4th For all the pretences of Infallibility in the Church of Rome they cannot decide the Controversies that are among their own Members 5th Both Popes and General Councils have contradicted one another and therefore neither of them can be infallible 6th The pretence of Infallibility in the Church of Rome is nothing but a device to uphold their Temporal Grandeur and Dominion Quest. 21. Why do you think the Church of Rome is in an Error in forbidding the reading of the Bible to the Common People Answ. 1. Because Christ commands all sorts of Men to read the Scriptures Joh. 5. 39. 2. The Berrhaeans are commended for searching the Scriptures Acts 17. 11. 3. The Fathers in the Primitive Church exhorted the People to the frequent reading of the Scriptures 4. St. Paul charges the Thessalonians to take care that his Epistle be read to all the holy Brethren 1 Thess. 5. 27. 5. In the Jewish Church every Family was to have the Law in their Houses and to teach it their Children diligently Deut. 6. 7. 6. The pretence of the Obscurity of the Scripture in many places is insignificant since the Scripture is plain enough in things necessary to Salvation 7. The Church of Rome in forbidding the Bible to the Laity discovers her fear and the weakness of her Cause least the People should see her Errors and forsake her Quest. 22. UUhy do not you believe that the Books call'd Apocrypha are Canonical Scripture Answ. 1. Because the Oracles of the Old Testament were delivered to the Jewish Church Rom. 3. 2. and these were not 2. The Christian Church receiv'd from the Jews no other Books of Canonical Scripture but what are own'd as such by the Church of England 3. The Apocrypha were not written by Men inspired by the Holy Ghost and what is Scripture must be by Inspiration 2 Tim. 3. 16. 4. Some of the Authors beg the Readers pardon for their Mistakes which is not the Language of the Holy Ghost 5. The Antient Councils have rejected these Apocrypha as not Canonical particularly the Council of Laodicea 6. In the Primitive Churches they read these Apocrypha only for the Instruction of Mens Manners but did not resolve their Faith into them no more do we Quest. 23. UUhy do you find fault with the Church of Rome for asserting that the Church of England once a Member of her Communion had no power to reform her self Answ. 1. Because every Church hath a natural right to shake off the Abuses and Corruptions which are contrary to the Word of God 2. It is God's Command to private Men not to suffer themselves to be deluded by the slight of Men and cunning Craftiness whereby they lie in wait to deceive and therefore much more is a National Church concern'd to do so 3. In vain was any Reformation hoped for from the Bishop and Clergy of the Roman Church 4. It 's the proper Office of the Bishops of a National Church to take notice what Errors creep into their Churches and oppose them 5. And that they have right to do so appears from the Examples the Church of Judah had in the times of Jehoshaphat or Hezekiah or Josiah 6. In throwing off the power of the Pope of Rome we did not throw off Obedience to a lawful Soveraign but Subjection to an Usurper 7. We did no more than what the Orthodox Churches did after the Arian Councils of Ariminum and Seleucia in setting up the Nicene Faith again which those powerful Councils had banish'd 8. We made no new Religion but restor'd the old and built no new House but only swept out of the old the Rubbish which made it unwholesom and uninhabitable The End An Account of the Conference betwixt a Jesuit of the Savoy and my Self the 2d of January Present Mr. Stephens on my side Mrs. Chamberlain and Mr. Chamberlain and the Book-binder about whom the Conference was held he having been six years of the Church of Rome but somewhat unsatisfied and Mr. Lamb. About Seven of the Clock at Night THE first thing Discoursed was about the Doctrine of Calvinists which the Jesuit said made God the Author of Sin I told him that there are several Expressions which if a favourable Construction be put upon them will appear to be otherwise Next he fell upon Luther who should say that no Man could be damned if he would but for his Infidelity I said it was true that God condemned no Man that professed himself a Christian but for his Infidelity The Jesuit asked whether if a Man committed Theft he may be call'd an Infidel I said he acted like an Infidel and in that Act was so because he acted contrary to his Belief Mr. Chamberlain putting in something about that place 1 Tim. 2. about one Mediator The Jesuit argued he wonderd we should talk of one Mediator when every Man that pray'd for the other was a Mediator I told him in a large Sense he might be called so but in the Controversie before us were meant Mediators which are religiously worshipped Here happened a great rambling Discourse about Faith As distinguished from all good Works but I told them that by Faith I did not mean the bare Assent to the Doctrine but a practical Belief as it takes in the whole Word of God and living according to it The Book-binder was gone to call Mrs. Chamberlain and coming again by this time The Jesuit said they were come to satisfie Persons under some Doubts and therefore must fall upon some more material Points and since we Protestants sent people to the Scripture it was necessary we should begin to talk of the Rule of Faith and therefore he desired to know how we knew the Scripture to be the Word of God and from whom we had received our Bible I told him we had received it from the Catholick Church whose Testimony was very considerable in this Case He ask'd hereupon when we went off from the Church From what Church we did immediately receive it I answered him both from the Western or Roman and from the Churches of the East However I told him I would fairly grant him that we had received it immediately from the Church of Rome and I desired him to make the best of it Here he asked how we could receive the true Bible from a corrupt Church I asked him whether I might not receive a Pearl from a Chimney Sweeper He said we looked upon them for Rogues and Rascals Whereupon I told him we give them no such Language However sinc he used these Names whether a Man might not receive a 100 l. in very good Money from Rogues and Rascals He then argued That we look'd upon the Church of Rome as a corrupt Church and how can we be sure that we have the true Bible since we cannot be sure that a corrupt Church had not corrupted it I told him that they confessed themselves they had not corrupted it and besides they could not corrupt it for the Cheat
would have been found out by the comparing of ancient and modern Copies He then asked again what we counted the Rule of Faith I told him the Scripture He asked whether with a true Interpretation or without it I told him the Scripture with true Interpretation He then replied how we should know the true Interpretation I told him things necessary to Salvation needed no great Interpretation and the words are deliver'd so plainly that any one that runs may Read it He then asked whether every Man was a true Interpreter of Scripture I said every Man had a Judgment of Discretion but there was no Question there were several Persons that might mis-interpret it but if a Man went this way to work read the Scripture pray for Illumination and go to it with a pure Intention he might understand things necessary and he could not err damnably and in things more difficult consult by his Guides He said this would establish every Man in his Religion and a Mahometan ought to be directed by his Guide and why must we follow the Guides of our Church and not the Guides of the Roman Church I told him that People bred and born and baptized in this Church had greater reason to consult their own Guides than others because they had greater Obligations to them Still he urged no Man could be ascertain'd of the true Interpretation of the Scripture without some Judge I desired him to name that Judge over and over but could not bring him to it I know not how the Discourse came in here about different Interpretations and I said the Writers of their Church differ'd in their Interpretation He said none of their Writers differ'd from one another in the Interpretation of places relating to Articles of Faith I asked him what he thought of Extreme Unction He said it was an Article of Faith Very well said I then I 'll prove that Cajetan interprets that place of St. James of another Unction and saith contrary to the Council of Trent that Extreme Unction cannot be proved from that place He said the Council of Trent did not denounce Anathema to him that should interpret that place of St. James of another Unction I then fetcht him down out of my Study the Council of Trent and shew'd him that Sess. 14. it did denounce Anathema to them that should not believe So then he said they laid not the strain upon that place but St. Peter and St. Paul had spoken of it too I challeng'd him to shew me any place in St. Paul or Peter that had spoken of this Unction He then turn'd it off and said he did not mean it of any express mention but only that the Apostles did not use to contradict themselves After this either the Jesuit or Mr. Stephens moved it that there might be another Meeting and that we should write down all I told him I agreed to it and accordingly we appointed Wednesday next the 4 th of January at Four a Clock in the Afternoon and so they departed the Jesuit and Mr. Lamb The Bookbinder and Mr. Chamberlain and his Mother and another young Woman And the Bookbinder and Mr. Stephens and my self and Chamb. and his Mother staid a while when I fell in discourse about Invocation of Saints and fetcht him down the Office of the Virgin Mary The Contempt of the Glories of the Virgin Mary and shew'd him that they did not only pray to Saints to pray for them but begg'd the same Blessings of them they did of God The Bookbinder said the Contemplations of the Glory of the Blessed Virgin was not allow'd of in their Church He said if they did more than pray to Saints to pray for them he did not righly understand his Church The End A DISSWASIVE FROM POPERY BEING A LETTER TO A LADY TO Preserve her from Apostacy from the Communion of the Church of ENGLAND LONDON Printed for W. Hinchman S. Keble and D. Brown 1697. A DISSWASIVE from Popery being a Letter to a Lady to preserve her from Apostacy from the Communion of the Church of England Madam AND are you indeed got into the only Catholick Church And are you sure the Men you have lately believed have not deceived you as you fancy we have done for tho' you may be so charitable as to think that we have not intentionally cozened you yet since you cannot suppose us to be both in the Right you must necessarily conclude that we have at least ignorantly abused and imposed upon you and did you ever rightly consider what a truly Catholick Church does mean Men of Sense and Reason always believed that a Church which holds the truly Catholick Faith is a true and sound Member of the Catholick Church and dares Malice it self say that we do not hold the Apostles the Nicene and Athanasius's Creed The Church of Rome her self confesses that these Creeds contain the truly Catholick Faith And most certainly when the Nicene Council was celebrated and in Athanasius's time that Church was counted a sound Member of the Catholick Church that held that Catholick Faith which is expressed in those Creeds and do we not hold that Faith Do we not stand up at it to express our Readiness to defend it And what have we done that we must not be counted a Catholick Church Is it because we will not receive things which the Church of Rome hath since added to the Catholick Faith Is it because we will not admit of the Doctrines which that Church was first induced to believe by the Darkness and Ignorance of the Ages it lived in and at last loath to part withal for fear they should be thought to have been so long in an Error Is it because we will not yield to things which we apprehend to be directly against the Word of God and destructive to that Catholick Faith the Christian World hath professed in all Ages Is it because we will not deceive the People of the Cup in the Blessed Sacrament which Christ intended as a mighty comfort to them Is it because we will not believe the Miracle of Transubstantiation against four of our Senses and Reason and Scripture to boot Is it because we will not suffer the Worship of God or that which is very like it to be given to Creatures because of the very appearance of the evil of Idolatry which we are commanded to shun as much as Idolatry it self Is it because we will not believe a Purgatory Fire which cleanseth little but Peoples Purses of their Money Is it because we will not indulge the Pride and Arrogance of a Man at Rome who having first wheedled the Christian Princes out of their Means and Power hath at last made that Power and Riches hereditary to his Successors under a pretence of a Legacy from Christ Is it because we will not believe contrary to the Apostles Rule that publick Prayers which are intended for the benefit and understanding of the Multitude must be said in a Tongue unknown to the
our Saviour saith here of a certain Gradation of Punishments due to the several Lusts and degrees of Wrath and Anger Judgment Council Hell fire must be understood of Penalties in the next World yet with allusion to the degrees of Punishment among the Jews in this Life Now among the Jews there were three degrees of publick Infamy according to the nature of the Punishment inflicted on Men for their Crimes and the more publick the Punishment was the greater was the Infamy If an Offendor were brought before the Court of Three and twenty which was an inferiour Court of Judicature called here being guilty of the Judgment and there condemn'd he was infamous and a great Disgrace it was to him but in a lower degree If he were brought before the Sanedrin or the Great Council of the Nation consisting of LXX Elders in the nature of our Parliament and by them adjudged to Death the Infamy and Disgrace was greater Yet if lastly a Man were condemn'd to be burnt in the Valley of Hinnon or Tophet where all the Trash and Filth of the City of Jerusalem the Garbage and dead Carcasses were burnt and where antiently they offered their Children to Moloch and where a perpetual Fire was kept to consume all things that were offensive and nauseous and which by the Jews themselves was look'd upon as an Emblem of Hell fire the Infamy was greatest of all According to these degrees of Infamy here on Earth Christ shews there will be degrees of Punishment for the several degrees of unjust and unlawful Anger in the other World for most certainly this Threatning cannot be understood with respect to this Life there being no such thing inflicted upon Men for Anger and reproachful Names on this side the Grave and whereas the Jews were generally afraid chiefly of Punishments in this Life Christ thought fit to acquaint them and us that we had far greater reason to be afraid of the Punishments in the next as more dreadful and more grievous than any they could fear here on Earth And this is the meaning of the Commination in the Text Whosoever c. From the Words thus explained arise these following Truths I. Antiquity is no warrant for erroneous Doctrines and Practices II. Murder is a Crime which the Magistrate must by no means suffer to go unpunish'd III. Wrath and Anger without a just Cause hath its degrees and according to the degrees of the Sin the Punishment in the next World will be proportionable 1. Antiquity is no warrant for erroneous Doctrines and Practices The Scribes and Pharisees here pretended that what they taught and practic'd concerning the sixth Commandment was deliver'd to them by them of old time But our Saviour shews that this pretence could be of no use to them but rather betray'd than cover'd their Nakedness Error pleads Antiquity as well as Truth and though nothing be more antient than Truth for it is from Eternity and before ever Error appear'd in the World Truth had the universal Monarchy yet Error is as antient as the Fall As soon as the Apostate Angels forsook their Habitation and Integrity together Error began to shew it self which soon spread it self through the habitable World when Man tempted by the Devil consented to his false Principles and went astray from the center of his Happiness No doubt Antiquity is venerable but it must be in a good cause and where Truth and that join together the Argument is perswasive and may be call'd invincible But a thing is not therefore true because it is antient nor doth it command assent because of its uncommon Pedigree Sin and Error lose little of their Deformity by appealing to antient times and an Error is so much the worse by how much it defends itself by the Practice of former Ages Idolatry and all the Vices in the World may shelter themselves under this roof and there is no Villany so great but Men may find a President two or three thousand years ago The Priests of the Temple of Diana at Ephesus called the Wicker-image of that Goddess 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 fallen down from Jupiter meerly because it was antient and the Temple having been seven times ruin'd and built up again and this Image still preserved was to them an Argument that this Worship must be lawful Indeed at this rate a Man might even defend Sodomy with the Romish Arch-bishop Joannes Casa because it was practised in the Cities which God destroyed with Fire and Brimstone and the Jews would have had a good Plea for their Adoration of the Queen of Heaven because their Fathers had been used to it This very Argument makes the Allegations of the Roman Church from Antiquity ridiculous and they might as well espouse the Heresies of Ebian and Cerinthus because they lived in and about the Age of the holy Apostles When God hath given a Standard of Truth that must be the Rule whereby Truth and Error must be concluded and when that saith a thing is true it is not its being revived or taught but yesterday that can make it false and whatever is contrary to that Form of sound Words must be erroneous and false though it were as old as the Rebellion of Corah Dathan and Abiram The Worship of Images is not therefore lawful because Irene a superstitious Woman 900 years ago got a company of illiterate and passionate Men together who decreed it in a Council nor is Sedition and Disobedience to Magistrates therefore justifiable because Gregory II. Pope of Rome in the eighth Century shook off the Authority of Leo Isaurus his Emperor And therefore let none of you plead for any Sin because it is the fashion nor allow themselves in actions offensive to God's Holiness because it hath been the Custom of the Country to do so for many Ages This will be but a poor defence in the last day to alledge that you follow'd the sinful Practices of your Ancestors or to say it was unmannerly to depart from that which was done before you for many Generations To be sure Men were good before they were bad and there was a Golden Age before that of Iron took place in the World and therefore if Antiquity be a motive nothing can challenge your Embraces more than Righteousness and dominion over your Appetite and Passions for that was in the World before Mankind knew what is was to depart from the living God Murder is as antient as the time of Cain yet no civiliz'd Nation under the cope of Heaven will allow of it because of its Antiquity So far from it that in all Countries it is order'd to be punish'd with the Death of the insolent Creature Which calls me to the II. Observation That Murder is a Crime which a Magistrate must by no means suffer to go unpunished for it hath been said Thou shalt not kill and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the Judgment The Substance of this hath been said by Almighty God as well as
Because they are not to be found in the Word of God 2. They are many of them contrary to the Word of God 3. No Church in the World hath Power to make New Articles of Faith Quest. 4. What are the New Articles of Faith the Church of Rome hath added to the Antient Creeds Answ. They are these following I. That the Traditions of the Church are to be received with the same Faith and Veneration we owe to the Holy Scriptures II. That there are seven Sacraments Baptism Confirmation the Eucharist Pennance Extreme Unction Orders and Marriage and that these confer Grace III. That among the Ceremonies used in the Roman Church the Publick Service in Latin or an unknown Tongue is a commendable Service IV. That in the Mass there is offered to God a true Propitiatory Sacrifice for the Living and the Dead V. That in the Sacrament of the Eucharist the Bread and Wine are changed into the very Substance of Christ's Body and Blood VI. That Laymen need not receive the Sacrament of the Eucharist in both kinds and that it 's sufficient for them to communicate in one VII That there is a Purgatory or a Place after Death where good Mens Souls are tormented for smaller Sins and relieved by the Alms and Prayers of the Living VIII That the Saints departed this Life may and must be pray'd to and invoked and that their Reliques must be worshipp'd IX That the Images of Jesus Christ and of the Virgin Mary and of other Saints may and ought to be worshipp'd X. That Indulgences or Dispensations of the redundant Merits of Saints are very useful things XI That Auricular Confession or Confession of all our mortal Sins with the Circumstances of them to a Priest is necessary to Salvation XII That the Church of Rome is the Catholick Church and Mistress of all other Churches Quest. 5. Why must not Traditions be received with the same Faith that is due to the written Word of God Answ. 1. Because the written Word of God is perfect containing all things necessary to Salvation And that does not direct us to Traditions but rather warns us against them 2. Because the Traditions of the Church of Rome many of them are false and many uncertain 3. Their Traditions are not Traditions which have been receiv'd in all Ages by all Churches and in all Places for such only are the true Apostolical Traditions 4. That they are not absolutely necessary their own Practice shews in that they reject Authentick Traditions and particularly that of Communicating Infants And here you may note The Reason why they fly to Tradition is because they cannot prove their New Doctrines by the Word of God Quest. 6. Why do not you believe seven Sacraments Answ. 1. The Holy Ghost in Scripture hath no where declared such a number 2. This precise number of Seven Sacraments was not heard of in the Christian Church till twelve hundred years after Christ. 3. There are but Two Sacraments mention'd in the New Testament I mean such as are true and proper Sacraments viz. Baptism and the Supper of the Lord. 4. The Council of Trent was the first that made this Number an Article of Faith Quest 7. Why do not you allow of Publick Service in Latin or in a Tongue not understood by the People Answ. 1. Because St. Paul writes a whole Chapter against it 1 Cor. 14. 2. Because the Publick Service ought to be for the Edification of the People and Service in an unknown Tongue cannot edifie 3. The Practice of the Primitive Church is against it 4. Some of the wiser Men in the Church of Rome themselves find fault with this Publick Service in an unknown Tongue 5. This Practice in the Church of Rome is only to serve some Worldly Ends. Quest. 8. Why do not you admit of the Sacrifice of the Mass Answ. 1. Because the Church of Rome tells us that they do sacrifice Christ every day in the Mass which is directly contrary to the 9th Chapter of the Epistle to the Hebrews Heb. 9. 25 26 27 28. 2. Because there can be no true and proper Sacrifice without Death and it founds dreadful to a Christian Ear that the Priest kills Christ every day or which is all one puts his God to Death 3. It destroys the end of a Sacrifice which is to testifie our Subjection to God but in this Sacrifice of the Mass the Offerer who is the Priest must be greater than the Offering 4. The Lord's Supper is only a Commemoration or Representation of Christ's Sacrifice and a Sacrifice of Thanksgiving but no proper or true Propitiatory Sacrifice Quest. 9. Why do not you believe a Transubstantiation in the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper Answ. 1. It is against all Sense for we may see and feel and hear and taste and smell that the Bread and Wine after Consecration are Bread and Wine still 2. It is against Reason that Christ's Body and Blood should be in a thousand places at once 3. It is against Scripture for Christ protests that his flesh profits nothing Joh. 6. 63. 4. It is against the Nature of a Sacrament which is an outward visible Sign of something Spiritual and Transubstantiation destroys the Sign 5. Christ himself explains what he means by saying This is my Body when he adds Do this in remembrance of me which remembrance supposes the absence of his Natural Body 6. It is against that Article of our Faith which saith That Christ is to continue in Heaven till the Restitution of all things And there is no necessity we should take the words literally any more than the words in Jo. 10. 7. I am the door c. 7. This is my Body is a Phrase or Form of Speech exactly like that of the Lamb in the Passover This Lamb is the Passeover i. e. the Memorial of it 8. These words This is my Body do not naturally infer a substantial change by the Confession of some Papists themselves 9. They themselves cannot be sure of this Change because they say it depends upon the Intention of the Priest 10. The Absurdities that flow from the Doctrine of Transubstantiation are innumerable for then Christ must have eaten himself the Disciples must have eaten up their Master Christ's Body may be lockt up in a Box for half a year together and longer c. Whereas the Doctrine of the Church of England that the Bread represents Christ's Body and upon that account is his Body hath no Inconveniency in it 11. Transubstantiation is against the Doctrine of the Primitive Church which calls the Bread the Figure of Christ's Body Quest. 10. Why do not you think it lawful for Laymen to receive the Communion in one kind only Answ. 1. Because Christ saith expresly to the Disciples Drink ye all of this 2. The Practice of the universal Church of Christ for a thousand years together is against it 3. The Council of Constance in the year 1416. was the first that durst venture
used as a means to get Money 5. By these Indulgences men are hindred from a true Repentance for they pretend to release Men by them both from Sin and Punishment at least the People are suffer'd to think so if they do but say so many Prayers or go in Pilgrimage to such a place or fast so many days from some kinds of Meats or give a large sum of Money for the building of a Church or go to War against Infidels c. Quest. 15. Why do not you think Auricular Confession to a Priest necessary to Salvation Here you must Note That we are not against Confession in the Church of England nay our Church presses it both publick and private to God and Confession to a pious and able Minister if the Conscience be burden'd and upon a Death-bed but we dare not say as they do in the Church of Rome that a Man cannot be pardon'd or saved except he Confesses to a Priest 1. We allow not of it in the sense of the Church of Rome Because there is nothing in the Word of God that makes the neglect of it Damnable 2. The Confession used in the Primitive Church was made by scandalous Sinners publickly in the Congregation and therefore is not the same with that practis'd in the Church of Rome which commands the Confessing all mortal Sins with their Circumstances into the ear of a Priest at set times and before the receiving of the Sacrament 3. Since it is not of Divine but Ecclesiastical Institution it cannot be absolutely necessary to Salvation 4. It cannot be a Sacrament as they make it in the Chuch of Rome because it wants Christ's Institution 5. This Confession to a Priest as it is managed in the Church of Rome is no Check but rather an Encouragement to Sin Quest. 16. UUhy do not you believe that the Church of Rome is the only Catholick Church and the Mistriss of all other Churches Answ. I can never believe that the Church of Rome is the only Catholick Church 1. Because there are vast multitudes of Christians in the World which are not in actual Communion with the Church of Rome and yet are Members of the Catholick or which is the same of Christ's universal Church dispersed all the World over 2. To say That the Church of Rome is the Catholick Church is to say That a part is the whole or that a House is a whole City or that one Member is the whole Body 3. The Primitive Christians did not take the Church of Rome for the only Catholick Church 4. God hath no where in Scripture declared so much 5. To say the Church of Rome is the only Catholick Church is a most uncharitable Doctrine and to Damn the greater part of the Christian World 6. All Churches that do hold the ancient Faith contain'd in the three Creeds are Members of the Catholick Church 7. The Church of Rome is so far from being the only Catholick Church that her strange Doctrines make her at the best but a very unsound Member of the Catholick Church I do not believe That the Church of Rome is the Mistress of all other Churches in the World 1. Because there is no such Authority given her in the word of God 2. The Superiority she Claims is nothing but Usurpation 3. The Asian and African Churches heretofore rejected her Authority 4. The Eastern Churches at this day despise her Pride and pretended Authority 5. The Church of England was a free Church from the beginning and therefore justly maintains her Freedom and how should that Church be Mistress of all other Churches that takes Liberty to change Christ's Institutions and Commands and contradicts the Word of God Quest. 17. Doth the Church of Rome differ from the Church of England in any other Points Answ. Yes for she holds 1. That Extreme Unction is a Sacrament necessary to Salvation 2. That it is unlawful for Priests to Marry 3. That she is infallible 4. That the Scripture is not to be read in a vulgar Language by the common People 5. That the Books call'd Apocrypha are Canonical Scripture 6. That the Church of England had no Power to Reform her self All which we deny as contrary to Scripture and Reason Quest. 18. Why do not you believe that Extreme Unction is a Sacrament necessary to Salvation Ans. 1. Because that Unction or anointing sick Persons Jam. 5. 14 15. was a miraculous Gift and therefore not necessary to be continued 2. Christ did never institute this miraculous Unction as a Sacrament 3. The Unction they use in the Church of Rome hath no miraculous effects 4. The Apostles an̄ointed sick Persons that they might recover In the Church of Rome they anoint dying Persons who are past Recovery 5. In that place of St. James the saving of the sick Person is ascribed to the Prayer of Faith not to the anointing 6. The Sacrament of the Lords Supper is sufficient to comfort the dying Man Quest. 19. Why do you look upon their forbidding Priests to marry as unlawful Answ. 1. Because St. Paul permits a Bishop and indeed all Clergy-men to marry 1 Tim. 3. 2. 8. 11. Tit. 1. 6. 2. The same Apostle saith to all Men in general It is better to marry than to burn 1 Cor. 7. 9. 3. The same Apostle calls forbidding to marry a Doctrine of Devils 1 Tim. 4. 1. 3. 4. St. Peter himself an Apostle and a Priest was a married Man 5. Several of the Bishops in the Primitive Church were married Men such as Spiridion Chaereman Phileas Gregory Nyssen Gregory Nazianzen both Father and Son Hilary and others 6. It was Pope Hildebrand or Gregory VII the same that first presumed to depose Soveraign Princes that made the Clergy renounce their Wives contrary to Scripture a Man guilty of the greatest Crimes imaginable Quest. 20. Why do not you believe the Church of Rome infallible Answ. 1. Because it is only a Pretence founded neither in Scripture nor Antiquity 2. It is a Church that hath err'd both in Doctrine and the Worship of God most notoriously 3. God hath no where promis'd to make any one Church infallible 4. Themselves are not agreed where this Infallibility lies whether in the Pope or in a general Council or in the diffusive body of Christians 5. The Word of God is the only infallible Rule to walk by 6. There is no need of a visible infallible Judge for deciding of Controversies For 1st Controversies may be decided without such a Judge as they were in the Primitive Church the Bishops meeting in Council and arguing against Hereticks from the Word of God 2d A meek humble peaceable and charitable Temper would decide Controversies better than all the pretended infallible Judges in the World 3d. We do not find that when there were infallible Judges here on Earth such as Christ and his Apostles that all Controversies did cease Notwithstanding their presence there were Schisms and Heresies even among the Christians 1 Cor. 11. 19.