anothers understandings and judgements differing as much as Faces and Reason excludes faith Therefore no one that followes his own Reason could in justice be condemned by God consequently all men would be saved unless peradventure you will say that in a business of such consequence as the salvation of our souls our private Reason perswades us to prefer the Authority of such as are wiser then our selves before our own judgements which is most true But then I inferr that Roman Catholicks are the most rational people in the world and consequently have the best Religion as acting most conformably to Reason for they rely upon the Authority of General Councels consisting of the ablest and most Learned men of all Nations which is the greatest Authority to be found on earth especially if they have the assistance of the Holy Ghost as it appears they have both by the testimony of Scripture and the constant tradition of all Ages Lastly that would probably be the truth and the true faith to one man this year which seven years hence would be an error and a false faith to the same person for in such a compass of time a mans reason hath such an alteration Upon these grounds I concluded that certainly God in his good Providence had appointed a more sure Guide Rule and Judge to bring me to the infallible faith of Christianity then my own Reason The next thing in order to be considered was the Scriptures whether these were solely sufficient to teach us the true Faith and from time to time to direct Rule and Govern us and to be this Rule and Jude to whose sentence and determination to whose directions and Authority all were to submit and which was to supply unto us the place of Christ and the Apostles And indeed I found this highly contended for and several Reasons urged for it First the words of our Saviour Joh. 5. 39. Search the Scriptures for in them ye think ye have Eternal Life and they are they which testify of me But to this I found several answers given which to me were a satisfaction For first it doth not appear whether this in the Original be the Imparative or Indicative Mood St. Ciril with whom Beza agrees takes it in the Indicative Mood and then the sence runs thus You do search the Scriptures because in them you have an Opinion that you have Eternal Life and yet even those Scriptures are so far from being against me that they testify of me so that I shall be no waies prejudiced if I should joyne issue with you and try my cause by your own Rule And in this sence they are so far from proving what they are produced for that they prove directly the contrary they are so far from being a command to all to read or search or make Scripture the sole Rule and Judge that they rather seem a reprehension to all who shall frame that conceit of the Scriptures Secondly these words cannot extend to prove this conclusion if they were in the Imparative Mood which can never be proved infallibly because they
this is far from saying that meerly her owning of infallibility doth make infallibility her own It is a very different thing to say He that must be a Minister must needs be a man and not a woman and to say That such a one must needs be a minister because he is a man and not a woman So it is one thing to say the Church which is the infallible Judge must be a Church judging and holding and professing her self to be infallible and cannot be a Church which judgeth and professeth her self to be fallible And another quite different thing to say that such a Church is the infallible Judge because she teacheth and professeth her self to be so Not be not I pray so far mistaken as some are usually and wilfully if not maliciously to think that when I speak of the Roman Church I intend the Church of the Diocess of Rome and so pretend to make a perticular Church to be an Universal and the Universal or Catholick Church of Christ No I entend by the Roman Church all that vastly extended community of christians which liveth in communion with and in subjection and Obedience unto the Bishop of Rome as to their Supream Pastour and Governour on Eearth in things appertaining unto faith next under Christ This is the Flock of Christ adhering to the true Shepheard appointed them by God And now dearest Friends I have no more to say but only entreat you in the bowels of Charity to learn by heart that most pretious lesson of our sweet Saviour viz. Learn of me for I am meek and humble of heart And that you may be in a ready way to learn this remember in order to it that Lesson which I mentioned before of his beloved Apostle St. John 4. 6. We are of God he that knoweth God heareth us he that is not of God heareth us not hereby know we the spirit of truth and the spirit of error There was nothing then required to distinguish these two spirits but to hear or to refuse to hear the Apostles and seeing St. Paul saith Faith comes by hearing It will be as necessary now to hear in our times those who are lawfully sent to teach it as it was in the times of the Apostles If therefore ye hear no body or follow those who at first and in their beginning heard no body you refuse to hear those who are sent to teach you And then according to St. Iohn it is evident you are lead by the spirit of error Consider these things and be happy according to the Prayers of Your true Friend and well-wisher in the best things ROBERT EVERARD POSTSCRIPT I apprehend that it is not impossible but that some of you will be attempting to answer this Letter and endeavouring to shake these Principles which have by Gods Grace proved of strength to win me to the Holy Catholick Faith To such I shall only give these cautions First that they will be pleased in their Answer to set down my own words as they lye intirely and without maiming them If they shall please to answer by Paragraphs and to set down each of my Paragraphs wholly and sincerely before their Answer to the same Paragraph I shall own their Candor and Iustice But if they Answer by setting up a Puppit of their own pretended to be mine they will not make mine but their own Arguments ridiculous and will not deserve a Reply from me or to be regarded by any one Secondly that they will forbear all Reproaches and Slanders against the Catholick Church or Catholicks in general or in perticular this is a fault to which Protestants are too much addicted in general but most Perticularly those of the Presbiterian and Independent perswasions they have alwaies used to deal with Catholicks as they did with His late Majesty of glorious memory and with our most dread Soveraign that now is and their party viz. to impute crimes to them without end and errors innumerable without taking care to examine whether what they charged them with was true or false So if they can throw Dirt enough upon the Catholicks and impute Opinions unto them sufficiently monstrous all is well they know the major part of the Nation to be byassed with interest and ready enough to beleive what ever is suggested against those whom they call the Common Enemy and that thousands will admit a thing for truth if they find it in Print rather then take the pains to examine whether it be true or not and therefore have no difficulty to cast forth untruths with as much confidence as if themselves were satisfied that all they publish is dictated by the Holy Ghost As for those who are and shall be guilty of these crimes I only wish them the like Repentance which St. Augustine had for the like errors committed by himself whilst he was a Manichaean of which he makes this mention St. Aug. the 6. book of his Confes c. 3. towards the end I blush even full of Joy in regard that I found my self thereby not to have barked against the Catholick Faith but against the Fancies and Fictions of carnal thoughts But yet I have been rash and impious in that I had said those things accusingly which I ought to have learnt inquitingly Nor do not I beseech you take a liberty to upbraid me as if I had some private ends in my present Change but be pleased to consider that I am now united to a Communion whose portion in this Kingdome is to suffer to be poor and scorned to want preferments and suffer affronts from every hand who shall please to give them Whilst I was at the head of a Troop of Horse in the Rebellious Army a sin which I hope my dearest Saviour hath forgiven me I having heartily asked pardon of my God as I here do of my Soveraign for the same I was in a condition to rise and thrive and glut my sences with what this world called good and pleasing But I thank my Saviour I am now brought home to that Church of His which teacheth me to suffer and be humble to give Obedience to Authorities for Conscience sake to become a servant and a learner not a master or a Teacher to hear those that are lawfully sent to take care of my Soul and not to usurps the Office of the Priests or proudly to intrude my self into that Sacred Function I must for ever hereafter cease to be contentious and let my Prince or those who are in Authority under him determine what they please in relation to my body or Estate I hope I shall at all times hereafter follow the blessed Precepts of God which I receive from the mouth of his Church and from the Holy Scriptures namely To make Supplications and Prayers and Intercessions and giving of thanks for all men for Kings and all that are in Authority that I may lead a quiet life in all godliness and honesty 1 Tim. 2. v. 1. 2. And to those who shall be otherwise minded I shall only say We have no such custome amongst us in the Church of God FINIS This is taken out of Mr. Johnsons reply to Mr. Baxter called Novelty Repressed Fo. 142. 143 c. The Books which I here intend are The Question of Questions the before mentioned Novelty repressed with Fiat Lux and that Elaborate Treatise called Infidelity Unmasked or a Confutation of a Book Published by Mr. Wil. Chil. Fagworth See Jus Divinum upon Presbytery P. 69. 70 See Answorths Advertisement to the Reader in the end of his Anotations upon Deute touching objections made against the Heb. Text. †As touching the English Translations and the Hebrew and Greek Copies which are now extant amongst us See John Goodwin his Treatise upon Divine Authority of Scripture asserted from Page 4. unto pag. 19 c.