Rome in honouring the Saints and their Reliques or Images without making our selves obnoxious to the Jews for any reason to do it with For Christianity having put Idolatry to flight which the Law never pretended to do It is not to bee imagined that the having of Images can make a man take those things for God which they represent so long as the belief of Christianity is alive at the heart For neither was it Idolatry though it were a breach of this Commandment for a Jew to have such Images as were forbidden by their Elders not taking that for God which they represented But what honour of Saints departed or what signs of that honour Christianity may require what furniture or ceremonies the Churches of Christians and the publique worship of God in them may require now all the World professes Christianity and must honour the Religion which they profess this the Church is at freedom to determine by the word of God expounded according to the best agreement of Christians For neither is it obliged by the second Council of Nicaea or the violent proceedings of the Church of Rome which have brought it into force in these Western parts nor to the excesses of the adverse parties in the East which made the setting up and reverencing of Images in Churches to bee Idolatry without sufficient ground in the Scriptures for it Confining the literal intent of the Decalogue to those gross Of the third Commandment sins by which all Jews were to understand that the interest of the Nation in the Land of Promise must become forfeited as all reason requireth the taking of Gods name in vain in the third Commandment is in plain terms to swear that which is false as the Chaldee Paraphrase renders it But a Christian takes up Gods name in professing Christianity And when the World sees him do any thing that agreeth not with his profession without doubt hee takes it up in vain For there never was any true Israelite in whom was no guile that worshipped God in spirit and truth but hee might then understand that hee took Gods name in vain if professing the worship of the only true God hee should live like those that worshipped Idols Much more a Christian knowing that hee is bound to direct all his actions to the end of Gods glory and service out of obedience to his declared will must needs know that he shall not bee guiltless to God if they bee not suitable to the profession which hee weareth It is questioned how God blessed and sanctified the seventh What the sanctifying â—f the Sabbath signifieth day at the creation of all things the keeping of the Sabbath being first commanded after the coming of the Israelites out of Egypt For some would have it understood by a Prolepsis or figure of anticipation that God in consideration of his resting from all his Works on the seventh day when hee gave the Law made that day the Sabbath Others think that hee sanctified it from the beginning for a day of his Service though the rest which the Jews were commanded sitting still all the Sabbath came in force from the giving of the Law And truly the memory of the seven days of the week which hath been preserved among all nations who cannot bee thought to have learned any matter of Religion from the Jews seems to intimate a Tradition of the creation remaining among them But it is to bee considered that when Idolatry prevailed the worship of the seven Planets was a prime part of it and Astrology which appropriates the seven days of the week to them a great means of propagating the same And therefore the memory of the creation being obliterated by the superstition which the Devil had graffed upon it the observations of Heathen people are rather to bee imputed to this then to that And otherwise there is nothing in the Scripture to answer Tertullian with demanding of the Jews which of the Fathers before the Law kept the Sabbath But howsoever if wee bee Christians wee must not question that the blessing which God hallowed the seventh day with is the rest of Christs body in the grave on that day by which that rest from the travel of sin and the punishment of it which Christianity professeth and promiseth was purchased for Christians For upon this ground all the time of the Gospel is that Sabbath which the Jewish Sabbath signified And the fulfilling of the fourth Commandment is the rest of a Christian from all his own works all the days of his life Not that I doubt that under the Law the day was to bee set apart for the Offices of Gods Service but because there are other precepts of the Law Num. XXVIII Levit. XXIII by which that is provided for By virtue of which precepts according to the correspondence between the Law and Gospel not only the first day of the week is set aside by the Apostles for the service of God instead of the seventh day which the Jews observe but also other days of Assemblies being appointed by the Church are to bee observed by Gods people for the same reason as the seventh For even the seventh day it self was observed and was to bee observed by Christians for the same reason so long as the custom of the Church required them to observe it for that purpose Besides the letter of the Law having forbidden any work upon the seventh day common reason would serve without any precept of the Law to infer that they ought to meet for the service of God which his people had always professed when they had nothing else to do Otherwise it is true which Origen so often chargeth that they could not assemble without some breach upon the strict sense of that command not to stir out of their place on that day And this sitting still is as properly sanctifying the day as the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a hâ—ifer sprinkling the pollutâ—d sanctifieth to the purity of the flesh according to the Epistle to the Hebrews IX 13. So the keeping of this Commandment under the Gospel is the serving of God all the days of a mans life as our Catechisme expoundeth it When the fifth Commandment promiseth long life to them The meaning of the fifth as to Christians that honour Father and Mother will any man say that this promise is made to Christians that profess to take up Christs Cross and to lay down their lives for Christ If hee do let him say what Land it is which Christians are promised If it bee not the Land of the living which the Land of Canaan figureth Wherefore it is manifest that the honours due to the King and all Civil Powers under him are due by the letter of this precept as properly comprized in the name of Father according to the use of that language The obedience also due to the Elders of the Synagogue is by the Metaphorical signification of the word Mother standing for
can serve for his discharge to God Hee is answerable to God notwithstanding any such advise for any wrong that the priviledges and penalties otherwise enacted may do But maintaining first the express profession of the Rule hitherto established bounding all Reformation of the present Church by that which the consent of the Whole Church either alloweth or requireth Then maintaining them in their Office whose Office it is to forme that which his act must make Law to his Subjects There will need no more for his discharge to God then the use of that Judgment which God hath endowed him with to discern whether the Rule which hee protecteth bee duly applyed to that which hee enacteth or not For as no reason can bee excused to God transgressing that which it seeth So in things doubtful to preferre any reason before that which God trusteth in the matter of such trust is to render a mans self accountable to God for that wrong which may bee done for which otherwise those that are trusted by God should bee accountable CHAP. IX Difficulty in receiving the Fanaticks into this Church How their Positions destroy the Faith Absolute Praedestination to Glory destructive to Christianity Justifying Faith includeth the profession of Christianity The Nature of Faith according to the Scriptures sheweth the same So doth the state of that Question which St Paul disputeth The consent of the Church herein with the ground of it The sense of this Church BUt I must now profess that the weightiest point in re-uniting Difficulty in receiving the Fanaticks into this Church the breaches of Religion in this Church is the Condition upon which the Fanaticks may bee either reconciled to it or shut out of it whether with free exercise of their several Sects or under certain penalties as Recusants I see that they are not afraid to pretend a further liberty of Publick Preachers even since the Lawes of this Land were in force For I find that such of them as are not Ministers of Congregations do notwithstanding stile themselves Publick Preachers Which is nothing else then to pretend that authority from the Secular Power which they had by the late Usurpation to seduce as many of his Majesties Subjects as they can to their Conventicles But that I will say nothing of because I make certain account that whensoever wee come to any settlement in Religion they will find that their pretense to bee vain That which I insist upon is that which I conceive I have proved that the positions which they notoriously challenge are down-right Haeresie wanting only conviction to produce either conversion or contumacy and the declaration of the Church upon the same For it is notorious that they challenge the present endowment of Gods Spirit and the certainty of Salvation for the future upon no further consideration then of their persons As not depending upon the Christianity which they either profess or perform So far they are from acknowledging that it dependeth upon their being Members of Gods Church by living according to that Christianity which it professeth For because they think themselves Members of Christ before they bee Members of Gods Church Therefore they think themselves enabled by God to divide the Church in infinitum And that the Conventicles of their Congregations are Churches to the same effect with those which were founded by the Apostles Though they profess not the Faith though they renounce the Unity of one Visible Church Therefore they openly allow those who maintain that God can see no sin in his Elect That their sins are pardoned from everlasting before they bee done That God shall not judge by our works but by his own decrees That there are Inspirations of the Holy Ghost without the Word though not against it for dear Members of Christ and the cream of Christians And hence comes the everlasting divisions which they maintain For to renounce those bounds which the Faith of the Church and the Unity thereof fixeth is enough to commend them to all parties that do so for the Godly In fine the whole fry of this errour resolves it self in two Positions That God praedestinateth to Salvation meerly in consideration of mens persons and not of any Christianity which they shall bee found to have professed and performed And that the knowledge of this Praedestination revealed by the Word and sealed by the Spirit immediately not supposing the Christianity which they profess and perform is that Faith which only justifieth I cannot say that the Presbyterians do expresly profess these How their Positions destroy the Faith Positions For they have an express Confession of their Faith which expresseth them not But seeing them in all occasions of publick confusion render themselves considerable by these Fanaticks as being of one and the same party I must take it for granted that they think their Profession reconcileable with these Positions Especially knowing how many particular Divines and Preachers of that party have maintained the same Namely all that maintain justifying Faith and the Knowledge and Assurance of a mans Salvation without and before Repentance I do not then say that the belief of absolute Praedestination is Haeresie in the sight of God Because it may bee held with other positions which are an antidote to the venime of it as being really contradictory to it Which contradiction did those that hold it perceive they could not hold it For this contradiction suffers not the consequence of Haeresie to take effect But both positions together I have maintained to bee down-right Haeresie Neither have I been shewed or of my self discovered any reason sufficient to think otherwise And therefore I must continue to weigh by my own Weights and to mete by my own Measures For that the ground and substance of Christianity is utterly Absolute Praedestination to Glory destructive to Christianity inconsistent with the Decree which they imagine is manifest if any thing can bee manifest in Christianity Because if there were any such Decree then could not men be judged at the last day as judged they shall bee by their works There is no Decree of God that shall not bee executed If God decree from everlasting to give glory and torment for everlasting without consideration of mens works then must hee without such consideration give it in time For otherwise hee should not execute that which hee decrees And indeed such a Decree can no way bee undefeasible as all Gods Decrees must bee Unless God determine and move every man to every thing that hee doth every moment of his life upon the account whereof hee shall bee saved or damned And that before his own will determine or move it self But if God should so determine and move mans will then would the tender of the Gospel bee a meer abuse and a mockery Inviting mankind to Salvation upon a Condition which unless God determine and move him to perform hee cannot If hee do hee cannot but perform The justice of Gods proceedings at
there delivers introduces a New Law which obliged not under the Old Testament For I have shewed that under it the Fathers were saved as Christians that is by worshipping God in Spirit and truth But that there was a two-fold sense in Moses Law And that by keeping it according to the Letter they held the Land of Promise according to the Spirit though in a less measure then the Gospel requires they attained the world to come The Satisfaction and Merit of good works done by Christians Of the Satisfaction and Merit of Christian works may bee understood to bee grounded either upon their intrinsick value or upon that mark which the Gospel of Christ stampes them with in consideration of Christs merits and sufferings But that intrinsick value at which they are valued by those who make them worth life everlasting upon terms of commutative justice rises upon the account of Gods Spirit by the Grace whereof they are done And the Grace of Gods Spirit is not granted but in consideration of our Lord Christ and his obedience And therefore this intrinsick value is meerly imaginary even in the opinion of them that advance it unless they will needs contradict themselves For the value of our Lords obedience is necessarily extrinsick to us to whose account it redoundeth only by imputation of Grace And therefore there is no intrinsick value of Christian works supposing the Gospel to bee that which I have said For being performed by virtue of Gods Grace they cannot bee acceptable to the effect of salvation but by the same Grace But the merit or the satisfaction which is ascribed unto them being grounded upon that Grace bringing salvation to all which hath appeared by the Gospel it is not possible to imagine what it can derogate from the merits and satisfaction of our Lord Christ It is true men may forget their own grounds as I have said that they do who would have the works of Christians to merit heaven upon terms of commutative justice And forgetting themselves they may contradict themselves ascribing that for debt to them that do them which is not due but upon the account of Christs obedience But still the worse Divines the better Christians For the truth which they profess if they profess it not in vain shall bee an Antidote against that pride destructive to the humility of a Christian which the opinion of a mans own merit produceth Whereas they who exclude all consideration of our works from the great trial of the Day of Judgement do thereby exclude Christianity out of the heart as they do the Creed out of the Church Whereas they who suppose gross and hainous sins to bee pardoned before they see the fruits of Repentance in works of mortification by extraordinary exercises of devotion with fasting and almes do contribute as much as their allowance signifies to the murther of that soul which might have been cured had not their authority made men believe that there needs no such cure There is an opinion crept into the Church of Rome on the other side that imperfect sorrow for that sin which by Confession is submitted to the Keys of the Church serves to cure such sin how great soever And that Penance is enjoyned to redeem the debt of temporal punishment to bee paid in Purgatory if not here as remaining due when the guilt is done away Whereas the works of mortification are but the exercise and the performance of that contrition which the Gospel requires to qualifie a man for pardon of his sin And therefore the authority of the Church cannot supply the want of that condition which the Gospel requireth in him that seeks forgiveness But only procure it by excluding him from the Communion that shall refuse the cure which the Church prescribeth Now this is an opinion which that Church allows but enjoyns not And therefore whether there bee more danger there by this opinion or by the other extreme where all works of mortification are cried down for superstitious I leave to the conscience of discreet Christians The Catholique Church hath used the terms of satisfaction and Merit in a true sense and to a good purpose and it were easie to shew that the same sense is allowed though not enjoyned by the Church of Rome even since the Council of Trent were this the place I have said that the obedience of the second Adam is not immediately Original Sin is not Adams sin imputed to his posterity imputed to any particular mans account but first to the common account of mankind and to the account of particular persons as they are qualified for it by being good Christians And now I must say accordingly that the disobedience of the first Adam is not imputed immediately to the damnation of any particular but to the bondage of all â—is posterity For no man shall bee condemned at the last day but for the works which hee shall bee found to have done in the body And for what hee shall then bee condemned for the same God decreed that hee should bee condemned from everlasting So being become slaves to sin we are ransomed by Christ But as this ransome intitleth us not to life till wee embrace the terms of it neither doth this bondage damn us till wee beome parties to it by our sins If this bee true then doth not Original sin consist in the Imputation of Adams sin to his posterity as Catharinus held at the Council of Trent with great applause And indeed I need not dispute that God cannot in justice punish one man for another mans sin because you see the posterity of the first Adam according to the flesh is punished for his sin no otherwise then it is rewarded for the second Adam and for his righteousness The interest of our common Christianity is safe so long as the necessity of Christs coming and the reason of it for the cure of the breach which Adam made remains evident and unmoveable Nor is there any difficulty in resolving the nature of Original Wherein Original Sin consisteth Sin That should drive us to this novelty All sin is an act or an habit that faileth of that measure which Gods Law requires Original Sin hath only this peculiar that giving the like inclination as other habits do it is not contracted by custom but by birth Call this inclination to that which Gods Law forbiddeth Concupiscence and you have expressed the whole nature of Original Sin For calling it concupiscence you make it to bee the want of Original Righteousness But you express over and above what it is that succeedeth in mankind born in Original Sin instead of Original Righteousness to wit that disorder in our inclinations which concupiscence signifieth The Question only remains whether Original uprightness What Original Righteousness signifieth shall signifie only Innocence or supernatural Grace over and above For it may bee supposed that man was created at the first only to the happiness of this life upon condition
necessary to the Salvation of Christians as Christians are by that mark for ever distinguished from things necessary to the Salvation of Christians as Members of the Church Because the Salvation of private Christians is concerned in not understanding the intent of the former sort But in the latter sort cannot bee concerned by not understanding the intent of them but by violating that Order and Unity of the Church which the Regular Use of them serveth to maintain That which I am to say of them here consists of two points That they are Ofâ—â—ces necessary to bee â—inistred to all Christians concerned in them And that they are to bee solemnized with those Ceremonies for which they are without any cause of offense called Sacraments by the Fathers of the Church How necessary iâ— it that those that are baptized Infants when Why the Bishop only Confirmeth they come to discretion and to receive the Eucharist should give account of the hope that is in them and undertake their Christianity upon which it is grounded For hee hath not this hope to God hee appeareth not to the Church to have it but upon these terms And thus far the parties seem content But why should not Presbyters Confirm as well as Bishops that can baptize and celebrate the Eucharist which is more to the Salvation of Christians By Commission from Bishops that they may do it is a point very disputable The practise of the Greek Church in the case is not new Besides some appearance of the like under S. Gregory in the West But that serves not the turn They must have the Catechising of them after their mode and make the grounds of Salvation what they please and not what the Church appointeth So the Answer is easie For neither is Baptism or the Eucharist ministred but by authority from the Bishop And to Catechize beside that Form which the Church allowes is to sow the seed of everlasting dissention in matter of Faith Hee that thinks there was a Reason why S. Peter and S. John should come to Confirm those whom the Deacon S. Philip had baptized can never want a reason why the Bishop alone should do it For hee cannot minister the means of Salvation alone But the Faith and the Unity of his Church with the rest is not to bee preserved without him Therefore the Gift of the Holy Ghost which Baptism promiseth dependeth upon the Bishops blessing because it dependeth upon the Unity of the Church Therefore Haereticks and Schismaticks who by departing from the Unity of the Church barre themselves of the effect of their Baptism being received with the Bishops blessing in the Primitive Church were justly thought to recover their Title to it If Ordination were taken for the conveying of publick Authority The effect of Ordination requireth Ceremony in giving it to minister the Offices of Gods Church by the act of those that have received by their Ordination authority to propagate the same there would bee no mervail that S. Paul should suppose a Grace received by Timothy through the laying on of his hands or the hands of the Presbytery For if the profession of Christianity inferre the Grace of Baptism shall not the profession of that Christianity which the state of the Clergy in general or that particular degree to which every man is ordained importeth inferre the Grace which the discharge of it requireth What is there to hinder it but the want of sincerity in undertaking that which the Order that a man undertakes requires him to undertake This is that which renders those Prayers of the Church of no effect as to God whereby the power is effectually conveyed as to the Church In the mean time shall not those Prayers bee solemnized with Why the Ordinations of our Presbyters are void due Ceremony by which so great a Power in the Church is conveyed Now seeing Presbyters never received by their Ordination authority to ordain others seeing no Word of God gives it them seeing all the Rules of the Whole Church take it from them The Attempt of our Presbyters in Ordaining without and against their Bishops must needs bee void and to no effect but that of Schisme in dividing of the Church upon so unjust a Cause They could not receive the Power of the Keyes from them that had nothing to do to give it And therefore in celebrating the Eucharist they do nothing but profane Gods Ordinance Therefore the lawful Ordaining of them is not re-ordaining but Ordination indeed instead of that which was only so called If a Christian after Baptism fall into any grievous sin voiding The necessity of Penance the effect of Baptism can it fall within the sense of a Christian to imagine That hee can bee restored by a Lord have mercy upon mee No it must cost him hot tears and sighs and groans and extraordinary prayers with fasting and almes to take Revenge upon himself to appease Gods Wrath and to mortifie his Concupiscence If hee mean not to leave an entrance for the same sin again If his sin bee notorious so much the more Because hee must then satisfie the Church that hee doth what is requisite to satisfie God that is to appease his wrath and to recover his Grace The Church may bee many ways hindred to take account of notorious sin But the power of the Keyes which God hath trusted it with is exercised only in keeping such sinners from the Communion till the Church bee so satisfied And for this Exercise the time of Lent hath always been deputed The observation of Leâ—â— and the use of it by the Church The Fast before the Feast of the Resurrection stands by the same Law by which that stands For the Feast was from the beginning the end of the Fast So the Lent-Fast and the keeping of the Lords day stand both upon the same authority For the Lords day is but the Remembrance of the Resurrection once a week It doth not appear that the Fast was kept forty days from the beginning That it was kept before Easter whensoever Easter was kept that is from the time of the Apostles it doth appear The baptizing of Converts the restoring of the Relapsed and the preparing of all by extraordinary Devotion to solemnize the Resurrection was the work of it Did this Church desire the restoring of this Order and yet disowne Lent Daniel abstained from pleasant meat when hee fasted The Jewes forbad all that comes of the Vine on the day of Attonement The Whole Church of God always forbore Flesh and Wine when they fasted And shall our Licentiousness make the difference of meats superstitious Then let the late Parliament Fasts bee Reformation that provided a good break-fast to fast with and heard a Sermon as well after Dinner as before If Sin bee not notorious there is no cause why it should not The necessity of private Penance for the cure of secret sins bee pardoned without help from the Church supposing that the
Malefactor dying upon the Gallows that professed to the strengthening of his brethern that hee had overcome all temptation to repentance acknowledging that since his being in prison hee had been strongly moved to repent And that one of Hackets three conspirators when hee was come to himself continued to profess that hee thought himself in the state of Gods Grace all the while But I will go no further then the words which I have quoted in another place out of a Pamphlet written to satisfie the God lie party in Wales being offended at the late Usurpers proceedings which allegeth that wee are not to bee judged at the last day either by our Works or by our Faith but by Gods everlasting purpose concerning each of us by virtue whereof Christ being alive at the heart the violation of all his engagements to them by usurping â—over them as over others made no difference in his estate towards God Whosoever writ this I think I am duly informed that himself caused it to bee published But I am certain that to the everlasting infamie of a Christian Nation if reparation bee not made it is supposed to bee the sense of all the Godly in it And to the same effect my memory assures me to have read in one of his speeches That there are at this day inspirations of Gods Spirit besides the Scriptures though not against the Scriptures Now certainly that which a man hath by virtue of the Scriptures that is of Christianity can by no means bee understood to bee besides the Scriptures And certainly hee that presumeth upon any motion of Gods Spirit not supposing Christianity that is not supposing the Scriptures may by the same reason presume of his own salvation not supposing that hee believes and lives as a Christian The same is the consequence of a Position I will not say injoined by any party but notoriously allowed among us That justifying Faith consisteth in believing that a man is one of them that are predestinate whom God sent our Lord Christ to redeem and none else For how can hee think himself obliged to make good the profession of a Christian who thinks himself assured of all that hee can attain to by so doing not supposing it Indeed it may bee said that our Antinomians and Enthusiasts and other Sects among us whom no conceit without this could have seduced to their several frenzies do think themselves justified from everlasting by Gods decree to send Christ for that purpose whereas this opinion dateth Justification from the instant that God revealeth the said decree by his Spirit in which revelation they think that justifying Faith confisteth And certainly there can bee no reason why God receiving men into Grace only in consideration of Christs obedience should suspend their reconcilement upon that knowledge of his purpose which hee giveth them by Faith For what can bee more unreasonable than that God should justifie a man by revealing to him that hee is justified But the opinion is not the less destructive to Christianity because it is the more unreasonable Now it is possible that the effect of this position may bee stifled and become void in some by reason of other truths which contradict the same indeed and yet are believed by them not seeing the consequence of their own perswasions But those who besides this position do pertinaciously hold absolute predestination to Glory those I maintain are in an errour destructive to Christianity that is in an Haeresiâ— And therefore this Doctrine being such it is no way enough that it is no way injoined to bee taught but it is requisite that it bee disclaimed by those that pretend to recover the Unity of a Visible Church For there can bee no Church where any thing destructive to Christianity which the being of the Church supposeth is notoriously allowed to bee taught Now between these two points of our differences I am to observe a vast difference For this latter is necessary for all Christians to know as being the principle of all those actions which being just for the mater of them must render the men acceptable to God in order to life everlasting And therefore hee that thinketh hee can bee regenerate or justified or the child of God or indowed with Gods Spirit not supposing that hee undertakes and performs the profession of a Christian renounces the Article of his Creed concerning one baptisme to remission of sins But the being of Gods Visible Church consisteth in that Unity which ariseth upon the agreement of all Christians to hold Communion in the visible Offices of Gods service And therefore though it bee an Article of our Creed to believe one Catholick Church yet can it not concern the salvation of every particular Christian to understand the nature of that Society or Corporation which the bond of this Unity createth Nay even they who are best seen in that Government by which this Unity is preserved may well fail in comprehending the reason thereof by reflecting their discourse upon it In the mean time it is necessary for all that believe their Creed to think themselves tied by this Article to maintain the Unity of the Church according to their estate That is for every ones part not to bee accessory to any Schisme that dissolveth it And therefore to deny the crime of Schisme is to deny this Article The consequence of this observation will bee the difference which the Church hath reason to use in reconciling parties at distance from it to the Unity thereof according to the difference of those pretenses upon which they are at distance For those who have only disputed against the being of the Church upon misunderstanding the right of Secular Power which they think the being of the Church inconsistent with shall bee sufficiently reunited to the Church by conforming to the Law by which the Church is and was and may bee established For that there ought to bee provision against such disputes for the future it concerns not me to give warning Only where willfullness hath proceeded so far in maintaining a false position as to make no bones of denying Christianity and teaching Atheism by obliging to renounce Christ if the Sovereign command it it concerneth the Christianity of the Nation to see reparation made But where the Haeretical positions mentioned afore have notoriously been maintained especially where Congregations have been framed and used for the exercise of Religion upon pretense of them there will it bee absolutely necessarie that they bee expresly renounced and disclaimed either by persons in particular or in Body by Congregations To this head I reduce all Anabaptists and Congregations of Anabaptists Those of the fifth Monarchy and Congregations of the fifth Monarchy Quakers and Congregations of Quakers Nay all Independent Congregations in my opinion ought to bee reduced under this measure Not only because their profession is grounded upon the denial of one visible Church But because they suppose themselves children of God and indowed with his Spirit before