are most eagerly promoted by such as deride those great Truths which they all own to be fundamental They that jointly believe the Truth and the Divine Authority of the Holy Scripture are set to wrangling among themselves about some of its most obscure and unnecessary Places by them that believe none of it and for not mutually embracing and practising upon those most important Points whereon we are agreed we expose those Doctrines of our common Salvation which we all profess to the Contempt of the prophane and incredulous World Secondly The other Pillar which together with the Holy Scripture strongly Supports of our Faith is the Christian Creed We find also for this the same Consent of all Christian Churches they are unanimous in the Belief and Profession of it and hold all its Articles to be those great and necessary Truths without which none can be saved Whereas the several Contents of the Bible although equally true yet are not of an equal Concern and are too numerous to be carried in mind There was a Collection of those principal Points which are necessary to all drawn and appointed from the Beginning as a Form of sound Words or a Summary of the Christian Saving Faith This we call the Apostles Creed and this I say in all Ages of the Church and in the full Extent of it hath been received as a Confession of that Faith without which none can be saved Go to Rome or to Geneva or among the Lutherans or the Moscovites or the Greeks or Ethiopians as many as call on the Saving Name of Jesus do thus make Confession of their Faith in him Besides that each Article is very expresly and in many Places revealed in the Holy Bible here is the unanimous Agreement of the whole Church from first to last in every Nation and every Period of Time from the Days of Christ that this is the Badge and Cognizance of a Christian Believer and that the Profession of this Belief is the Faith once delivered to the Saints which shall endure to the End of the World Into this Faith and none other all Christians are baptized in all Communions thereby to be made Members of Christ's Catholick Church and Heirs of everlasting Life if they keep it unto the End whole and undefiled Thus for the believing any of those Points contained in the Apostles Creed or any of the Histories Promises or Commands deliver'd in Holy Scripture a Christian hath the best Warrant he can have for the Belief of any thing upon Earth even the joint Attestation of the whole Church of every Age who testified publickly and sometimes sealed their Testimony with their Blood that the Bible is the Word of God and the Creed is the Faith of Christ However Christians have fal'n out about other things as to these they are at one The Belief of this engageth you into no Dispute with any Here is a very great Number of most marvellous Transactions and gracious Promises and righteous Laws and important Predictions which are own'd by all to be Divine and infallibly true Your Belief and Profession of these depend not upon your Fancy or the Opinions of private Guides or the Tradition of your Countrey or of your Party but upon the unanimous Witness of millions of wise and good Men Apostles Martyrs Confessors and all those numerous Christian Societies dispers'd over the World which make up the universal Church Here is enough owned of all sides to make up an happy Agreement betwixt all Churches The having the same Bible and the same Creed is a very firm and large and lasting Foundation for Peace Here are all things that are of the greatest Moment for Faith and a good Life for the Service of God and the Salvation of our Souls every where receiv'd and profest He that should weigh the Importance of each of those Truths which are acknowledged by all would wonder what it is that can divide Christians and make them so fierce and uncharitable one against another We see Bigots of different Communions damn and destroy one another as if they were not Partakers of the same Nature and joyned together by owning the same God and the same Saviour and all the chiefest Articles of the same Religion Besides Mens Ignorance and Malice and intemperate Zeal no account can be given of the unbeseeming Contentions of Christians among themselves but that the things wherein they differ are of a present Concernment for Wealth or Dominion Secular Interest and humane Passions no doubt have made the Breach and they that secretly laugh at all Religion and neither regard the Creed nor the Word of God set on the Zealots to dispute and for their own Ends make use of the Contention when all this while there is a vast Collection of Truths for Comfort and Contempt of the World for Meekness and mutual Love profest to be firmly believ'd by all Parties engag'd But as Men are always craving and pursuing new things rather than they will make an Estimat of what they have receiv'd because they love to extend their Desires rather than to be satified and to be thankful so they rather chuse to wrangle and dispute about the meanest Punctilios wherein they are at odds than to rest in the greater things wherein they are agreed because they love to talk and to contend better than to practise and embrace each other This unsettles some Men that they know not what to believe and gives great occasion to the prophane to despise Religion as if all the Talk about it were arbitrary and uncertain they magnifie the Variety of Opinions and make as if the whole were matter of Contest when they see the Contenders act as if they were agreed about nothing Whereas I say all the great Articles have always been unquestioned notwithstanding the Peevishness of some and the ill Designs of others still the same Rules of Holiness and the same Points of Belief have remained constant and embraced by all The same Divine Revelation and the same Christian Faith have every where prevail'd and in the midst of all Disputes been preserved and acknowledged So that the whole Substance and all the necessary Parts of Religion have always been sacred confest and reverenc'd by all Christian Churches The twelve Articles of our Creed and all the uncontroverted Truths revealed in Holy Scripture make up a Body of Divinity so full so excellent and so comprehensive that if we compare it with the Uncertainties and Dissentions that were every where in the Heathen World at the first preaching of Christianity we shall look on its Professors as very harmonious and very well agreed There were never so many things so Great so Wonderful of so infinite a Concern to Mankind so strongly attested or so firmly believed by such infinite Multitudes of civiliz'd and knowing Men in all Parts of the World for so many Ages together Here is a Foundation whereon every good Christian may build Peace and Charity towards all his Brethren of
whatever Countries or Communions they be and may establish a sure Hope of eternal Happiness to his own Soul if he doth heartily profess and obey those undoubted Truths which are embrac'd and acknowledged by all Christian Churches He that is fully persuaded of the Truth of Christianity and willing to depend for his Salvation upon that plain and essential Part of it which is confessed by all and to lay the great Stress of his Hopes and of his Obedience upon his Creed rather than upon controverted Points he hath what will comfort his Soul and encourage him to live well and he is safe peaceable and unmoveable in the midst of all Divisions he may be doom'd and called Names by them that would impose their Opinions as Articles of Faith but it doth him no harm whilst he stands firm upon the Rock of the Christian Creed and the Christian Life together These two are acknowledged of all sides to be both requisite and sufficient to Salvation Faith and Works together making up the whole Condition of that Gospel-Covenant to which is annexed the Promise of eternal Life Therefore in enquiring why they are all condemn'd as Reprobates that are not of the Roman Communion we must consider what are the Advantages peculiar to that Party I. Whether their Faith be more ancient and Catholick II. Whether their Worship be purer more conformable to God's Word III. And whether their Righteousness exceeds that of all others I. I begin with that Faith which is peculiar to Rome and is at large set down in the Introduction It indeed contains more Articles than that of any other Church and it may still receive further Encrease whilst their Popes and Councils can make and impose new Definitions as necessary but we believe that Saving Truths are neither made by Mens Authority nor evidenced by Number We are contented with that Faith once delivered by Christ and his Apostles and from the Beginning received by the whole Church and for this are declared Hereticks and adjudged to Perdition That Roman Faith about which we differ is made so essential and so necessary that their Converts are appointed by the Roman Pontifical in answer to the Bishops Questions that reconciles him to make an express Profession of it and if he were a noted Heretick even to swear to it condemning all to Damnation that embrace not the same and promising that if ever he acts or believes any thing contrary to that Oath he takes with both his Hands on the holy Evangils he will submit himself to the Severity of the Canons Although we be so far agreed with the Church of Rome as hath been seen before yet they lay so great a Stress upon their new Creed and derive so much of their Devotions from it That it is an astonishing and formidable Change to pass from our Church into theirs Besides the Surprise of their publick Worship which by a great Variety of Ceremonies Images and the Latin Tongue appears very strange They have a prescribed Form of reconciling Hereticks to which none can submit but they that are fully persuaded that those Opinions which became a Creed since the Council of Trent are Part of that Saving Truth of God which must be believed and profest under Pain of eternal Damnation It is not as some may fancy or perhaps are told when solicited to change that they shall find it very easy and be received upon what Terms they please But the Church of Rome as all other wise Societies hath its fixt Rules and Forms and follows them without taking Notice of the Talk or Thoughts of private Persons There is nothing can justify the Change or make it tolerable to a Man of Conscience but the being convinc'd of the Truth and Necessity of these Roman Doctrines which thitherto were no Part of his Creed When he hath search'd and us'd all proper means to understand the Points in Dispute and to satisfy himself and finds himself thoroughly persuaded that there is no Salvation in our Church and that the Belief and Worship peculiar to the Church of Rome are truly Christian and the necessary Terms of our Acceptance with God then is he oblig'd to follow his Light and to make Profession of what he believes to be Truth But till a Man be thus convinc'd his forsaking ours to joyn with the Church of Rome is a great Prevarication against God and Men that will make him odious to both and be inexcusable here and hereafter The formal Abjuration of all that the Roman Church doth condemn and the solemn Profession with a sacred Oath of all her Religious Doctrines and Practices in their full Latitude as is pretended in the Roman Pontifical should make every doubting Person amonst us very serious and very inquisitive cleerly to know what he doth leave and what he must embrace if he resolves to forsake ours and embrace the Roman Communion The case will be much more tolerable with them that were born and educated in that Persuasion if they are in a Mistake they having never profess'd nor perhaps had means to know any thing else is a Plea of which they are not capable who grown to Years of Discretion turn from one Church to another These had need take great Care that they deal uprightly and examine to the Bottom of things otherwise they mock God and Men and must expect to fare accordingly I do not deny but that Persons of Understanding and Sincerity may be prevail'd upon to pass from ours into the Roman Church for whilst Men are mortal they may err and be impos'd upon And may they all obtain Mercy that truly fear God and embrace what they judg to be his Truth though they be mistaken I only say that no Man educated amongst us that really believes his Christian Creed and would not throw his Soul away can make Profession of the Roman Faith till he becomes fully convinc'd of its Truth and Necessity For now it is not as it was before the Council of Trent when the Church of Rome it self had no other Confession of Faith but only the Christian which is common to all Churches and those Opinions which have since become Articles of the Roman Faith needed not be explicitly profest if they were but let alone and not disputed against Whereas now since Pius the 4th Hereticks so called that become Proselytes must make a solemn and express Declaration that they believe every thing that the Church of Rome doth either teach or practise and that they will submit and conform intirely to all that she prescribes either for Faith or for Divine Worship This I say no Man of Conscience or Honour can do till he become equally persuaded of the Truth and Necessity of the Roman as of the Christian Creed Confidence proves nothing and makes nothing to be really Divine and we all know that Religion is not what some Men will call so neither can we believe as we would or as we are bid we must have sufficient Reasons
Noise of Damnation dashing against them and therefore I will pursue things no further than to shew That neither the Judgment of our Adversaries nor any thing wherein both Churches disagree any ways endangers our future Happiness But that as to the securing the eternal Welfare of our immortal Souls ours is to be preferred before the Roman Communion A DISCOURSE shewing c. THE Concerns of Eternity being so tremendous and many not so well instructed as they should 't is no wonder if some Men are frighted with the fearful Sentence pronounced against them by the Zealots of the Roman Party To any Man serious or timorous Threats of Damnation are terrible even in the Mouth of a Mortal Creature Though it only betrays the Presumption of any sinful Man that dares sit on the Tribunal of his Almighty Judg yet because some are so tender and so weak in this Point as to be much disordered and dismayed to see themselves adjudged to Hell though it were but a Dream or a melancholy Fancy therefore it may be worth the while briefly to state the Case and consider on what Grounds they proceed that so freely pronounce our Doom And I doubt not but to make it appear that we want only their good Word or also their good Will when for Safety and a sure Foundation we are at least as well as they It may surprize and startle to see one stare and with great Confidence denounce that you are a dead Man that cannot live an Hour but having recovered your self and reflected upon 't you pass by without further Harm and smile at the Humour There is one Law-giver who is able to save and to destroy Who art thou that judgest another Our intire dependence is upon God as well for the state of Eternity as for the present We do not fall when we go hence under a new or an unknown Power neither are left to Mens Mercy but the same God by whom we were taken out of our Mother's Womb and to whom we were left when we hang'd yet upon her Breasts he that took care of us and provided for us here upon Earth is still to dispose of us in our future State And we shall be judged by him by whom we were made and redeemed This God whom we now serve and under whose Almighty Dominion we must ever remain is infinitely good He would have all Men to be saved and to come to the knowledg of the Truth Therefore he doth not seek Advantages against them nor lay Snares in their Way nor wrap up his Saving Light in Obscurity but deals with them in much Mercy making that Grace of his which bringeth Salvation appear unto all Men that they may know the Way to Life and clearly see what they must do to obtain Eternal Happiness This God shews Men by that Revelation he hath made of his blessed Will how they ought to walk and to please him Therein all things necessary are very plainly exprest that they may be understood of all And for a further Help and a greater Security to Men of all Capacities a Summary of Divine Truths such as are fundamental and needful was by times made and propagated together with the Christian Religion over all the World So that we have the Word of God and the Apostolick Creed both of them always attested by the whole Christian Church as two firm Pillars whereon to repose our selves That we might be strong and immoveable in the Faith assured that we are not imposed upon by our Guides and that length of Time hath made no Alteration but that we hold now the same things which were taught by Christ and received of his Church and that we make nothing necessary to Salvation which from the Beginning was not so First then The Word of God contained in the Holy Bible is by Consent of all that Saving Truth of God by which we must live and by which we shall be judged so that whatsoever is there written is to be embraced as certain and as coming from God Whether it relates to the Creation and the Government of the World or to the many Wonders which God wrought in former Ages to deliver his People and to confirm and attest his Revelation or to the Fall of Man and the Promise of a Saviour or to his Mission into the World and his accomplishing the great Work of our Redemption or to the Gospel-Promises and Doctrines and Mysteries or to Laws and Rules of Righteousness and Institutions of Divine Worship whatsoever it relates to it is to be embraced with an humble and obedient Faith Nothing is to be questioned that is contained in the Bible all humane Authorities and humane Reasonings must submit to it for the Bible is the Word of God Go into all the World and you shall find all Churches every where assert the same as well as we The Jews concur with us in the Divine Authority of the ancient Oracles before our blessed Lord's Coming But all Christians in every Part and in every Age of the Church embrace and reverence both the Old and New Testament as the Book of God wherein are contained the Declarations of his Will and the Words of eternal Life If you enquire what they thought of it in the first or second Ages after our Saviour or at any other time or if you go to the Eastern or African Churches or any the most remote Place where Christianity is profest you shall find all agreed in this that the Bible contains the Doctrine of eternal Salvation and is the Word of God This is not a thing wherein the Greeks differ from the Latins or Protestants from the Papists but is the firm Belief of all This is a most constant and invariable Tradition which for Extent of Time and Place is universal and therefore of the greatest Credit altogether unquestionable So here is a very great Number of Divine and undoubted Truths agreed upon by all the Christian World even all the plain and clear Propositions contained in Holy Scripture Although they be of things not seen that are past or to come yet being there revealed they are assented to by all And he that should deny any of them would be condemned by Christians of all Communions his refusing to acknowledg the Truth of any Contents of the Bible would be interpreted a Denial of God's Veracity because they are all perswaded that the Bible is the Word of God written by the Guidance and the Inspiration of his Holy Spirit He that rejects this Foundation on which all Christians are grounded ought never to concern himself in the Differences among them nor pretend to be of any Church for by his denying the Truth of that Revelation which they all own to be Divine and whereon they rely he makes himself an Infidel and a Party against them all And yet if we could see to the bottom of Things I doubt not but it would appear that the Disputes and Contentions which are among Christians
by joyning with the publick Worship whilst they attend and understand what the Church saith to God and what he saith to us are much improved in those great Principles of Religion which they learn'd in their Catechism and are made to grow in Grace and in the knowledg of the Lord. They have in these two what perpetually informs their Judgment and excites their Will to cleave to God and Goodness and after their best Endeavours to rely upon those infinite Mercies of God in Christ our Redeemer on which the greatest of Roman Champions confessed that it is most safe to repose our whole Trust and Confidence Answerable to those are the publick Exhortations of our Church by the Mouth of her Ministers and the Books of Religious Instruction wherewith she entertains her Children Their Time and Zeal and Attention are not taken up in Sprinklings Kissings of Reliques going in Pilgrimage visiting of Shrines paying devout Veneration to Saints and Images and reciting Beads and Rosaries and the Offices of St. Bridget or the like Neither these things nor any of this Nature which can neither instruct nor reform the World nor give Comfort to Christian Souls are recommended to our People They are clearly taught wherein true Religion and substantial Goodness consist and exhorted to lay on them the great Stress of their Hopes and of their Endeavours and devoutly to make use of those means of Grace which are of Divine Appointment and thereby to establish their Hearts in the Love of God and a chearful dependence upon the infinite Merits and Mercies of our dear Saviour Nothing of the whole Counsel of God is by our Church kept back from us our Belief is unquestionable being truly Primitive and Universal our Worship of God is according to his Will and his most blessed Nature and our Rule of Life and Conversation comprehends all Duties To fear God and honour the King and love one another and continue patient in well-doing Ours is indeed a Doctrine according to Godliness and of it it may be testified in the Words of St. Peter that it is the true Grace of God wherein we stand If we are not wanting to our selves we want nothing that can either shew us the Way to Happiness or help and forward us in it we ought to express our Charity to them that err and want many of those Blessings and Advantages which we have for the obtaining eternal Salvation we should earnestly pray for them and what we can promote their Instruction but by no means fear their Threatnings and Sentences of Damnation He that in earnest would go to Heaven and professeth Christianity not to obtain Favour with Men but to please God and to save his immortal Soul can be no where safer than in our Church Therein he professeth that Faith which all Christian Communions hold to be truly Divine and therein he may make his Calling and Election sure if he will but practise answerably to his Belief add to his Faith Vertue and not be unfruitful in the knowledg of our Lord Jesus Christ The more he understands his Religion the more he will love it and be convinc'd that he is in the right And the more carefully he lives according to his Profession with a Conscience void of Offence towards God and towards Men the more assurance will he have that he shall be happy All other Grounds of Hope besides Truth and Righteousness will prove vain But he that stands upon the Foundation of the Apostles and Prophets Jesus Christ himself being the chief Corner-Stone He that studies and minds his Duty and earnestly begs for the Divine Assistance that he may live to God and remain faithful unto Death he shall receive the Crown of Life though some presumptuous Men dare condemn him to Death Whatever Confidence or high Pretences some may have whatever Ways and Devices they invent for to gain Heaven Christ is the Way the Truth and the Life no Man cometh unto the Father but by him there is no other Name under Heaven given unto Men whereby they can be saved but only the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ He that calleth and believeth on him shall not be confounded Here let us fix and not regard what Men say nor what they can do But look unto Jesus the Author and Finisher of our Faith firmly relying on his Almighty Goodness who is able to save them to the uttermost that come to God by him being ever living to make Intercession for them FINIS BOOKS lately Printed for Richard Chiswell THE Pillar and Ground of Truth A Treatise shewing that the Roman Church falsly claims to be That Church and the Pillar of That Truth mentioned by S. Paul in his first Epistle to Timothy Chap. 3. Vers 15. 4o. The Peoples Right to read the Holy Scripture Asserted 4o. A Short Summary of the principal Controversies between the Church of England and the Church of Rome being a Vindication of several Protestant Doctrines in Answer to a Late Pamphlet Intituled Protestancy destitute of Scripture Proofs 4o. Two Discourses Of Purgatory and Prayers for the Dead An Answer to a Late Pamphlet Intituled The Judgment and Doctrine of the Clergy of the Church of England concerning one Special Branch of the King's Prerogative viz. In dispensing with the Penal Laws 4o. The Notes of the Church as laid down by Cardinal Bellarmin examined and confuted 4o. Preparation for Death Being a Letter sent to a young Gentlewoman in France in a dangerous Distemper of which she died The Difference between the Church of England and the Church of Rome in opposition to a late Book Intituled An Agreement between the Church of England and Church of Rome A PRIVATE PRAYER to be used in Difficult Times A True Account of a Conference held about Religion at London Sept. 29 1687 between A. Pulton Jesuit and Tho. Tennison D. D. as also of that which led to it and followed after it 4o. The Vindication of A. Cressener Schoolmaster in Long-Acre from the Aspersions of A. Pulton Jesuit Schoolmaster in the Savoy together with some Account of his Discourse with Mr. Meredith A Discourse shewing that Protestants are on the safer Side notwithstanding the uncharitable Judgment of their Adversaries and that Their Religion is the surest Way to Heaven 4o. Six Conferences concerning the Eucharist wherein is shewed that the Doctrine of Transubstantiation overthrows the Proofs of Christian Religion