the end and write over it Desinit in piscem The sum of this whole Paragraph is that all sorts of Protestants and others here in England do ridiculously contend about their several perswasions in Religion and put trouble on one another on that account whereas it is the Pope only that hath Title and Right to prescribe a Religion unto us all which is not to me unlike the fancy of the poor man in Bedlam who smiled with great contentment at their folly who imagined themselves either Queen Elizabeth or King James seeing he himself was King Henry the Eighth But seeing that is the business in hand let us see what is this Title that the Pope hath which Protestants can lay no claim unto It is founded on that of the Apostle to the Corinthians Did the Word of God come forth from you or came it unto you only This is pretended the only Rule to determin with whom the preheminence of Religion doth remain Now the Word came not out originally from Protestants or Puritans nor came it to them alone So that they have no reason to be imposing their conceptions on one another or own others that differ from them But our Author seems here to have fallen upon a great mis-adventure There is not as I know of any one single Text of Scripture that doth more fatally cut the throat of Papal pretensions than this that he hath stumbled on It is known that the Pope and his adherents claim a preheminence in Religion to be the sole Judges of all its concernments and the imposers of it in all the world What men receive from them that is Truth what they are any otherwise instructed in it is all false and naught On this pretence it is that this Gentleman pleads Nullity of Title amongst us as to all our contests though we know that Truth carries its Title with it in whose hands soever it be found Give me leave then to make so bold at least at this distance as to ask the Pope and his Adherents An à vobis verbum Dei processit an ad vos solos pervenit Did the Gospel first come from you or only unto you that you thus exalt your selves above your Brethren all the World over Do we not know by whom it first came to you and from whom Did it not come to very many parts of the World before you to the whole World as well as to you Why do you then boast your selves as though you had been the first revealers of the Gospel or that it had come unto you in a way or manner peculiar and distinct from that by which it came to other places Would you make us believe that Christ preached at Rome or suffered or rose from the dead there or gave the Holy Ghost first to the Apostles there or first there founded his Church or gave order for the empaling it there when it was built Would we never so fain we cannot believe such prodigious Fables To what purpose then do you talk of Title to impose your conceits in Religion upon us Did the Gospel first come forth from you or came it unto you only Will not Rome notwithstanding its seven Hills be laid in a level with the rest of the World by vertue of this Rule The truth is as to the Oral dispensation of the Gospel it came forth from Jerusalem by the Personal Ministry of the Apostles and came equally to all the world That Spring being long since dryed up it now comes forth to all from the written word and unto them who receive it in its Power and Truth doth it come and unto no other What may further be thought necessary to be discussed as to the matter of fact in reference to this Rule the Reader may find handled under that consideration of the first supposition which our Author builds his Discourse upon Sect. 4. Pag. 48. Heats and Resolution is the Title of this Section in which if our Author be found blameless his charge on others will be the more significant The Impartial Reader that will not be imposed on by smooth words will easily know what to guess of his temper In the mean time though we think it is good to be well-resolved in the things that we are to believe and practise in the worship of God yet all irregular and irrational Heats in the prosecution or maintenance of mens different conceptions and apprehensions in Religion we desire sincerely to avoid and explode Nor is it amiss that to further our moderation we be minded of the temper of the Pagans who in their Opinion-Wars we are told used no other Weapons but only of Pen and Speech For our Author seems to have forgotten not only innumerable other Instances to the contrary but also the renowned Battel between Ombos and Tentyra But this forgetfulness was needful to aggravate the charge on Christians that are not Romanists for their heat fury and Fightings for the promotion of their Opinions as being in this so much the worse than Pagans who in Religion used another manner of moderation And who I pray is it that manageth this charge Whence comes this Dove with an Olive-branch This Orator of Peace If we may guess from whence he came by seeing whither he is going we must say that it was from Rome This is their Plea this the perswasion of men of the Roman-Interest This their charge on Protestants To this height the confidence of mens ignorance inadvertency and fullness of present things amounts Could ever any one rationally expect that these Gentlemen would be publick decryers of Fury Wars and Tumults for Religion May not Protestants say to them Quae regio in terris nostri non plena cruoris Is there any Nation under the Heavens whereunto your power extends wherein our blood hath not given testimony to your wrath and fury After all your cursings and attempted depositions of Kings and Princes translations of Title to Soveraignty and Rule invasions of Nations secret Conspiracies Prisons Racks Swords Fire and Fagot do you now come and declaim about moderation We see you not yet cease from killing of men in the pursuit of your fancies and groundless Opinions any where but either where you have not power or can find no more to kill So that certainly whatever reproach we deserve to have cast upon us in this matter you are the unfittest men in the world to be mannagers of it But I still find my self in a mistake in this thing It is only Protestants and others departed from the Roman Church that our Author treats It is they who are more fierce and disingenious than the Pagans in their contests amongst themselves and against the Romanists as having the least share of Reason of any upon the earth His good Church is not concerned who as it is not lead by such fancies and motives as they are so it hath right where it hath power to deal with its Adversaries as seems good unto it This then Sir is
to mince the matter and give opportunity to new cavils and exceptions by babyâ—meâ—â—y-mouthed Petitions of some small things that there is a strife abouâ— when a man may as honestly all 〈◊〉 once suppose the whole Truth of his side and proceed without fear of disturbance And so wisely deals our Author in this business That which ought to have been his whole work he takes for granted to be already done If this be granted him he is safe deny it and all his fine Oration dwindles into a little sapless Sophistry But he must get the great number of Books that he seems to be troubled with out of the World and the Scripture to boot before he will perswade considerate and unprejudiced men that there is a word of Truth in this Supposition That we in these Nations received not the Gospel originally from the Pope which pag. 354. our Author tells us is his purely his whereas we thought before it had been Christ's hath been declared and shall if need be be further evinced But let us suppose once again that we did so yet we constantly deny the Church of Rome to be the same in Doctrine Worship and Discipline that she was when it is pretended that by her means we were instituted in the knowledge of Truth Our Author knows full well what a facile work I have now lying in view what an easie thing it were to go over most of the Opinions of the present Church of Rome and most if not all their practises in Worship and to manifest their vast distance from the Doctrine Practise and Principles of that Church of old But though this were really a more serious work and more useful and much more accommodated to the nature of the whole difference between us more easie and pleasant to my self then the persuit of this odd rambling chase that by following of him I am engaged in yet lest he should pretend that this would be a division into common places such as he hath purposely avoided and that not unwisely that he might â—â—ve advantage all along to take for graâ—â—â—d that which he knew to be principally in question between us I shall dismiss that business and only attend unto that great proof of this Assertion which himself thought meet to shut up his Book withall as that which was fit to pin down the Basket and to keep close and safe all the long Bill'd Birds that he hoped to Lime-twig by his preceding Rhetorick and Sophistry It is in pag. 362 363. Though I hope I am not contentious nor have any other hatred against Popery then what becomes an honest man to have against that which he is perswaded to be so ill as Popery must needs be if it be ill at all yet upon his request I have seriously pondered his Queries a captious way of disputing and falling now in my way do return him this answer unto them 1. The Supposition on which all his ensuing Queries are founded must be rightly stated its termes freed from ambiguity and the whole from equivocation which a word or two unto first the Subject and then secondly the Predicate of the Proposition or what is attributed unto the Subject spoken of and thirdly the proof of the whole will suffice to do The Thesis laid down is this The Church of Rome was once a most pure excellent flourishing and mother Church This good St. Paul amply testifies in his Epistle to them and is acknowledged by Protestants The Subject is the Church of Rome And this may be taken either for the Church that was founded in Rome in the Apostles dayes consisting of Believers with those that had their rule and oversight in the Lord or it may be taken for the Church of Rome in the sense of latter Ages consisting of the Pope its Head and Cardinals principal members with all the Jurisdiction dependent on them and way of Worship established by them and their Authority or that collection of men throughout the world that yield obedience to the Pope in their several places and subordinations according to the Rules by him and his Authority given unto them That which is attributed to this Church is that it was once a most pure excellent flourishing and Mother-Church all it seems in the superlative degree I will not contend about the purity excellency or flourishing of that Church the boasting of the superlativeness of that purity and excellency seems to be borrowed from that of Revel 3.15 But we shall not exagitate that in that Church which it would never have affirmed of it self because it is fallen out to be the interest of some men in these latter dayes to talk at such a rate as primitive humility was an utter stranger unto I somewhat guess at what he means by a Mother-Church for though the Scripture knows no such thing but only appropriates that Title to Hierusalem that was above which is said to be the Mother of us all Gal. 4.26 which I suppose is not Rome and I also think that no man can have two Mothers nor did purer Antiquity ever dream of any such Mother yet the vogue of latter dayes hath made this expression not only passable in the world but sacred and unquestionable I shall only say that in the sense wherein it is by some understood the old Roman Church could lay no more claim unto it then most other Churches in the world and not so good as some others could The proof of this Assertion lies first on the Testimony of St. Paul and then on the acknowledgement of Protestants First Good St. Paul he says amply testifies this in his Epistle to the Romans This what I pray That the then Roman Church was a Mother Church not a word in all the Epistle of any such matter Nay as I observed before thogh he greatly commends the faith and holiness of many Believers Jews and Gentiles that were at Rome yet he makes mention of no Church there but only of a little Assembly that used to meet at Aquila's house nor doth St. Paul give any Testimony at all to the Roman Church in the latter sense of that expression Is there any thing in his Epistle of the Pope Cardinals Patriarchs c any thing of their power and rule over other Churches or Christians not living at Rome Is there any one word in that Epistle about that which the Papists make the principal ingredient in their definition of the Church namely subjection to the Pope What then is the This that good St. Paul so amply testifies unto in his Epistle to the Romans Why this and this only that when he wrote this Epistle to Rome there were then living in that City sundry good and holy men believing in Christ Jesus according to the Gospel and making profession of the faith that is in him but that these men should live there to the end of the world he says not nor do we find that they do The acknowledgement of Protestants is next to as little
by his example he commends unto them But it will be said He only shews the uncertainties that are about Scripture that men may not expect by or from them deliverance from the darkness and ignorance before spoken of Suppose then they come to be perswaded of such an uncertainty What course shall they take Apply themselves to the Roman-Church and they are safe But seeing the being of a Church much less the Roman-Church hath no foundation in the light of Nature and men can never know any thing of it especially of its Prerogative but by and from the Scripture whose Authority you have taught them to question and made doubtful to them What remains for rational men but to renounce both Scripture and Church and betake themselves to your commendable piece of witty Atheism This is the old lurry The Scripture cannot be known believed understood but by the Church the Church cannot be proved to have Being Constitution or Authority but by the Scripture and then if you doubt of the Authority of that proof of the Church you must return to the Church again and so on until all Faith and Reason vanish or men make shipwrack of their Faith and become brutish in their Understanding pretending to believe they know neither what nor why And this imployment of raising surmises and stirring up jealousies about the Word of God it's Pen-men and their Authority do men put themselves upon I will not say to gratifie the Roman-Court but I will say in obedience to their prejudices lusts and darkness and saddest drudgery that any of the sons of men can be exercised withal And if he would be believed he professeth himself an Anti-Scripturist and in that profession which he puts upon himself an Atheist For my part I am amazed to think how men are able to hold their Pens in their hands that an horrour of the work they have before them doth not make them shake them out when they are thus traducing the holy Word of Christ and exciting evil surmises about it Should they deal with a man of any Power and Authority they might not expect to escape his indignation even to publish to all the World that he is indeed an honourable person but yet if men will question his Honour Truth Honesty Authority and affirm him to be a Cheat Thief Murderer Adulterer they cannot see how they can be disproved at least he would have a difficult task in hand that should endeavour to free him from objections of that nature Yet thus men dare to deal with the Scripture that Word which God hath magnified above all his Name If this be the Spirit that breathed in the Apostles the holy Army of Martyrs of old and all the Fathers of the Primitive Church I am much mistaken nay I am greatly so if with one consent they would not denounce an Anathema against such a defence of any Religion whatever But you will say The same person defends also the Scripture just as he in the Poet did Pelilius Me Capitolinus convictore usus amicoque A puero est causaque mea permulta rogatus Fecit incolumnis laetor quod vivit in urbe Sed tamem admiror quo pacto Judicium illud Fugerit A defence worse and more bitter then a down-right accusation I am not now to observe what prejudice this excuse brings to the cause of our Author with all intelligent persons having noted it once and again before nor what contentment Protestants take to see that the Truth they profess cannot be shaken without inducing men to question the Fundamental Principles of Christian Religion and if this course be persisted in for ought that I can understand the whole Controversie between us and the Romanists must needs be at last reduced unto this head Whether the Scripture of the Old and New-Testament was given by Divine Inspiration For the present having in the consideration of the general suppositions of this Treatise spoken before to this head I shall not need to answer particular Exceptions given in against its Authority nor do I think it incumbent on me so to do unless our Author own them for his sense which if he be pleased to do I promise him if God give me life to give him a distinct answer to every one of them and all that is contained in them Moreover these things will again occurre in his 15. Section where he expresly takes the Scripture to task as to its pleas for judging of and setling Men in the Truth Proceed we to his next Section p. 126. CHAP. VIII Use of Reason Sect. 11. THis Section is set apart for the cashiering of Reason from having any hand in the business we deal about and the truth is if our Author can perswade us first to throw away our Bibles and then to lay aside the use of our Reason I suppose there is no doubt but we shall become Roman-Catholicks This work it seems cannot be effected unless men are contented to part with Scripture and Reason all that whereby they are Christians and Men. But unless our Author have emptyed Circe's Box of Oyntment whereby she transformed Men into Swine he will confess it somewhat a difficult task that he hath undertaken Methinks one of these demands might suffice at once But he presumes he hath put his Countrey-men into a good humor and knowing them free and open-hearted he plyes them whilest they are warm We have indeed in this Section as fair a flourish of words as in any other but there can be but little reason in the words that men make use of to plead against Reason it self And yet I am perswaded most Readers think as well of this 〈◊〉 as any in the Book To whom the unâ—easonableness of this is evident that of the others is so also and those who willingly imbibe the other parts of his Discourse will little strain at this Nothing is to be trusted unto Prejudice Nor if we will learn are we to think strange of any thing Let us weigh then impartially what is of Reason in this Discourse against the use of Reason What ever he pretends he knows full well that he hath no difference with any sort of Protestants about finding out a Religion by Reason and adhereing only to its dictates in the Worship of God All the World of Protestants profess that they receive their Religion wholly by Revelation from God and no otherwise Nor is it about ascribing a Soveraignty to Reason to judge of the particulars of Religion so Revealed to accept or refuse them according as that shall judge them suitable or not to its principles and liking This is the Soveraign dictate of Reason That whatever God reveals to be believed is true and as such must be embraced though the bottom of it cannot be sounded by Reason's line and that because 〈◊〉 reason of a man is not absolutely reason but being the reason of a man is variously limitted bounded and made defective in its ratiocinations An objective
suppose do they believe it themselves for indeed if they do I know not how they can be freed from being thought to be strangely distempered if not stark mad For not to talk of the Tower of London this I am sure of That we have whole Cart loads of Comments and Expositions on the Scripture written by Members of the Church men of all Orders and Degrees and he that has cast an eye upon them knows that a great part of their large Volumes are spent in confuting the Expositions of one another and those that went before them Now whâ—t a madness is this or childishness above that of very Children to lye swaggering and contending one with another before all the World with fallible Mediums about the sense of Scripture and giving Expositions which no man is bound to acquiesce in any further than he sees Reason whilst all this while they have One amongst them who can infallibly interpret all and that with such an Authority as all men are bound to rest in and contend no further And the further mischief of it is That of all the rest This man is alwayes silent as to Exposition of Scripture who alone is able to part the fray There be two things which I think verily if I were a Papist I should never like in the Pope because methinks they argue a great deal of want of good nature The one is that we treat about That he can see his Children so fiercely wrangle about the sense of Scripture yet will not give out what is the infallible meaning of every place at least that is controverted and so stint the strife amongst them seeing it seems he can if he would And the other is That he suffers so many souls to lye in Purgatory when he may let them forth if he please and that I know of hath received no order to the contrary But the truth is That neither the Romanists nor we have any infallible living Judge in whose determination of the sense of Scripture all men should be bound to acquâ—esce upon the account of his Authority This is all the difference We openly profess we have none such and betake us to that which we have which is better for us They pretending they have yet acting constantly as if they had not and as indeed they have not maintain a perpetual inconsistency and contradiction between their Pretentions and their Practice The holy Ghost speaking in and by the Scripture using the Ministry of men furnished by himself with gifts and abilities and lawfully called to the Work for the oral Declaration or other Expositions of his mind is that which the Protestants cleave unto for the interpreting of the Scripture which its self discovers when infallible And if Papists can tell me of a better way I will quickly imbrace it I suppose I may upon the considerations we have had of the reasons offered to prove the insufficiency of Scripture to settle us in the Truth to end our differences conclude their insufficiency to any such purpose We know the Scripture was given us to settle us in the Truth and to end our differences we know it is profitable to that end and purpose and able to make us wise to salvation If we find not these effects wrought in our selves it is our own fault and I desire that for hereafter we may bear our own blame without such Reflections on the holy Word of the Infinitely Blessed God IX We are come at length unto the Pope of whom we are told That He is a good man One that seeks nothing but our good that never did us harm but has the care and inspection of us committed unto him by Christ. For my part I am glad to hear such news of him and should be more glad to find it to be true Our Forefathers and Predecessors in the faith we profess found it otherwise All the harm that could be done unto them by ruining their Families destroying their Estates imprisoning and torturing their Persons and lastly burning their Bodies in fire they received at his hands If the alteration pretended be not from the shortning of his Power but the change of his Mind and Will I shall be very glad to hear of it For the present I confess I had rather take it for granted whilest he is at this distance than see him trusted with Power for the tryal of his Will I never heard of much of his Repentance for the Blood of those Thousands that hath been shed by his Authority and in his Cause which makes me suspect he may be somewhat of the same mind still as he was Time was when the very worst of Popes exhausted more Treasure out of this Nation to spend it abâ—oad to their own ends thâ—â— some aâ—e willing to grant to the best of Kings to spend at home for their goods Iâ— may be he is changed as to this Design also but I do not know it nor is any pâ—oof offered of it by our Authoâ— Let us deal plainly one with another and without telling us That the Pope never did us harm which is not the way to make us believe that he will not because it makes us suspect that all we have suffered from him is thought no harm let hâ—m tell us how he will assure us That if this good Pope get us into his Power again he will not burn us as he did our Fore-fathers unless we submit our Consciences unto him in all things That he will not find out wayes to draw the Treasure out of the Nâ—tion nor absolve Subjects from their Allegiance nor excommunicate or attempt the Deposition of our Kings or the giving away of their Kingdoms as he has done in former dayes That these things he hath done we know that he hath repented of them and changed his mind thereupon we know not To have any thing to do with him whilst he continues in such Distempers is not only against the Principles of Religion but of common Prudence also For my parâ— I cannot but fear until I see Security tendered of this change in the Pope that all the good words that are given us concerning him are but Baits to enveigle us into his Power and to tell you the truth terrent vestigia How the Pope imployes himself in seeking our good which our Author paints out unto us I know not when I see the effects of it I shall be thankful for it In the mean time being so great a stranger to Rome as I am I must needs say I know nothing that he does but seek to destroy us Body and Soul Our Author pleads indeed That the care and inspection of our condition is committed to him by Christ But he attempts not to prove it which I somewhat marvel at For having professedly deserted the old way of pleading the Catholick Cause and Interest which I presume he did upon conviction of its insufficiency whereas he is an ingenious Person he could not but know that Pasce
he confesseth that he doth purposely conceal But the truth is it is easily discoverable there being few pages in the Book that do not display it The Reader then must understand that the plain English of all his Commendations of Moderation and all his Exhortations to a relinquishment of those false Lights and Principles which have lead men to a disturbance of the Publique Peace and ensuing Calamities is that Popery is the only Religion in the world and that centring therein is the only means to put an end to our differences heats and troubles Unless this be granted it will be very hard to find one grain of sincerity in the whole Discourse and if it be no less difficult to find so much of Truth So that whatever may be esteemed suitable to the fancies of any of them whom our Author courts in his Address those who know any thing of the holiness of God and the Gospel of that Reverence which is due to Christ and his Word and wherewith all the concernments of Religion ought to be mannaged will scarsely judge that that blessed Fountain of Light and Truth will immixe his pure beams and blessing with such crafty worldly sophistical devices or such frothy ebullitions of Wit and Fansie as this Discourse is stuffed withall These are things that may be fit to entangle unstable spirits who being regardless of Eternity and steering their course according to every blast of temptation that fills their lusts and carnal pleasures are as ready to change their Religion it men can make any change in or of that which in reality they neither leave nor receive but only sport themselves to and fro with the cloud and shadow of it as they are their cloaths and fashions Those who have had experience of the power and efficacy of that Religion which they have professed as to all the ends for which Religion is of God revealed will be little moved with the Stories Pretenses and Diversions of this Discourse Knowing therefore our Author's design and which we shall have occasion to deal with him about throughout his Treatise which is to take advantage from the late miscarriages amongst us and the differences that are in the world in Religion to perswade men not indeed and ultimately to mutual moderation and forbearance but to a general acquiescency in the Roman-Catholicism I shall not here further speak unto it The five Heads of his matter may be briefly run over as he proposeth them pag. 13. with whose consideration I shall take my leave of his Preface The first is That there is not any colour of Reason or just Title to move us to quarrel and judge one another with so much heat about Religion Indeed there is not nor can there be no man was ever so madd as to suppose there could be any reason or just Title for men to do evil To quarrel and judge one another with heats about Religion is of that nature But if placing himself to keep a decorum amongst Protestants he would insinuate that we have no reason to contend about Religion as having lost all Title unto it by our departure from Rome I must take leave unto this general head to put in a general Demurrer which I shall afterwards plead to and vindicate His second is That all things are so obscure that no man in prudence can so far presume of his own knowledge as to set up himself a guide and leader in Religion I say so too and suppose the words as they lye whatever be intended in them are keenly set against the great Papal pretension whatever he may pretend we know the Pope sets up himself to be a guide to all men in Religion and if he do it not upon a presumption of his own knowledge we know not on what better grounds he doth it And though we wholly condemn mens setting up themselves to be Guides and Leaders to their Neighbours yet if he intend that all things are so obscure that we have no means to come to the knowledge of the Truth concerning God and his mind so far as it is our duty to know it and therefore that no man can teach or instruct another in that knowledge I say as before we are not yet of his mind whether we shall be or no the process of our Discourse will shew 3. He adds That no Sect hath any advantage at all over another nor all of them together over Popery Yes They that have the Truth wherein they have it have advantage against all others that have it not And so Protestancy hath advantage over Popery And here the Pretext or Vizor of this Protestant begins to turn aside in the next head it quite falls from him That is 4. That all the several kinds of Religion here in England are equally innocent to one another And Popery as it stands in opposition to them is absolutely innocent and unblameable to them all I am little concerned in the former part of these words concerning the several kinds of Religion in England having undertaken the defence of one only namely Protestancy Those that are departed from Protestancy so far as to constitute another kind of Religion as to any thing from me shall plead for themselves However I wish that all parties in England were all equally innocent to one another or that they would not be willing to make themselves equally nocent But the latter part of the words contain I promise you a very high undertaking Popery is innocent absolutely innocent and unblameable to them all I fear we shall scarce find it so when we come to the tryal I confess I do not like this pretence of absolute innocency and unblameableness I suppose they are Men that profess Popery and I do know that Popery is a Religion or Profession of mens finding out how it should come to be so absolutely innocent on a suddain I cannot imagine but we will leave this until we come to the proof of it taking notice only that here is a great promise made unto his noble and ingenious Readers that cannot advantage his cause if he be not able to make it good The close is 5. That as there neither is nor can be any rational motive for Disputes and Animosities about matters of Religion so is there an indispensable moral cause obliging us to moderation c. But this as I observed before though upon the first view of the sign hanging up at the door a man would guess to be the whole work that was doing in the house is indeed no part of his business and is therefore thrust out at the postern in two short leaves the least part of them in his own words after the spending of 364 pages in the pursuit of his proper design But seeing we must look over these things again in the Chapters assigned to their adorning we may take our leave of them at present and of his Preface together CHAP. V. Chap. I. Contests about Religion and Reformation Schoolmen
that which you intend that we should agree amongst our selves and wait for your coming with power to destroy us all It were well indeed if we could agree it is our fault and misery if we do not having so absolutely a perfect Rule and means of agreement as we have But yet whether we agree or agree not if there be another Party distinct from us all pretending a right to exterminate us from the earth it behooves us to look after their proceedings And this is the true state of all our Author's Pleas for Moderation which are built upon such Principles as tend to the giving us up unarmed and naked to the power and will of his Masters For the rest of this Section wherein he is pleased to sport himself in the miscarriages of men in their coyning and propagating of their Opinions and to gild over the care and success of the Church of Rome in stifling such births of pride and darkness I shall not insist upon it For as the first as generally tossed up and down concerns none in particular though accompanyed with the repetition of such words as ought not to be scosfed at so the latter is nothing but what violence and ignorance may any where and in any age produce There are Societies of Christians not a few in the East wherein meer darkness and ignorance of the Truth hath kept men at peace in Errors without the least disturbance by contrary opinions amongst themselves for above a 1000 years and yet they have wanted the help of outward force to secure their Tranquillity And is it any wonder that where both these powerful Engins are set at work for the same end if in some measure it be compassed and effected And if there be such a thing among the Romanists which I have reason to be difficult in admitting the belief of as that they can stisle all Opinions as fast as they are conceived or destroy them assoon as they are brought forth I know it must be some device or artifice unknown to the Apostles and Primitive Churches who notwithstanding all their Authority and care for the Truth could not with many compass that end Sect. 5. Pag. 54. The last Section of this Chapter contains motives to moderation three in number And I suppose that no man doubts but that many more might be added every one in weight out-doing all these three The first is that alone which Protestants are concerned to look unto not that Protestants oppose any motive unto moderation but knowing that in this Discourse Moderation is only the pretence Popery if I may use the word without incivility the Design and aim it concerns them to examine which of these pretended motives that any way regards their real principle doth tend unto Now this Motive is the great ignorance our state and condition is involved in concerning God his Works and Providence a great motive to Moderation I wish all men would well consider it For I must acknowledge that I cannot but suppose them ignorant of the state and condition of mortality and so consequently their own who are ready to destroy and exterminate their neighbors of the same flesh and bloud with them and agreeing in the main Principles of Religion that may certainly be known for lesser differences and that by such rules as within a few years may possibly reach their nearest Relations Our Author also layes so much weight on this Motive that he fears an anticipation by men saying That the Scripture reveals enough unto us which therefore he thinks necessary to remove For my part I scarse think he apprehended any real danger that this would be insisted on as an Objection against his motive to moderation For to prevent his tending on towards that which is indeed his proper end this obstacle is not unseasonably layed that under a pretence of the ignorance unavoidably attending our state and condition he might not prevail upon us to increase and aggravate it by entising us to give up our selves by an implicite faith to the conduct of the Roman-Church A man may easily perceive the end he intends by the Objections which he fore-sees No man is so madd I think as to plead the sufficiency of Scripture-Revelation against Moderation when in the Revelation of the Will of God contained in the Scripture Moderation is so much commended unto us and pressed upon us But against the pretended necessity of resigning our selves to the Romanists for a relief against the unavoidable ignorance of our state and condition besides that we know full well such a resignation would yield us no relief at all this plea of the sufficiency of Scripture-Revelation is full and unanswerable This put our Author on a work which I have formerly once or twice advised him to meddle no more being well assured that it is neither for his reputation nor his advantage much less for his souls health The pretences which he makes use of are the same that we have heard of many and many a time The abuse of it by some and the want of an Infallible Interpreter of it as to us all But the old tale is here anew gilded with an intermixture of other pretty stories and application of all to the present humours of men not forgetting to set forth the brave estate of our fore-fathers that had not the use of the Scripture which what it was we know well enough and better then the prejudices of this Gentleman will give him leave to tell us But if the lawful and necessary use of any thing may be decryed because of its abuse we ought not only to labour the abolishing of all Christian Religion in general and every principle of it in particular out of the world but the blotting out of the Sun and Moon and Stars out of the Firmament of Heaven and the destruction of the greatest and most noble parts at least of the whole Creation But as the Apostles continued in the work of Preaching the Gospel though by some the grace they taught was turned into lasciviousness so shall we abide to plead for the use of the Scripture whatever abuse of them by the wicked lusts of men can be instanced in Nor is there any reason in the world why food should be kept from all men though some have surfeited or may yet so do To have a compendious Narration of the Story and Morality of the Scripture in the room of the whole which our Author allows of is so jejune narrow and empty a Conception so unanswerable to all those divine Testimonies given to the excellency of the Word of God with Precepts to abide in the meditation and study of it to grow in the knowledge of it and the mysteries contained in it the commendations of them that did so in the Scripture it self so blasphemously derogatory to the Goodness Love and Wisdom of God in granting us that inestimable benefit so contrary to the redoubled Exhortations of all the Antient Fathers that I wonder
impenitent sinners what in the Covenant of his Grace to them that fly for refuge to the hope that is set before them even that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ the Father of glory would give unto us the Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation in the knowledge of him that the eyes of our understanding being enlightned we may know what is the hope of his calling and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the Saints and what is the exceeding greatness of his power towards them that believe according to the working of the might of his power which he wrought in Christ when he raised him from the dead and set him at his own right hand in heavenly places that our hearts may be comforted being knit together in love and unto all riches of the FULL ASSURANCE OF UNDERSTANDING to the acknowledgement of the mystery of God and of the Father and of Christ in whom are hid all the treasures of Wisdom and Knowledge and by whom alone we may obtain any saving acquaintance with them who also is come and hath given us an understanding that we may know him that is true This is the Port-Haven of Protestants whatever real darkness may be about them or whatever mists may be cast on them by the sleights of men that lye in wait to deceive That they need know no more of God that they may love him fear him believe in him and come to the enjoyment of him than what he hath clearly and expresly in Christ revealed of himself by his Word Whether the storms of this Gentleman's indignation be able to drive them or the more pleasant gales of his Eloquence to entise them from this Harbour time will shew In the mean while that indeed they ought not so to do nor will do so with any but such as are resolved to steer their course by some secret distempers of their own a few strictures on the most material passages of this Chapter will discover It is scarce worth while to remark his mistake in the foundation of his discourse of the Obscurity of God as he is pleased to state the matter from that of the Prophet asserting that God is a God who hides himself or as he renders it an hidden God His own Prophet will tell him that it is not concerning the Essence of God but the Dispensation of his Love and Favour towards his People that those words were used by the Prophet of old and so are unwillingly pressed to serve in the design he hath in hand Neither are we more concerned in the ensuing Discourse of the Soul 's cleaving to God by Affection upon the Metaphysicall representation of His excellencies and perfections unto it it being purely Platonical and no way suited to the revelation made of God in the Gospel which acquaints us not with any such amiableness in God as to endear the souls of sinners unto him causing them to reach out the wings of their love after him but only as he is in Christ Jesus reconciling the world to himself a consideration that hath no place nor any can obtain in this flourish of words And the reason is because they are sinners and therefore without the Revelation of an Attonement can have no other apprehension of the infinitely Holy and Righteous God but as of a devouring Fire with whom no sinner can inhabite Nor yet in the aggravation of the obscurity of God from the restless endeavours of mankind in the disquisition of him who as he sayes shew their love in seeking him having at their birth an equal right to his favour which they could no wise demerit before they were born being directly contrary to the Doctrine of his own Church in the head of Original Sin That which first draws up towards the design he is in persuit of is his Determination That the issuing of mens perplexities in the investigation of this hidden God must be by some Prophet or Teacher sent from God unto men but the uncertainty of coming into any better condition thereby is so exaggerated by a contempt of those wayes and means that such Prophets have fixed on to evidence their coming forth from God by Miracles Visions Prophesies ashew of Sanctity with a concourse of Threats and Promises as that means also is cashiered from yielding us any relief Neither is there any thing intimated or offered to exempt the true Prophets of God nor the Lord Christ himself from being shuffled into the same bag with false pretenders in the close that were brought forth to play their game in this pageant Yea the difficulty put upon this help of the loss we are at in the knowledge of God by Prophets and Prophesies seems especially to respect those of the Scripture so to manifest the necessity of a further evidence to be given unto them then any they carry about them or bring with them that they may be useful to this end and purpose And this intention is manifest a little after where the Scripture is expresly reckoned among those things which all men boast of none can come to certainty or assurance by Thus are poor unstable souls ventured to the Borders of Atheism under a pretence of leading them to the Church Was this the method of Christ or his Apostles in drawing men to the Faith of the Gospel this the way of the holy men of old that laboured in the Conversion of Souls from Gentilism and Heresie Were ever such bold assaults against the immoveable Principles of Christianity made by any before Religion came to be a matter of carnal Interest Is there no way to exalt the Pope but by questioning the Authority of Christ and Truth of the Scripture Truly I am sorry that wise and considering men should observe such an irreverence of God and his Word to prevail in the spirits of men as to entertain thoughts of perswading them to desert their Religion by such presumptious Insinuations of the uncertainty of all Divine Revelation But all this may be made good on the consideration of the changes of men after their profession of this or that Religion namely That notwithstanding their former pretensions yet indeed they knew nothing at all seeing that from God and the Truth no man doth willingly depart which if it be universally true I dare say there is not one word true in the Scripture How often doth God complain in the Old-Testament that his people forsook Him for that which was not God and how many do the Apostles shew us in the New to have forsaken the Truth It is true that under the notion of God the cheifest Good and of Truth the proper object and rest of the understanding none can willingly and by choyce depart but that the mindes of men might be so corrupted and perverted by their own lusts and temptations of Satan as willingly and by choyce to forsake the one or the other to embrace that which in their stead presents it self unto them is no less
Truth our Reason supposes all that it hath to do is but to judge of what is proposed to it according to the best Principles that it hath which is all that God in that kind requires of us unless in that work wherein he intends to make us more then men that is Christians he would have us make our selves less then Men even as Brutes That in our whole obedience to God we are to use our Reason Protestants say indeed and moreover that what is not done reasonably is not Obedience The Scripture is the Rule of all our Obedience Grace the Principle enabling us to perform it but the manner of its performance must be Rational or it is not the supposition of Rule or Principle that will render any act of a man Obedience Religion say Protestants is revealed in the Scripture proposed to the minds and wills of men for its entertainment by the Ministry of the Church Grace to Believe and Obey is supernaturally from God but as to the Proposals of Religion from Scripture they averre that men ought to admit and receive them as men that is judge of the sense and meaning of them discover their truth and finding them revealed acquiesce in the Authority of him by whom they are first revealed So far as men in any things of their concernments that have a moral good or evil in them do refuse in the choice or refusal of them to exercise that judging and discerning which is the proper work of Reason they un-Man themselves and invert the order of Nature dethroning the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the Soul and causing it to follow the faculties that have no light but what they receive by and from it It 's true all our carnal reasonings against Scripture-Mysteries are to be captivated to the Obedience of Faith and this is highly reasonable making only the less particular defective collections of reason give place to the more noble general and universal principles of it Nor is the denying of our reason any where required as to the sense and meaning of the words of the Scripture but as to the things and matter signified by them The former Reason must judge of if we are men the latter if in conjunction with unbelief and carnal lusts it tumultuate against it is to be subdued to the Obedience of Faith All that Protestants in the business of Religion ascribe unto men is but this that in the business of Religion they are and ought to be men that is judge of the sense and truth of what is spoken to them according to that Rule which they have received for the measure and guide of their Understandings in these things If this may not be allowed you may make a Herd of them but a Church never Let us now consider what is offered in this Section about Reason wherein the concernment of any Protestants may lye As the matter is stated about any one's setting up himself to be a new and extraordinary Director unto men in Religion upon the account of the irrefutable Reason he brings along with him which is the spring and sourse of that Religion which he tenders unto them I very much question Whether any instance can be given of any such thing from the foundation of the World Men have so set up indeed sometimes as that Good Catholick Vanine did not long since in France to draw men from all Religions but to give a new Religion unto men that this pretension was ever solely made use of I much question As true Religion came by Inspiration from God so all Authors of that which is false have pretended to Revelation Such were the pretensions of Minos Lycurgus and Nunia of old of Mahomet of late and generally of the first Founders of Religious Orders in the Roman-Church all in imitation of real Divine Revelation and in answer to indelible impressions on the minds of all men that Religion must come from God To what purpose then the first part of his Discourse about the coyning of Religion from Reason or the framing of Religion by Reason is I know not unless it be to cast a Blind before his unwary Reader whilest he steals away from him his Treasure that is his Reason as to its use in its proper place Though therefore there be many things spoken unduly and because it must be said untruly also in this first part of his Discourse until toward the end of Pag. 131. which deserve to be animadverted on yet because they are such as no sort of Protestants hath any concernment in I shall pass them over That wherein he seems to reflect any thing upon our Principles is in a supposed reply to what he had before delivered whereunto indeed it hath no respect or relation being the assertion of a Principle utterly distant from that imaginary one which he had timely set up and stoutly cast down before It is this That we must take the words from Christ and his Gospel but the proper sense which the words of themselves cannot carry with them our own reason must make out If it be the Doctrine of Protestants which he intendeth in these words it 's most disadvantagiously and uncandidly represented which becomes not an ingenious and learned person This is that which Protestants affirm Religion is Revealed in the Scripture that Revelation is delivered and contained in Propositions of Truth Of the sense of those words that carry their sense with them Reason judgeth and must do so or we are Brutes and that every ones Reason so farr as his concernment lies in what is proposed to him Neither doth this at all exclude the Ministry or Authority of the Church both which are entrusted with it by Christ to propose the Rules contained in his Word unto Rational Creatures that they may understand believe love and obey them To cast out this use of Reason with pretence of an antient sense of the words which yet we know they have not about them is as vain as any thing in this Section and that is vain enough If any such antient sense can be made out or produced that is a meaning of any Text that was known to be so from their Explication who gave that Text it is by reason to acquiesced in Neither is this to be make a man a Bishop much less a chief Bishop to himself I never heard that it was the office of a Bishop to know believe or understand for any man but for himself It is his Office indeed to instruct and teach men but they are to learn and understand for themselves and so to use their Reason in their Learning Nor doth the variableness of mens thoughts and reasonings inferr any variableness in Religion to follow whose stability and sameness depends on its first Revelation not our manner of Reception Nor doth any thing asserted by Protestants about the use of Reason in the business of Religion interfere with the rule of the Apostle about captivating our Understandings to the
Obedience of Faith much less to his assertion That Christians walk by Faith and not by Sight seeing that without it we can do neither the one nor the other For I can neither submit to the truth of things to be believed nor live upon them or according unto them unless I understand the Propositions wherein they are expressed which is the work we assign to Reason For those who would resolve their Faith into Reason we confess that they overthrow not only Faith but Reason it self there being nothing more irrational than that belief should be the product of Reason being properly an assent resolved into Authority which if Divine is so also I shall then desire no more of our Author nor his Readers as to this Section but only this that they would believe that no Protestant is at all concerned in it and so I shall not further interpose as to any contentment they may find in its review or perusal CHAP. IX Jews Objections THe title of this Third Chapter is that No Religion or Sect or Way hath any advantage over another nor all of them over Popery To this we excepted before in general that that way which hath the truth with it hath in that wherein it hath the truth the advantage against all others Truth turns the scales in this business wherever and with whomsoever be found and if it lie in any way distant from Popery it gives all the advantage against it that need be desired And with this only enquiry With whom the Truth abides is this disquisition What wayes in Religion have advantage against others to be resolved But this course and procedure for some reasons which he knows and we may easily guess at our Author liked not and it it is now too late for us to walk in any path but what he has trodden before us though it seem rather a maze then a way for Travellers to walk in that would all pass on in their Journey His first Section is entituled Light and Spirit the pretence whereof he treats after his manner and cashiers from giving any such advantage as is inquired after But neither yet are we arrived to any concernment of Protestants That which they plead as their advantage is not the empty names of Light and Spirit but the truth of Christ revealed in the Scripture I know there are not a few who have impertinently used these good words and Scripture-expressions which yet ought no more to be scoffed at by others then abused by them But that any have made the plea here pretended as to their settlement in Religion I know not The truth is if they have it is no other upon the matter but what our Author cals them unto to a naked Credo he would reduce them and that differs only from what seems to be the mind of them that plead Light and Spirit that he would have them resolve their faith irrationally into the Authority of the Church they pretend to do it into the Scripture But what he aimes to bring men unto he justifies from the examples of Christians in antient times who had to deal with Jews and Pagans whose disputes were rational and weighty and pusled the wisest of the Clergy to answer So that after all their ratiocination ended whether it sufficed or no they still concluded with this one word Credo which in Logick and Philosophy was a weak answer but in Religion the best and only one to be made What could be spoken more untruely more contumeliously or more to the reproach of Christian Religion I cannot imagine It 's true indeed that as to the resolution satisfaction and settlement of their own souls Christians alwayes built their faith and resolved it into the Authority o◠God in his word but that they opposed their naked Credo to the disputes of Jews or Pagans or rested in that for a solution of their objections is heavenly-wide as far from truth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I wonder any man who hath ever seen or almost heard of the Disputes and Discourses of Justin Martyr Clemens Alexandrinus Origen Theophilus Antiochenus Athenagoras Tertullian Lactantius Chrysostom Austin Theodoret and innumerable others proving the faith of the Christian Religion against the Jews from Scripture and the reasonableness of it against the Pagans with the folly and foppery of theirs could on any account be induced to cast out such a reproach against them But it seems Jacta est alea and we must go on and therefore to carry on the design of bringing us all to a naked Credo resolv'd into the Authority of the present Church a thing never heard of spoken of nor that it appears dreamed of by any of the ancient Christians The objections of the Jews against the Christian Religion are brought on the stage and an enquiry made how they can be satisfactorily answered His words are Pag. 142. In any age of the Christian-Church a Jew might say thus to the Christians then living Your Lord and Master was born a Jew and under the jurisdiction of the High Priests these he opposed and taught a Religion contrary to Moses otherwise how comes there to be a faction but how could he justly do it no humane Power is of force against God's who spak◠as you also grant by Moses and the Prophets and Divine Power it could not be for God is not contrary to himself And although your Lord might say as indeed he did that Moses spake of him as of a Prophet to come greater then himself yet Who shall judge that such a thing was meant of his person For suice that Prophet is neither specifyed by his name nor characteristical properties well said Jew who could say it was he more then any other to come And if there were a greater to come then Moses were surely born a Jew he would being come into the world rather exalt that Law to more ample glory then diminish it And if you will further contest that such a Prophet was to abrogate the first Law and bring in a new one Who shall judge in this case the whole Church of the Hebrews who never dreamed of any such thing or one member thereof who was born a subject to their judgments This saith he is the great Occumenical difficulty and he that in any age of Christianity could either answer it or find any bulwark to set against it so that it should do no harm would easily either salve or prevent all other difficulties c. The difficulty as is evident lay in this That the Authority and Judgment of the whole Church of the Hebrews lay against Christ and the Gospel That Church when Christ conversed on earth was a true Church of God the only Church on earth and had been so for 2000 years without interruption in its self without competition from any other It had its High Priest confessedly instituted by God himself in an orderly succession to those dayes The interpretation of Scripture it pretended was trusted with
fixed in the Scripture Of the same importance is the next Section pag. 170. Entituled Protestants Pro and Con wherin the differences that are amongst many in these Nations are notably exagitated I presume in the intention of his mind upon his present design he forgot that by a new change of Name the same things may be uttered the same words used of and concerning Christians in general ever since almost that name was known in the world Was there any thing more frequent among the Pagans of old than to object to Christians their Differences and endless Disputes I wish our Author would but consider that which remains of the Discourse of Celsus on this Subject particularly his charge on them that at their beginnings and whilst they were few they agreed well enough but after they encreased and were dispersed into several Nations they were every where at variance among themselves whereas all sorts of men were at peace before their pretended Reformation of the Worship of God and he will find in it the sum of this and the four following Sections to the end of this Chapter And if he will but add so much to his pains as to peruse the excellent Answers of Origen in his third Book he will if not be perswaded to desist from urging the objections of Celsus yet discern what is expected from him to reply unto if he persist in his way But if we may suppose that he hath not that respect for the honour of the first Christians methinkes the intestine irreconcileable brauls of his own Mothers children should somewhat allay his heat and confidence in charging endless differences upon Protestants of whom only I speak Yea but you will say They have a certain means of ending their Controversies Protestants have none And have they so the more shame for them to trouble themselves and others from one generation unto another with Disputes and Controversies that have such a ready way to end them when they please and Protestants are the more to be pittied who perhaps are ready some of them at least as farr as they are able to live at Peace But why have not Protestants a sure and safe way to issue all their differences Why Because every one is Judge himself and they have no Umpire in whose decision they are bound to acquiesce I pray Who told you so Is it not the Fundamental Principle of Protestantism that the Scripture determines all things necessary unto Faith and Obedience and that in that determination ought all men to acquiess I know few Roman-Catholicks have the prudence or the patience to understand what Protestancy is And certain it is that those who take up their knowledge of it from the Discourses and Writings of such Gentlemen as our Author know very little of it if any thing at all And those who do at any time get leave to read the books of Protestants seem to be so filled with prejudices against them and to be so byassed by corrupt affections that they seldom come to a true apprehension of their meanings for who so blind as he that will not see Protestants tell them that the Scripture contains all things necessary to be believed and practised in the Worship of God and those proposed with that perspicuity and clearness which became the wisdom of it's Author who intended to instruct men by it in the knowledge of them and in this Word and Rule say they are all men to rest and acquiess But sayes our Author why then do they not do so why are they at such fewds and differences amongst themselves Is this in truth his business Is it Protestants he blames and not Protestancy mens miscarriages and not their Rule 's imperfection If it be so I crave his pardon for having troubled him thus farr To defend Protestants for not answering the Principles of their Profession is a task too hard for me to undertake nor do I at all like the business let him lay on blame stil until I say Hold. It may be we shall grow wiser by his reviling as Monica was cured of her intemperance by the reproach of a Servant But I would fain prevail with these Gentlemen for their own sakes Not to cast that blame which is due to us upon the holy and perfect Word of God We do not say nor ever did that who ever acknowledgeth the Scripture to be a perfect Rule must upon necessity understand perfectly all that is contained in it that he is presently freed from all darkness prejudices corrupt affections and enabled to judge perfectly and infallibly of every truth contained in it or deduced from it These causes of our differences belong to individual persons not to our common Rule And if because no men are absolutely perfect and some are very perverse and froward we should throw away our Rule the blessed Word of God and run to the Pope for rule and guidance it is all one as if at noon-day because some are blind and miss their way and some are drunk and stagger out of it and others are variously entised to leave it we should all conspire to wish the Sun out of the Firmament that we might follow a Will with a Wisp I know not what in general needs to be added further to this Section The mistake of it is palpable some particular passages may be remarked in it before we proceed pag. 173. he Pronounceth an heavy doom on the Prelate Protestants making them Prevaricators Impostors Reprobates an hard sentence but that it is hoped it will prove like the flying Bird and Curse causeless But what is the matter Why in dealing with the Presbyterians They are forced to make use of those Popish Principles which themselves at first rejected and so building them up again by the Apostles rule deserve no better terms But what I pray are they why the difference betwixt Clergy and Laity the efficacy of Episcopal Ordination and the Authority of a visible Church unto which all men are to obey There are but two things our Author needs to prove to make good his charge First that these are Popish Principles Secondly That as such they were at any time cast down and destroyed by Prelate-Protestants I fear his mind was gone a little astray or that he had been lately among the Quakers when he hammered this charge against Prelate Protestants For as these have been their constant Principles ever since the beginning of the Reformation so they have as constantly maintained that in their true and proper sense they are not Popish Nor is the difference about these things between any Protestants what-ever any more then verbal For those terms of Clergy and Laity because they had been abused in the Papacy though antiently used some have objected against them but for the things signified by them namely that in the Church there are some Teachers some to be taught Bishops and Flocks Pastors and People no Protestant ever questioned Our Author then doth but cut out work
beautiful and according to the mind of God If our Author be able to make a right Judgement of these things and find them really abounding amongst his party I hope we shall rejoyce with him though we knew the Spring of them is not their Popery but their Christianity For the outside-shews he hath as yet instanced in they ought not in the least to have influenced his Judgement in that disquisition of the Truth wherein he pretends he was engaged He could not of old have come amongst the Professors and Mystae of those false Religions which by the light and power of the Gospel are now banished out of the World where he should not have met with the same Vizards and appearances of Devotion so that hitherto we find no great discoveries in his Messach From the Worship of the Parties compared he comes to their Preaching and finds them as differing as their devotion The Preaching of Protestants of all sorts is sorry pittiful stuffe Inconsequent words senseless notions or at least Rhetorical flourishes make it up the Catholicks grave and pithy Still all this belongs to persons not things Protestants preach as well as they can and if they cannot preach so well as his wiser Romanists it is their unhappiness not their fault But yet I have a little reason to think that our Author is not altogether of the mind that here he pretends to be of but that he more hates and fears then despises the Preaching of Protestants He knows well enough what mischief it hath wrought his Party though prejudice will not suffer him to see what good it hath done the world and therefore doubting as I suppose lest he should not be able to prevail with his Readers to believe him in that which he would fain it may be but cannot believe himself about the excellency of the Preaching of his Catholicks above that of Protestants he decryes the whole work as of little or no use or concernment in Christian Religion This it had been fair for him to have openly pleaded and not to have made a flourish with that which he knew he could make no better work of Nor is the preaching of the Protestants as is pretended unlike that of the Antients The best and most famous Preacher of the antient Church whose Sermons are preserved was Chrysostom We know the way of his proceding in that work was to open the words and meaning of his Text to declare the Truth contained and taught in it to vindicate it from Objections to confirm it by other Testimonies of Scripture and to apply all unto practise in the close And as farr as I can observe this in general is that method used by Protestants being that indeed which the very nature of the work dictates unto them wherefore mistrusting lest he should not be able to bring men out of love with the Preaching of Protestants in comparison of the endeavours of his Party in the same kind he turns himself another way and labours to perswade us as I said that preaching its self is of little or no use in Christian Religion for so he may serve his own design he cares not it seems openly to contradict the practise of the Church of God ever since there was a Church in the world To avoid that Charge he tells us That the Apostles and Apostolical Churches had no Sermons but all their Preaching was meerly for the Conversion of men to the faith and when this was done there was an end of their preaching and for this he instanceth in the Sermons mentioned in the Acts ch 2 3 5 10 7 8 13 14 16 18 19 20 22 24 26 28. I wonder what he thinks of Christ himself whether he preached or no in the Temple or in the Synagogues of the Jews and whether the Judaical Church to whose Members he preached were not then a true yea the only Church in the world and whether Christ was not anointed and sent to preach the Gospel to them If he know not this he is very ignorant if he doth know it he is somewhat that deserves a worse name To labour to exterminate that out of the Religion of Christ which was one of the chief works of Christ for we do not read that he went up and down singing Mass though I have heard of a Fryer that conceived that to be his imployment is a work unbecoming any man that would count himself wronged not to be esteemed a Christian. But what ever Christ did it may be it matters not the Apostles and Apostolical Churches had no Sermons but only such as they preached to Infidels and Jews to convert them that is they did not labour to instruct men in the knowledge of the mysteries of the Gospel to build them up in their Faith to teach them more and more the good knowledg of God revealing unto them the whole counsel of his will And is it possible that any man who hath ever read over the New Testament or any one of Paul's Epistles should be so blinded by prejudicies and made so confident in his assertions as to dare in the face of the Sun whilst the Bible is in every ones hand to utter a matter so devoid of truth and all colour or pretence of probability Methinks men should think it enough to sacrifice their consciences to their Moloch without casting wholly away their reputation to be consumed in the same flames It is true the design of the story of the Acts being to deliver unto us the progress of the Christian faith by the Ministry of the Apostles insists principally on those Sermons which God in an especial manner blessed to the conversion of souls and encrease of the Church thereby but Is there therefore no mention made of Preaching in it to the edification of their Converts or Is there no mention of Preaching unless it be said that such a one preached at such a time so long on such a Text When the people abode in the Apostles Doctrine Acts 2.42 I think the Apostle taught them And the Ministry of the Word which they gave themselves unto was principally in reference unto the Church Ch. 7.4 So Peter and John preached the Word to those whom Philip had converted at Samaria Ch. 18.25 A whole year together Paul and Barnabas assembled themselves together with the Church of Antioch and taught much people Ch. 12.26 At Troas Paul preached unto them who came together to break bread that is the Church until midnight Ch. 20.7 9. which why our Author calls a dispute or what need of a dispute there was when only the Church was assembled neither I nor he do know And ver 20. 27. he declares that his main work and employment was constant Preaching to the Disciples and Churches giving commands to the Elders of the Churches to do the same And what his practice was during his imprisonment at Rome the close of that book declares And these not footsteps but express examples of and precepts
speech So doth our Author advance his Wisdom and Judgment above the Wisdom and Judgment of all Churches and Nations that ever embraced the Faith of Christ for a 1000 years all which notwithstanding what there is of truth in any of his insinuations judged it their duty to translate the Scripture into their Mother Tongues very many of which Translations are extant even to this day Besides he concludes with us in general ambiguors terms as all along in other things his practice hath been What means he by the Bible's own Sacred phrase opposed to a prophane and common one Would not any man think that he intended the Originals wherein it was written but I dare say if any one will ask him privately he will give them another account and let them know that it is a Translation which he adorns with those Titles so that upon the matter he tells us that seeing the Bible cannot be without all the inconveniences mentioned it 's good for us to lay aside the Originals and make use only of a Translation or at least preferre a Translation before them What shall we do with those men that speak such Swords and Daggers and are well neither full nor fasting that like the Scripture neither with a Translation nor without it Moreover I fear he knows not well what he means by its own Sacred phrase and a prophane common one Is it the Syllables and words of this or that language that he intends How comes one to be Sacred another prophane and common The languages wherein the Scriptures were originally written have been put to as bad uses as any under Heaven nor is any Language prophane or common so as that the Worship of God performed in it should not be accepted with him That there is a frequent loss of Propriety and amplitude of meaning in Translations we grant That the Scriptures by Translations if good true and significant according to the capacity and expressiveness of the Languages whereinto they are translated are divested of the Majesty Holiness and Spirit is most untrue The Majesty Holiness and Spirit of the Scriptures lyes not in words and Syllables but in the Truths themselves expressed in them and whilest these are incorruptedly declared in any language the Majesty of the Word is continued It is much that men preferring a Translation before the Originals should be otherwise minded especially that Translation being in some parts but the Translation of a Translation and that the most corrupt in those parts which I know extant And this with many fine words prety Allusions and Similitudes is the sum of what is pleaded by our Author to perswade men to forgo the greatest priviledg which from Heaven they are made partakers of the most necessary radical duty that in their whole lives is incumbent on them It is certain that the giving out of the holy Scripture from God is an effect of infinite love and mercy I suppose it no less certain that the end for which he gave it was that men by it might be instructed in the knowledge of his will and their obedience that they owe unto him that so at length they may come to the enjoyment of him This it self declares to be its end I think also that to know God his mind and Will to yield him the obedience that he requires is the bounden duty of every man as well as to enjoy him is their blessedness And can they take it kindly of those who would shut up this gift of God from them whether they will or no or be well pleased with them that go about to perswade them that it is best for them to have it kept by others for them without their once looking into it If I know them aright this Gentleman will not find his Countrey-men willing to part with their Bibles on such easie tearms From the Scripture concerning which he affirmeth That it lawfully may and in reason ought and in practise ever hath been segregated in a language not common to vulgar ears all which things are most unduly affirmed and because we must speak plainly falsly he proceeds to the worship of the Church and pleads that that also ought to be performed in such a language It were a long and tedious business to follow him in his guilding over this practise of his Church we may make short work with him As he will not pretend that this practise hath the least countenance from Scripture so if he can instance in any Church in the world that for 500 years at least after it set out in the use of a Worship the Language whereof the people did not understand I will cease this contest What he affirms of the Hebrew Church keeping her Rites in a language differing from the Vulgar whether he intend before or after the Captivity is so untrue as that I suppose no ingenious man would affirm it were he not utterly ignorant of all Judaical Antiquity which I had cause to suspect before that our Author is From the dayes of Moses to the captivity of Babylon there was no Language in vulgar use among the people but only that wherein the Scripture was written and their whole Worship celebrated After the captivity though insensibly they admitted corruptions in their language yet they all generally understood the Hebrew unless it were the Hellenists for whose sakes they translated the Scripture into Greek and for the use of the residue of their people who began to take in a mixture of the Syro-Chaldean Language with their own the Targum were found out Besides to the very utmost period of that Church the solemn Worship performed in the Temple as to all the interest of words in it was understood by the whole people attending on God therein And in that language did the Bible lye open in their Synagogues as is evident from the offer made by them to our Saviour of their Books to read in at his first entrance into one at Capernaum These flourishes then of our Orator being not likely to have the least effect upon any who mind the Apostololical advice of taking heed lest they be beguiled with inticing words we shall not need much to insist upon them This custom of performing the Worship of God in the Congregation in a Tong unknown to the Assembly renders he tells us that great act more majestick and venerable but why he declares not A blind veneration of what men understand not because they understand it not is neither any duty of the Gospel nor any part of its Worship St. Paul tells us he would pray with the Spirit and pray with Understanding also of this Majestick shew and blind Veneration of our Author Scripture Reason Experience of the Saints of God Custom of the Antient Churches know nothing Neither is it possible to preserve in men a perpetual veneration of they know not what nor if it could be preserved is it a thing that any way belongs to Christian Religion Nor can any
we mentioned was That the Gospel was originally from him and to him we are beholding for it This we cannot readily receive it is certainly untrue and fearfully blasphemous to boot The Gospel was originally from Christ and to him alone are we beholding for it as hath been before declared Another is That Kingly Authority amongst us and his Crown-Land is from him This is false and seditious Kingly Authority in General is from God and by his Providence was it established in this Land before the Pope had any thing to do here nor doth it lean in the least on his warranty but hath been supported without the Papacy and against all its Oppositions which have not been a few A third is that humanely speaking had not he been set over us we had not had this day either Truth or Unity I know not well what you mean by humanely speaking but I am sure so to blaspheme the care and love of Christ to his Church and the sufficiency of his Word and promised Spirit to preserve Truth in the World without the Pope whose aid in this work he never once thought of requested appointed is if not inhumane and barbarous yet bold and presumptuous That Christ hath no less shewed his Divinity in him then in his own person is an expression of the same nature or of a more dreadful if possible it may be I speak seriously I do not think this is the way to make men in love with the Pope No sooner is such a word spoken but immediately the wicked beastial lives the ignorance Atheisms and horrid ends of many of them present themselves to the thoughts of men and a tremor comes over their hearts to hear men open their mouths with such blasphemies as to affirm that the Lord Christ did as much manifest his Divinity and Power in such Beasts as in his own Person Yea that he is more miraculous in him then he was in himself What proof Sir is there of this Where is the Scripture where the Antiquity where the Reason for it We tell you truly we cannot believe such monstrous figments upon their bare affirmation Yea but this is not all Christ is beholding to him for all the faith of his Deity that is in the world Why so Why by the only Authority of his place and person he defended it When When it was opposed by the Arrians and he called his Council of Nice where he condemned them Who would not be sick of such trifles Is it possible that any man in his right wits should talk at such a rate Consult the writings of those dayes of Alexander of Alexandria of Athanasius Gregory Basil Chrysostom Austine who not Go over the Volumes of the Councils of those dayes if he can once find the Authority of the Pope of Rome and his Person pleaded as the Pillar of the Faith of Christs Diety or as any argument for the proof of it let him triumph in his Discovery Vain man that dares to make these flourishes when he knows how those antient Christian Hero's of those dayes mightily proved the Deity of Christ from the Scriptures and confounded their Adversaries with their Testimonies both in their Councils Disputes and Writings which remain to this day Was not the Scripture accounted and pleaded by them all as the Bulwark of this Truth and did not some of them Athanasius for instance do and suffer for the maintaining of it more then all the Bishops of Rome in those dayes or since and what a triffling is it to tell us of the Popes Council at Nice As though we did not know who called that Council who praesided in it who bare the weight of the business of it of whom none were Popes nor any sent by Popes nay as if we did not know that there was then no such Pope in the world as he about whom we contend Indeed it is not candid and ingenious for a man to talk of these things in this manner The like must be said of the six first Councils mentioned by him in some of which the power of the Bishop of Rome was expresly limitted as in that of Nice and that of Chalcedon and in the others though he was ready enough to pretend to more yet he had no more power then the Bishops of other Cities that had a mind to be called Patriarcks We do not then as yet see any reason to change our former thoughts of the Pope for any thing here offered by our Author and we cannot but be farr enough from taking up his if they be those which he hath in this discourse expressed they being all of them Erroneous the most of them Blasphemous But yet if we are not pleased with what he is we may be pleased with what he does being so excellent a well accomplished person as he is for he is one that was never known to let fall a word of passion That for casting off his Authority should procure thousands to be slain and burned without stirring up any Engine of Revenge these are somewhat strange stories Our Author grievously complains of uncivil carriage toward the Pope in England in all sorts Men Women and Children For my part I justifie no reviling accusation in any against any whatever but yet I must tell him that if he thinks to reclaim men from their hard thoughts of him that is not of the person of this or that Pope but of the office as by them managed it must not be by telling him he is a fine accomplisht Gentleman that he is a Prince a Stranger a Great way off whom it is uncivil and unmannerly to speak so hardly of but labour to shew that it is not his principle to impose upon the consciences of men his apprehensions in the things of God that he is not the great proclaimer of many false Opinions Heresies and Superstitions and that with a pretence of an Authority to make them receive them whether they will or no that he hath not caused many of their forefathers to be burned to death for not submitting to his dictates nor would do so to them had he them once absolutely in his Power that he hath never given away this Kingdom to strangers and cursed the lawful Princes of it that he pleads not a Soveraignty over them and their Governors inconsistent with the Laws of God and the Land Haec cedo â—dmoveant templis farre litabo For whilst the greatest part of men amongst us do look upon him as the Antichrist foretold in the Scripture guilty of the bloud of innumerable Martyrs and Witnesses of the truth of Christ Others who think not so hardly of him yet confess he is so like him that by the marks given of Antichrist he is the likeliest Person on the earth to be apprehended on suspition all of them think that if he could get them into his Power which he endeavours continually he would burn them to ashes and that in the mean time he is the corrupt Fountain
this matter with him before any competent Judges Tu dic mecum quo pignore How else to end this matter I know not I see not then any Ground my Countrymen have to alter their thoughts concerning the Pope for any thing here tendred unto them by this Author yea I know they have great reason to be confirmed in their former apprehensions concerning him For all that truly honour the Lord Jesus Christ have reason to be moved when they hear another if not preferred before him nor set up in competition with him yet openly invested with many of his Priviledges and Preâ—ogatives especially considering that not only the person of Christ but his word also is debased to make way to his exaltation and advancement Thence it is that it is openly averred that were it not for his infallibility we should all this time have been at a loss for truth and unity Of so small esteem with some men is the wisdom of Christ who left his Word with his Church for these ends and his Word its self All is nothing without the Pope If I mistake not in the light and temper of my Countrymen this is not the way to gain their good opinion of him Had our Author kept himself to the general terms of a good Prince an universal Pastor a careful Guide and to general stories of his wisdom â—aâ—e and circumspection for publick good which discourse makes up what remains of this Paragraph he might perhaps have got some ground on their affection and esteem who know nothing concerning him to the contrary which in England are very few But these Notes above Ela these transcendent Encomiums have quiâ—e marred his Marker And if there be no medium but men must believe the Pope to be either Christ or Antichrist it is evident which way the general vogue in England will go and that at least until fire and faggot come which blessed be God we are secured from whilest our present Soveraign swayes the Scepter of this Land and hope our posterity may be so under his Off-spring for many Generations CHAP. XXIII Popery SECT 30. OUR Author hopes it seems that by this time he hath brought his Disciples to Popery that is the Title of the last Paragraph to his business not of his Book for that which follows being a parcel of the excellent speech of my Lord Chancellor is about a matter wherein his concernment lies not This is his close and farewell They say there is one who when he goes out of any place leaves a worse favour at his departure then he gave all the time of his abode and he seems here to be imitated The disingenuity of this Paragraph the want of care of truth and of common honesty that appears in it sends forth a worse favour then most of those if not than any or all of them that went before The design of it is to give us a parallel of some Popish and Protestant Doctrines that the beauty of the one may the better be set off by the deformity of the other To this end he hath made no Conscience of mangling defacing and defiling of the latter The Doctrines he mentions he calls the more plausible parts of Popery Such as he hath laboured in his whole discourse to gild and â—rick up with his Rhetorick nor shall I quarrel with him for his doting on them only I cannot but wish it might suffice him to enjoy and proclaim the beauty of his Church without open slandering and defaming of ours This is not handsome civil mannerly nor conscientious A few instances will manifest whether he hath fail'd in this kind or no. The first plausible piece of Popery as he calls it that he presents us in his Antithesis is the Obligation which all have who believe in Christ to attend unto good works and the merit and benefit of so doing in opposition whereunto he sayes Protestants teach that there be no such things as good works pleasing unto God but all be as menstruous raggs filthy odious and damnable in the sight of Heaven That if it were otherwise yet they are not in our power to perform Let other men do what they please or are able for my part if this be a good work to believe that a man conscientiously handles the things of Religion with a Reverence of God and a regard to the account he is to make at the last day who can thus openly calumniate and equivocate I must confess I do not find it in my power to perform it It may be he thinks it no great sin to calumniate and falsly accuse Hereticks or if it be but a venial one Such a one as hath no respect to Heaven or Hell but only Purgatory which hath no great influence on the minds of men to keep them from vice or provoke them to vertue Do Protestants teach There are no such things as good works pleasing to God or that those that believe are not obliged to good works In which of their Confessions do they so say In what publick writing of any of their Churches What one individual Protestant was ever guilty of thinking or venting this folly If our Author had told this story in Rome or Italy he had wronged himself only in point of Morality but telling it in England if I mistake not he is utterly gone also as to reputatioÌ„ But yet you 'l say That if there be good works yet it is not in our power to perform them No more will Papists neither that know what they say or are in their right wits That it is so without the help of the grace of God and the Protestant never lived that I know of that denyed them by that help and assistance to be in our power But they say They are all as filthy raggs c. I am glad he will acknowledg Isaiah to be a Protestant whose words they are concerning all our righteousness that he traduceth we shall have him sometime or other denying some of the Prophets or Apostles to be Protestants and yet it is known that they all agreed in their doctrine and Faith Those other Protestants whom he labours principally to asperse will tell him that although God do indispensibly require good works of them that do believe and they by the assistance of his grace do perform constantly those good works which both for the matter and the manner of their perforance are acceptable to him in Jesus Christ according to the tenor of the Covenant of Grace and which as the effect of his grace in us shall be eternally rewarded yet that such is the infinite purity and holiness of the great God with whom we have to do in whose sight the Heavens are not pure and who charges his Angels with folly that if he should deal with the best of our works according to the exigence and rigour of his Justice they would appear wanting defective yea silthy in his sight so that our workâ— have need of acceptation in Christ no less then our persons and they add this to their faith in this matter that they believe that those who deny this know little of God or themselves My pen is dull and the Book that was lent me for a few dayes is called for Ex hoc uno by this instance we may take a measure of al the rest wherein the same ingenuity and conscientious care of offending is observed as in this that is neither the one or other is so The residue of his Discourse is but a commendation of his Religion and the Professors of it whereof I must confess I begin to grow weary having had so much of it and so often repeated and that from one of themselves and that on principles which will not endure the tryal and examination Of this sort is the suffering for their Religion which he extols in them Not what God calls them unto or others impose upon them in any part of the world wherein they are not to be compared with Protestants nor have suffered from all the world for their Papal Religion the hundredth part of what Protestants have suffered from themselves alone for their refusal of it doth he intend but what of their own accord they undergo Not considering that as outward affliction and persecution from the world have been alwayes the constant lot of the true Worshippers of Christ in all Ages so voluntary Self-macerations have attended the wayes of false-worship among all sorts of men from the foundation of the world FINIS
or future happiness So that neither are the Divisions that are among Protestants in themselves of any importance nor were they occasioned by their departure from Rome That all men are not made perfectly wise nor do know all things perfectly is partly a consequent of their condition in this World partly a fruit of their own lusts and corruptions neither to be imputed to the Religion which they profess nor to the Rule that they pretend to follow Had all those who could not continue in the Profession of the Errors and Practise of the Worship of the Church of Rome and were therefore driven out by violence and bloud from amongst them been as happy in attending to the Rule that they chose for their guidance and direction as they were wise in choosing it they had had no other differences among them than what necessarily follow their concreated different constitutions complexions and capacities It is not the work of Religion in this world wholly to dispel mens darkness nor absolutely to eradicate their distempers somewhat must be left for Heaven and that more is than ought to be is the fault of Men and not of the Truth they profess That Religion which reveals a sufficient Rule to guide men into Peace Union and all necessary Truth is not to be blamed if men in all things follow not it's direction Nor are the differences amongst the Protestants greater than those amongst the Members of the Roman-Church The imputation of the Errors and miscarriages of the Socinians and Quakers unto Protestancy is of no other nature then that of Pagans of old charging the follies and abominations of the Gnosticks and Valentinians on Christianity For those that are truly called Protestants whose concurrence in the same Confession of Faith as to all material points is sufficient to cast them under one denomination What evils I wonder are to be found amongst them as to Divisions that are not conspicuous to all in the Papacy The Princes and Nations of their Profession are or have all been engaged in mortal fewds and wars one against another all the World over Their Divines write as stiffly one against another as men can do mutual accusations of pernitious Doctrines and Practises abound amongst them I am not able to guess what place will hold the Books written about their intestine differences as our Author doth concerning those that are written by Protestants against the Papacy but this I know all publick Libraries and private Studies of learned men abound with them Their Invectives Apologies Accusations Charges underminings of one another are part of the weekly news of these dayes Our Author knows well enough what I mean Nor are these the ways and practises of private men but of whole Societies and Fraternities which if they are in truth such as they are by each other represented to be it would be the Interest of mankind to seek the suppression and extermination of some of them I profess I wonder whilst their own house is so visibly on fire that they can find leisure to scold at others for not quenching theirs Nor is the remaining agreement that they boast of one jot better than either their own dissentions or ours It is not union or agreement amongst men absolutely that is to be valued Simeon and Levi never did worse then when they agreed best and were Brethren in evil The grounds and reasons of mens agreement with the nature of the things wherein they are agreed are that which make it either commendable or desirable Should I lay forth what these are in the Papacy our Author I fear would count me unmannerly and uncivil But yet because the matter doth so require I must needs tell him that many wise men do affirm that Ignorance inveterate prejudice secular advantages and external force are the chief constitutive Principles of that union and agreement which remains amongst them But whatever their evils be it is pretended that they have a remedy at hand for them all But VII That we have no Remedy of our Evils no means of ending our Differences but by a Returnal to the Roman See Whether there be any way to end differences among our selves as farr and as soon as there is any need they should be ended will be afterwards enquired into This I know that a Returnal unto Râ—me will not do it unless when we come thither we can learn to behave our selves better then those do who are there already and there is indeed no party of men in the world but can give us as good security of ending our differences as the Romanists If we would all turn Quakers it would end our Disputes and that is all that is provided us if we will turn Papists This is the language of every Party and for my part I think they believe what they say Come over to us and we shall all agree Only the Romanists are likely to obtain least credit as to this matter among wise men because they cannot agree among themselves and are as unfit to umpire the differences of other men as Philip of Macedon was to quiet Greece whilst he his wife and children were together by the ears at home But why have not Protestants a remedy for their evils a means of ending and making up their differences They have the Word that 's left them for that purpose which the Apostles commended unto them and which the Primitive Church made use of and no other That this will not serve to prevent or remove any hurtful differences from amongst us it is not its fault but ours And could we prevail with Roman-Catholicks to blame and reprove us and not to blame the Religion we profess we should count our selves beholding to them and they would have the less to answer for another day But as things are stated it is fallen out very unhappily for them that finding they cannot hurt us but that their Weapons must pass through the Scriptures That is it which they are forced to direct their blowes against The Scripture is Dark Obscure Insufficient cannot be known to be the word of God nor understood is the main of their Plea when they intend to deal with Protestants I am perswaded that they are troubled when they are put upon this Work It cannot be acceptable to the minds of men to be engag'd in such undervaluations of the word of God Sure they can have no other mind in this Work than a man would have in pulling down hiâ— House to find out his Enemy He that shall read what the Scripture testifies of it self that is what God doth of it what the Antients speak concerning it and shall himself have any acquaintance with the nature and excellency of it must needs shrink extreamly when he comes to see the Romanists discourse about it indeed against it For my part I can truly profess That no one thing doth so alienate my mind from the present Roman Religion as this treatment of the word of God I cannot
but think that a sad profession of Religion which enforceth men to decry the use and excellency of that which let them pretend what they please is the only infallible Revelation of all that Truth by obedience whereunto we become Christians I do heartily pity Learned and Ingenious men when I see them enforced by a private corrupt Interest to engage in this woful work of undervaluing the word of God and so much the more as that I cannot but hope that it is a very ingrateful work to themselves Did they delight in it I should have other thoughts of them and conclude that there are more Atheists in the World than those whom our Author informs us to be lately turned so in England This then is the Remedy that Protestants have for their evils This the means of making up all their differences which they might do every day so far as in this World it is possible that that work should be done amongst men if it were not their own fault That they do not so blame them still blame them soundly lay on Reproofs till I cry Hold but let not I pray the word of God be blamed any more Methinks I could beg this of a Catholick especially of my Countrey-men That whatever they say to Protestants or however they deal with them they would let the Scripture alone and not decry its worth and usefulness It is not Protestants Book it is Gods who hath only granted them an use of it in common with the rest of men And what is spoken in disparagement of it doth not reflect on them but on him that made it and sent it to them It is no Policy I confess to discover our secrets to our Adversaries whereby they may prevent their own disadvantages for the future But yet because I look not on the Romanists as absolute Enemies I shall let them know for once that when Protestants come to that head of their Disputes or Orations wherein they contend that the Scripture is so and so obscure and insufficient they generally take great contentment to find that their Religion cannot be opposed without casting down the word of God from its excellency and enthroning somewhat else in the room of it Let them make what use of this they please I could not but tell it them for their good and I know it to be true For the present it comes too late For another main Principle of our Authors Discourse is VIII That the Scripture on sundry accounts is insufficient to settle us in the Truth of Religion or to bring us to an agreement amongst our selves and that 1. Because it is not to be known to be the word of God but by the Testimony of the Roman Church And then 2. Cannot be well Translated into any vulgar Language And is also 3. In its self obscure And 4. We have no way to determine of what is its proper sense Atqui hic est nigrae sumus Caliginis haec est Aerugo mera I suppose they will not tell a Pagan or a Mahumetan this story At least I heartily wish that men would not suffer themselves to be so far transported by their private Interest as to forget the general concernments of Christianity We cannot say they know the Scripture to be the word of God but by the Authority of the Church of Rome And all men may easily assure themselves that no man had ever known there was such a thing as a Church much less that it had any Authority but by the Scripture And whither this tends is easie to guess But it will not enter into my head that we cannot know or believe the Scripture to be the word of God any otherwise than on the Authority of the Church of Rome The greatest part of it was believed to be so before there was any Church at Rome at all and all of it is so by Millions in the World who make no account of that Church at all Now some say there is such a Church I wish men would leave perswading us that we do not believe what we know we do believe or that we cannot do that which we know we do and see that millions besides our selves do so too There are not many Nations in Europe wherein there are not Thousands who are ready to lay down their lives to give testimony that the Scripture is the word of God that care not a rush for the Authority of the present Church of Rome And what further evidence they can give that they believe so I know not And this they do upon that innate evidence that the word of God hath in it self and gives to its self the testimony of Christ and his Apostles and the teaching of the Church of God in all Ages I must needs say There is not any thing for which Protestants are so much beholding to the Roman Catholicks as this That they have with so much importunacy cast upon them the work of proving the Scripture to be of Divine Original or to have been given by inspiration from God It is as good a work as a man can well be imployed in and there is not any thing I should more gladly en professo ingage in if the nature of my present business would bear such a Diversion Our Author would quickly see what an easie Task it were to remove those his Reproches of a private spirit of an inward testimony of our own Reason which himself knowing the advantage they afford him amongst vulgar unstudied men trisles withal Both Romanists and Protestants as far as I can learn do acknowledge That the Grace of the Spirit is necessary to enable a man to believe savingly the Scripture to be the Word of God upon what Testimony or Authority soever that faith is founded or resolved into Now this with Protestants is no private Whisper no Enthusiasm no Reason of their own no particular Testimony but the most open noble known that is or can be in the World even the voice of God himself speaking publickly to all in and by the Scripture evidencing it self by its own Divine innate light and excellency taught confirmed and testified unto by the Church in all Ages especially the first founded by Christ and his Apostles He that looks for better or other Testimony Witness or Foundation to build his faith upon may search till Dooms-day without success He that renounceth this shakes the very root of Christianity and opens a door to Atheism and Paganism This was the Anchor of Christians of old from which neither the Storms of Persecution could drive them nor the subtilty of Disputations entise them For men to come now in the end of the World and to tell us That we must rest in the Authority of the present Church of Rome in our receiving the Scripture to be the word of God and then to tell us That that Church hath all its Authority by and from the Scripture and to know well enough all the while that no man can know