Hands and we are to be taught the Mysteries of the Resurrection and Eternal Judgment This Catechism saith he is perfect And indeed in the whole New Testament we meet not with such an excellent Epitome of the Christian Doctrine as in this place which was written to this Mother-Church 'T is true we have some mention of a Form of Doctrine delivered to the believing Romans And Timothy is commanded to hold fast the Form of sound Words which he had heard of St. Paul Christ is said to be the Apostle and High Priest of our Profession the Author and Finisher of our Faith we are willed to contend for the Faith once delivered to the Saints But none of these places do shew us as the Text under consideration what this Form of Doctrine this Form of sound Words this Profession and this Faith was in respect of the Composition and Foundamentality of them nor can there any thing be assigned that is so properly the Analogy or Rule of Faith as these Principles of Catechism Happy had it been if all Christian Churches had held fast this Catechism though no more had ever been composed Unity in the Truth would have been better maintained by this one than by so many as are now extant And sure this being of Divine Composure and Authority the Principles of the Oracles of God the Beginning of the Word of Christ must needs outweigh all others being but of Human Composition To begin with the first Principle of this Church let us consider 1. Repentance from Dead Works We are first to consider why Repentance is put in the first place even before Faith sure it is because no unrepenting Sinner can have the Faith of Justification therefore this Principle of the Christian Faith must follow Repentance There is indeed a Faith which we may call the Faith of Mankind to believe there is a God that will both punish Sinners and reward the Righteous and this Faith must needs precede Repentance Heb. 11. 6. This Repentance as it was a Principle of this Mother-Church comprehends three things a true Sence of Sin in the exceeding sinfulness of it in which respect it is said They were pricked at the heart and cried out or said Men and Brethren what shall we do Act. 2. 37. which is accompanied with Godly Sorrow and with Amendment of Life without which Repentance is rather to be repented of than to be esteemed any part of the Foundation of Christian Religion Repent ye therefore and be converted that your Sins may be blotted out Act. 3. 19. Without which Repentance there is no Remission Luk. 13. 5. Except ye repent ye shall all perish saith our Saviour How blessed had it been if this Doctrine had been preached and Men brought to the Obedience of it before they had been admitted to Membership in the Church of Christ The not keeping to this Rule has filled all National Churches with unregenerate unconverted Persons to the Scandal of the Christian Religion 2. Of Faith towards God in this Mother-Church The Excellency of the Faith of this Mother-Church appeared in these things That they gladly received the Word of the Gospel of their Salvation Act. 2. 40. To the illumination of their Souls and the expelling the darkness of Errour and Unbelief by this Faith they had their Hearts sprinkled from an evil Conscience and their Confidence in God had a great Recompence of Reward in the Love and Expectation of which they willingly endured a great Fight of Afflictions whilst they were made a Gazing-stock both by Reproaches and suffering the spoiling of their Goods with joyfulness and were willingly Companions with and charitably compassionate towards those that were in Bonds for Righteousness sake working the Work of God ministring to the Saints labouring in Love all which are Arguments of true and lively Faith. Heb. 6. 10 11. Heb. 10. 32 33 34 35. He that reads and considers this Excellent Epistle written to this Mother-Church wherein we may be sure no new Doctrine is delivered but the same corroborated which they had received shall find that the true Knowledge and Belief of Christ was amongst them in respect of his Divinity Chap. 1. in respect of his Humanity Chap. 2. in respect of Priestly Office and Sacrifice with all other Offices to which he was appointed of God in the residue of the Epistle of which we cannot now speak particularly 3. Of the Doctrine of Baptism in this Church The Lord Christ had fully taught the Guides of this Mother-Church the Doctrine of Baptism both by Word and Example and thereby had informed them of a three-fold Baptism The first delivered by Precept himself making the People Disciples by teaching them to repent and believe the Gospel and then appointing his Disciples to dip them in the River in which respect it is said that Jesus made and dipped or Baptized more Disciples than John Mat. 4. 17. John 4. 1. John 3. 22. His own example being an unquestionable Rule for the manner of Baptizing he being Dipped of John into Jordan as the Greek hath it Mark 1. 9. and then coming up out of the Water And of this whole Church it is said their hearts were sprinkled from an evil Conscience and their Bodies washed with pure water For Baptismal Water is therefore purer because it is Sanctified for our Religious use both by the Person of Christ and by the Word of God. And of this Church was first required that every one of them should repent and then be Baptized and of them it is also said that they that gladly received the Word preached by St. Peter were baptized Acts 2. 38 40. They were also instructed concerning the Baptism of the Holy Spirit it being the Promise of the Father made to all the called of the Lord and was particularly applied to them and poured upon them in the way of Faith and Obedience To be willing to be Baptized with Afflictions for Christ and the Gospels-sake they were also taught by our blessed Saviour in his Discourse with some of his Disciples and by his own Sufferings Luke 12. 30. of which they were also partakers Heb. 10. 32. as also all that will live Godly in Christ Jesus must expect the same And it would be considered by what Rule any man can take upon him to make Baptism the first Principle seeing Christ himself has made it the third Principle and by what Rule any man can call Sprinkling Baptizing Dare they speak as they act that is dare they say I sprinkle thee in the Name of the Father c. Would not their Conscience flie in their Face if they should so speak and yet behold they prevaricate in action and lye in expression in that which they call their Baptism God will surely send the proudest prevaricators in this case a Quo warranto for their presumptuous dealing herein Of the Laying on of Hands in this Church There are two great Blessings belong to all true Christians Remission of sin and the Gift
the perfect words of the New Testament whereto nothing may be added and wherefrom nothing may be taken away by him that will lead a life agreeable to the Gospel Euseb Hist l. 5. c. 14. Thus Brethren I have for your sakes as well as others taken a fresh view of the State of this most Primitive Church to whose holy pattern through the Grace of God you have diligently laboured to conform your souls her Principles are yours her Government in good measure is yours if in any thing any of them be otherwise minded my hearts desire is that God would speedily reveal even the same unto you and then it is to be hoped that all well disposed will in time see themselves concerned to adhere to the truth of your Principles in the very Order wherein you maintain them Hear the Church OR AN EPISTLE TO All the Baptized Christians in England Exciting them to Stedfastness in their Holy Profession under their various Tryals and great Afflictions The Second PART BRETHREN AS it hath pleased God to exercise you many years with various Tryals and Afflictions for your Faithfulness to the Christian Religion in respect of the Restoration of it to its ancient Purity both in the Form and Power of it wherein you have laboured hitherto and have not fainted but by the Grace of God have attained to some degree in that behalf above what hath as yet been attained by the generality of your Country-men for which you owe the greatest Thankfulness to Almighty God. And having as I verily believe laid a right Foundation for a true Church-State you are indispensibly obliged to go on unto perfection as the first Churches which were built upon the same Foundation were expresly required and exhorted Heb. 6. 1 2 3. In which Holy Profession being by the Grace of God one with you and also called to the Ministry and Office of a Messenger of your Churches which I mention because it is the most despised Office amongst all Christians as it seems to have been in the Apostles days 1. Cor. 4. 9. do hold it my Duty at this time to endeavour to strengthen you in what I may in your Holy Profession as also to call upon such as have been shaken in mind by the violence of those Temptations which have befallen them in common with their Brethren For as it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God as those undoubtedly shall who draw back from the Truth they have once embraced unto Perdition so I am very confident that for any to fall from the Truth as it is professed by the Baptized Churches is the most dangerous of all other they being indeed the nearest to the Truth in the Pristine Order and Simplicity of it of all sorts of Persons who own the Honorable Appellation of Christian For What sort of Christians can with any Confidence look upon or bring themselves close to the Rules of St. Pauls Catechism Heb. 6. 1 2. as the Antients used to call it except the Baptized Churches To say nothing of others can they of the present Roman Catholick-Church in any wise square themselves or justifie their present Church-State by the Rule of those Sacred Principles in the simplicity of them No these Principles of Christ's Doctrine will in no wise be concordant with the Catechism of the present Roman Church seeing a Doctor of their own hath told us that if the Scriptures must be our Rule c. they must all cross the Cudgels to the Anabaptists which is a plain giving up the Victory to the Baptized Churches unless a better Form of Doctrine can be assigned than this is which will never be Yea so pressing is this place from the true Institution of the Antient Christian Religion that the Rhemists seem to be under no small difficulty how to express themselves about it For thus they speak upon the Text Heb. 6. 1 2. We see hereby say they what the first grounds of Christian Institution or Catechism were in the Primitive Church and that there was ever a necessary Instruction and Belief of certain Points had by Word of mouth and Tradition before men came to the Scriptures which could not treat of things so particularly as was requisite for the teaching of all necessary Grounds Among these Points were the twelve Articles contained in the Apostles Creed The Doctrine of Penance before Baptism the Manner and Necessity of Baptism the Sacrament of Imposition of Hands after Baptism called Confirmation the Articles of the Resurrection Judgment and such like without which things first laid if one should be sent to pick his Faith out of the Scriptures there would be mad Rule quickly 1. It 's highly observable from hence that the first Grounds and Principles of our Churches which indeed are no other than what men read Heb. 6. 1 2. are openly acknowledged by our most Potent Opposites to be the same which were in the Primitive Church received for the first Grounds and Institutions of Christianity or Christian Institution and Catechism That in the Primitime Church these Grounds were held in the very Order now observed by the Baptized Churches particularly Repentance before Baptism and Imposition of Hands after Baptism Sure this is a full Testimony that the Institution of the Baptized Churches now wrongfully called Anabaptists and theirs only is truly Apostolical Whilst all the Paedobaptists in the World among whom the Papists have quite subverted this Order giving their supposed Baptism before Repentance and that unto Persons that are not capable of Repentance 2. They tell us there was a necessary Instruction and Belief of certain Points had by Word of Mouth and Tradition before men came to the Scripture Admit this to be so in respect of such parts of the Holy Scriptures as were then unwritten when the Apostles first preached the Gospel yet it is certainly false in respect of such Books of Scripture as were then in being for it 's evident that our Blessed Saviour propounded the Text of Scripture Luke 4. 17 18 19. and thence preached to the People and commanded his Hearers to search the Scriptures John 5. 29. He did not send his Hearers to Tradition as the Papists do The great Apostle of the Jews St. Peter even then when he was filled with the Holy Ghost Acts 2. 17. preached from and notably confirms his Doctrine by the Scriptures Act. 2. not by Tradition And Philip Acts 8. 35. began at the same Scripture which the Eunuch read and preached to him Jesus without making any use of Tradition Apollo being mighty in the Scripture not in Tradition convinced the Jews shewing not by Tradition but by the Scriptures that Jesus is the Christ So did the great Apostle of the Gentiles St. Paul Acts 28. 2â— Perswading men concerning Jesus out of the Law and the Prophets not out of Tradition from Morning to Evening and the best sort of St. Paul's Hearers searched the Scriptures daily not Tradition to see whether the
who is his Church we shall never find her nor does he reveal this but by the Testimonies of the Scripture there must we find the Church of God or no where For none but Enthusiasts pretend to any other Revelation in this Case and to speak feeely I doubt the Papists are more then a little Enthusiastical for rather than let God's Word decide this Question about the Church they will flye to Miracles as if a false Prophet may not shew a Sign or a Wonder yea and that Sign and Wonder come to pass too and yet the thing he brings it to prove be nothing but a lye see Deut. 15. Surely he that shall pretend to work a Miracle or Wonder in these days to prove such or such a People to be the Church I should the more suspect both him and his Church because we have a sure Word of Prophecy confirmed by Miracles already which Word doth as fully set forth the Church as it sets forth any thing insomuch as men may as well call for Miracles to prove there is a God and that this God is true as to call for Miracles to prove the true Church Indeed the Church of Christ being once found then all wise and modest men will readily lend an Ear to her in all things and especially when she undertakes to expound the dark or mysterious points of our Religion or offers her Judgment in things doubtful for as for the common point of the Christian Faith he that is a wise and good Man and no ways byassed by Interest may perhaps know these things as well as the Church or at least such as call themselves Church-men But to be bound to adhere to any Church in these days as to a people which cannot possibly be mistaken in any matters of Faith or Religion seems to be an Atribute too high for any Society of Sinful men and there is none that liveth and sinneth not For seeing God hath not told us any such thing That the Church cannot Err or be Mistaken it ought not to be spoken and if it be only proper to the Almighty to say He cannot lye It must not be said of the Church that She cannot lye lest he reprove us and we be found Lyars Rom. 3. 4. Let God be true and every Man a lyar for thus it is written and again Hos 11. 12. Ephraim compasseth me about with Lyes and the House of Israel with Deceit This was the Case of the ten Tribes and though Judah be justified as to these Impieties yet Chap. 12. 2. God tells them he had a Controversie with them also Certain it is that famous Churches have erred in matters of Faith and others were as liable to err as they no Church being herein priviledged above another for any thing that God has said in his Word but he every where exhorts his People to beware of Sin Error and Apostacy and commands every one that hath Ears to hear what the Spirit saith to the Churches but he does not say to any of them that they cannot Err therefore we are not to hear such a story of any Church Mat. 16. 18. Is a gracious Promise indeed That the Gates of Hell shall not prevail against the Church of Christ as founded upon himself in the true Faith of St. Peter But this Promise belongs to all true Churches equally yet no man ever durst affirm from hence That no true Church can possibly err And St. Peter who understood this Promise never told any Church of his Planting that they could not Err but rather tells them they may err so as to fall from their stedfastness and be led away with the error of the Wicked Indeed if any Church could be assigned here on Earth that cannot err or be deceived in matters of Faith it were the easiest thing in the World to find the Truth having once found the Church for we should have no need to know any thing but what that Church speaks and to receive her Determinations as God's Oracles but then I consider again that we should perhaps have great inconvenience also For if all the Decrees made by General Councils be obliging to us and were bound up together we should never be able to read them nor I doubt to understand them it will then be our best at the long-run to take Sanctuary at the Word of God as our Guide and Superiour to the Church But I consider farther that no man makes any particular Church this Guide but does refer us to the Universal Church as assembled in a General Council Surely either this is to make as many Universal Churches at least as there has been Ages since Christ was upon the Earth or if all make but one Universal Church the direction given to follow her Sentence is scarce practicable for how long will it be before a man can be assured what was held and what was rejected by the Church in all Ages indeed there are Men born of great confidence who will tell us that the Catholick or Universal Church hath always held such Doctrines and such Traditiors as are unwritten c. Now it highly concerns all Christians as much as in them lieth to make sure work with such bold Talkers about the truth of the things which they affirm especially about the truth of the Antiquity of these things that is that they appear by some Divine Record to have been delivered to the first Churches by Men approved of God to be the deliverers of Divine Institutes and if they fail here it will be ill venturing to follow them in their after-enquiries And there is the highest Reason in the World to stand as strongly as possible for the first Age for such pure and undoubted Antiquity is necessary in our Case from the tenour of our Blessed Saviour's Argumentation against the Jews in opposition to a Tradition or Mosaical Precept in the Case of Divorce Mat. 19. 8. From the beginning it was not so For seeing the Apostles did faithfully deliver the whole Counsel of God to the first Churches condemning all that shall teach otherwise than they had taught the the Doctrine of Godliness or that should not consent to wholesome words even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ it is therefore necessary to bring all Doctrine and Practices in the Christian Church to the Test of the most pure and Primitive Antiquity for that Church which hath that Argument fairly on her side cannot fail of all other Arguments which can be any way necessary for her Justification for indeed this first Argument does infer all the rest and they that have not this have none of the other which thing being well considered look back upon your Principles O ye Baptized Christians and upon what hath been said for them even by your Adversaries and take comfort for whoever boasts of the best Antiquity it is certain that you only have it For what is the most ancient Record Doubtless the Holy Scripture and if so let the
things spoken by him were so 3. Nor can the Papists tell us what one Point of Necessary Instruction or Belief was delivered by Word of Mouth which is not now contained in the Holy Scripture if otherwise let them assign some necessary Point of Faith or Instruction such as without which we cannot know and serve God truly and fully and be saved eternally which is not contained in the Holy Scriptures But as this will hardly be attempted so let me exhort you Brethren to beware of all manner of Principles and Doctrins which have any tendency to weaken or invalidate the Authority and Sufficiency of the Scriptures which the Apostle avers to be of that sufficiency even before all the Books of Sacred Scriptures were extant as to furnish the Man of God throughly to every good Work. And then certainly he who is in all Points of Faith and Instruction a good Christian according to the Doctrine contained in the Holy Scriptures will be out of the reach of any just reprehension though he know nothing of the unwritten Tradition so much pretended and admired by the Papists or others Being thus secured in your Principles from the very concession of your Enemies and by the Authority of the best and most Sacred Antiquity even the Holy Scriptures you have no cause to fear the most important difficulties wherewith possibly we may be tried in these days And that we may the better see how the case stands between the Baptists and the Papists with respect to the two great Ordinances of Christ to wit Holy Baptism and the Holy Table of our Lord Jesus Christ we will here take a View of the one and of the other in a distinct Column by it self the better to discern their Disparity The Manner of Baptism among the Baptized Believers commonly called Anabaptists Baptist The Manner of Baptism among the Papists commonly called Roman Catholicks taken out of the Roman Ritual by a Learned Hand translated into English Papist THE Messenger or Elder being attired in comely Raiment not much different from the rest of his Brethren first Preaches the Gospel to every Creature that is capable and willing to hear and when by hearing they have received Faith the Minister explains the Doctrine of Repentance from dead Works and of Faith towards God for the further Illumination of the Disciples understanding in the knowledge of the only true God and our Lord Jesus Christ that they may obtain Eternal Life The Minister does oopen the Doctrine of Repentance in three parts especially i. e. as it consists in a due sense or knowledge of the sinfulness of sin In true Sorrow for sin committed especially against Almighty God. The necessity of forsaking the Conversation of sin and to walk righteously soberly and godly in this present Life The Doctrine of Faith is explained concerning the Object in respect of the God-head the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost into whose Name the Party is to be baptized and especially concerning Christ crucified buried and risen a-again and therewith is shewed that in Baptism we are to die unto Sin to be buried with him in Baptism to rise to a Holy Life and so to put on the Lord Jesus Christ in Baptism as to be born of Water and of the Spirit through the Word The Minister does open to the Party to be Baptized the whole Doctrine of Baptisms First That of Water which is the Baptism of Repentance for the Remission of sins in respect of the Power by which it is commanded the extent of it to every repenting Sinner the end of it to be a Pledge of the washing away of sin and to give us admission into the Church of Christ to draw near to God in Prayer with full assurance having the Heart sprinkled from an evil Conscience by Faith in the Blood of Christ and our Bodies washed with pure Water even the Water of the Baptismal Covenant called the washing of Regeneration 2. That of the Holy Spirit the Promise of the Spirit being made to all that our Lord doth call and therewith doth explain the fourth Principle of Christ's Doctrine Laying on of Hands with Prayers as the Means appointed of God to obtain that Blessing even the Promise of the Spirit through Faith in the Word of Promise 3. The Baptism of Affliction is also opened that the Sufferings of Christ called by himself a Baptism may not be feared but patiently endured according to the Will of God. This is the Sum of the Doctrine of Baptism taught by the Baptized Churches The 5th and 6th Principles of Christ's Doctrine are likewise particularly opened concerning the Resurrection of the Dead and chiefly of Christ's being raised Bodily from the Dead as the most sure pledge that the Dead shall be raised Bodily and the eternal Judgment in which every man shall receive according to the deeds done in the Body whether good or bad To all which the Party to be Baptized declares his assent in the best manâ—er he can shewing also his sense of Sin and sorrow for it his purpose to live holily his Faith in Christ his Saviour the only Son of God and that it is his desire to be Baptized according to the Will of God. And then the Minister with the Congregation or persons present do make Prayer and Supplication to Almighty God to receive the returning sinner and to bless and sanctifie his own Ordinance to him And then the Party to be Baptized being cloathed with convenient Garments for decency he is had to the Water where calling upon the Name of the Lord he is dipped into the River or Water by the Minister in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost And as in every thing Christians are to give thanks so this whole Service is concluded with farther prayer and thanksgiving to this effect That as it has pleased God to call his Servant or Servants out of their sinful state and to bring them into the way of Truth so it would please him to enable them to persevere to the end to his Glory and their own Eternal Comfort Nor do we put any Vow Covenant or Promise upon any Person save only what the very Nature of the Baptismal Covenant it self does in its own evidence carry along with it it being our greatest care neither to add to nor to diminish ought from the holy Ordinances of Christ but to keep them as they were delivered at first to the Church of God 1 Cor. 11. 2. AFter many preparatory Prescriptions the Priest being dressed in a Purple Robe calls the Infant to be Baptized by his Name and saith What askest thou of the Church of God the God-fathers answer Faith. The Priest saith again What shalt thou get by Faith The God-father replies Eternal Life Then adds the Priest If therefore thou wilt enter into Life keep the Commandments Thou shalt love
question be about Christ and his Church there must we find them both or no where If any Man like not this Doctrine let him shew me if he can these lovely Objects without being beholden to the Scripture Some I have known to attempt this but with lamentable success being soon driven to a shameful silence and indeed the whole World must depart into utter silence as touching this great Mystery Christ and his Church unless the Word of God as it is delivered in the Holy Scriptures through Faith makes us wise in these great Concernments of Salvation 2 Tim. 3. 14. Let men alledge all the Authors in the World and all the Tradition that ever was if the Holy Scriptures must not be their own Evidence and so capable to command our Belief of them then for the same or rather more forcible Reasons then any Man can bring against the Scriptures all Authors and all Traditions shall be dumb and useless as to the production of the least iota of Divine Faith so that the Papists at the long-run must if they know how shew us their Church without Scripture or any Author and without Tradition also as I have formerly written unto you being provoked thereunto by seven Queries sent by a Learned Papist who in his last to me does undertake to deliver himself from this difficulty after this manner We may saith he prove the Church by the Holy Scripture and the Scripture by the Church and this by a Regressus Demonstrativus without a vicious Circle because we suppose them both sufficiently proved and prudently accepted for such by all the Motives of Credibility as Miracles Holiness c. by which Christ proved himself and his New Gospel But as for the Sense of the Scripture I have more than sufficiently demonstrated that the Scripture it self cannot bear witness for it but that this must be had from a Living Judge viz. the Church the Infallible Interpreter of Gods Word To this I answer briefly That is a vicious Circle out of which no man can lawfully deliver himself but must run in a Round without end and truly such is this Circular Argumentation of my Adversary he will prove his Church by the Scripture 2. He will prove the Scripture to be true by his Church and he will prove his Church true by the Scripture before the Scripture be proved true and he will prove the Scripture to be true after it hath proved his Church true This Meander is no way to be avoided that I can see but by suffering either the Scripture or the Church to be its own Evidence for his Demonstrative Regress makes his Case worse for by it they be both sufficiently proved before either of them be proved and both prudently accepted before either of them be accepted and which is most strange of all the rest these things are all done before the Scripture hath any sense known for of this he is the most of all confident that the Sense of the Scripture must be had from a living Judge viz. the Church the Infallible Interpreter of God's Word So that this is the Conclusion of the whole Matter The Scripture without Sense must prove the Roman Church and the Roman Church must then give the Sense of that Scripture which had no Sense before when it proved Her to be the Church here is indeed a Regressus but no such thing as a Demonstrativus Methinks wise men should consider that the Holy Scripture is its own Interpreter in a great if not the greatest part of it the New Testament being the best Interpreter of the Old Testament and of it self also in many places for Example It tells us in one place that the Heavens must receive Christ from the time of his Ascension till the times of refreshing shall come from the Presence of the Lord. Act. 3. 21. And hence we hold that no Christian must say that the real Body of of Christ which ascended to Heaven is upon the Earth till he shall be sent the second time for God shall send Jesus saith St. Peter because the Scripture tells us in another place That if Jesus were on Earth he should not be a Priest Heb. 8. 4. It is therefore as plain as plain can be that the Papists make void the Priesthood of Christ and contradict St. Peter himself when they tell the World that the real Body of Christ which ascended into Heaven is now really carnally corporally present upon the Earth that is upon their Altars and in the Hands and Mouths of their Priests and People as often as they celebrate Mass and consequently he is so far from being received into Heaven till the time of his second coming that he is according to their own Opinion received bodily upon Earth ten thousand times and in ten thousand places to his being once received bodily into Heaven Sure their Opinion is directly against the Scripture as sure as their Transubstantiation is directly against the best Sense and the best Reason with which Almighty God hath endowed the best of Men as has been clearly evidenced by many learned Discourses among which I would commend to your Perusal one lately published under the Title of A Discourse against Transubstantiation Printed this Year and sold by Mr. Aylmer at the Three Pigeons against the Royal Exchange Price Six Pence My Learned Adversary and indeed the Papists generally do urge us vehemently after this manner admitting that the Church is to follow the Rule of God's revealed Word in all her Definitions yet they hold it extreamly irrational that all that can read it should be his own Interpreter of it for so say they He will be his own Judge And as in a Nation where no Judge of the Law is appointed there can be no Justice but every man will be his own Judge so likewise unless there be a Supream Judge in Matters of Faith to wit the Church from whom no Appeal may be allowed there can be no end of Controversies c. This Objection is considerable to which I say 1. What my Adversary means by God's revealed Word I do not very well understand but I doubt he extends that Term farther than the Holy Scripture else I am sure enough the Church of Rome has no revealed Word of God to follow in very many of her Observations but to let this pass at present I answer to the Objection thus 2. It seems to be built upon many dangerous Suppositions such as these That we ought to rest upon the Sentence of a Priest for we must hear the Church out of his Mouth for the state of our Soul as on the Sentence of a Judge in a Civil Court for a matter of Debt c. and that we are no more bound to search the Scriptures for Eternal Life than to search the Statute-Book for our Temporal Life nay here I do them no wrong for they will permit us to read the Statute-Book but they forbid us to read the Holy Scripture It supposes