whom the debt is due so none can forgive sins but God only against whom the sin is committed Psal 51.4 The power of binding and loosing committed to the Apostles and Ministers of the Word is by declaring the will and pleasure of God out of his Word both to pronounce forgiveness of sins to all that are truly penitent and the retaining of them to the impenitent The Pope and his Clergy are never able to prove themselves to be the true Ministers of Christ and they cannot so much as challenge this latter authority and power to themselves much less the former which is proper to God only The motive or impulsive cause which moved God to justifie us was not any thing in us but only the grace of God that is the free good will and pleasure of God Rom. 3.24 Ephes 2.8 Tit. 3.5 7. They teach that we are not justified by grace only but by works also that is by the merit of our works And to this end they have of late years devised a first and second Justification The first is when a sinner of an evil man is made a good man and this they say cometh only of Gods mercy by the merit of Christ The second is when one of a good or just man is made better and more just and this proceedeth from works But we are to know that there are not two kinds of justification a first and second but one and the same justification considered in different respects In respect of Gods actual acceptation of a mans person justification is absolute but in respect of the actual application and manifestation of Gods acceptation unto a mans conscience justication is by parts and degrees Master Scudder on the Lords Prayer pag. 303. to 390. And further we are to note that the Papists second justification is no other then sanctification which is an effect and fruit of justification the which is imperfect and not able to justifie us before God The material cause of our justification is the active and passive righteousness and obedience of Jesus Christ his inherent holiness his fulfilling of the Law his death sacrifice and full satisfaction The formal cause or the form of justification is the righteousness of Christ imputed of God unto us Rom. 5.19 Rom. 4 5 6 7 8. 1 Cor. 1.30 2 Cor. 5.19 21. Phil. 3.9 The Papists deride this doctine that Men are justified by the imputation of the righteousness of Christ which righteousness is not in us but in Christ The Rhemists call it a new no justice a phantastical apprehension of that which is not Rhem. on Rom. 3. Sect. 7. They hold them accursed that so affirm and teach And they teach that the only formal cause of our justification is the justice of God whereby we are not reputed and accounted just but are made just indâ—â—d and this 〈◊〉 is that which every man hath within himself and is inherent in him Concil Trid. Sess 6. cap. 10 113 Rhem. on Phil. chap. 3 Sect. 3. The instrumental cause of justification on our part 〈◊〉 true and lively faith whereby we receive and apply unto our selves the mercy of God Christ Jesus and all his benefits resting upon him aloâ—â— for salvation They teach that saith doth not justifie as an instrument in apprehending the righteousness of Christ but as a proper and true cause is actually justifieth by the dignity worthiness and meritorious work thereof Bellar. l. 1. de â—uâ—â—â—cat cap. 17. They teach also that saith is not the only cause of our justification but that there are othâ—r also as hope charity 〈◊〉 deeds and other vertues yea they say that works are more 〈◊〉 then faith in the matter of justification and pronounce him 〈◊〉 that shall say a 〈…〉 justified only by faith Rhem. 〈◊〉 Rom 8. Sect. 6. and 〈◊〉 Jâ—m 2. Sect. 7. Bâ—â—â— l. 〈◊〉 de Jâ—â—â—â— c. 13. â—â—â—â—l â—â—il Seâ—◠〈◊〉 Câ—n. 9. These and other sâ—â—h like thâ—â—g they 〈◊〉 contrary to the Doctrine of jâ—sâ—â—fiâ—ation which is a 〈◊〉 ground of Religion And if therewere no more points of difference between us these were sufficient to keep us from uniting of our Religions for hereby the Church of Rome doth raze the very foundation C. You said before that we are justified freely I would know how this can be if we be justified by the righteousness and for the merit of Christ M. Because the Decree of God the Father for our Redemption is free and we pay nothing again to God of our own And therefore by the word freely our merits are excluded but not Christs By which it appeareth that in respect of our selves we are justified freely of Gods meer mercy and grace without any respect of our own righteousness or worthiness but yet through Christ and for his righteousness and obedience imputed to us both which are signified by the Apostle Rom. 3.23 24. C. Shew me I pray you what is meant by Merit what the Doctrine of the Papists is concerning merit and whether that our works be meritorious or no. M. By Merit we understand any thing or any work whereby Gods favor and life everlasting is procured and that for the dignity and excellency of the work or thing done Now the true merit whereby we look to attain the favor of God and life everlasting is to be found in the person of Christ alone in whom God â—s well pleased The Papists make two kinds of merit the merit of the person and the merit of the work The merit of the person is as they say a dignity in the person whereby it is worthy of life everlasting The merit of the work is a dignity or excellency in the work whereby it is made fit and enabled to deserve a life everlasting for the doer of the work See Rhem. on Rom. 8. Sect. 5. We now do renounce our own personal merits and all merit of our own works and rely only upon the merits of Christ and we hold that no works of ours can merit That no man by any works of his can merit may be proved by the properties and conditions that must be in a work meritorious and they are five First the work must be absolutely perfect but all our works are unperfect as well in parts as in degrees of accomplishment In parts because we omit many things which the Law prescribeth and do many evil things which the Law prohibiteth In degâ—ees because the works of the Saints are uncâ—eâ—n Esay 46.6 Phil. 3.8 Secondly a man must do the work of himself and by himself for if it be done by thâ— help of another the merit doth not properly belong to the doer But the good works which we do are not ours but are wrought by God in us Thirdly a man must do the work of his own free-will and pleasure not of due debt for when we do that which we are bound to do we do no more but our duty But whatsoever we do we do it as poor debtors we are miserable Bankrupts
we have nothing we have less then nothing to pay Luke 17.10 Fourthly the work must be done to the benefit and profit of him from whom we look to be repayed But no man by any work of his can bring any profit unto God John 22.2 3 5 7. Psal 16 2.50.12 We may benefit men but we cannot benefit our Maker from whom we have received life and limb soul and body and all that we have we can give him nothing and therefore can deserve nothing from him Rom. 11.35.36 Lastly the work and the reward must be in proportion equal for if the reward be more than the work it is not then a reward of desert but a gift of good will But there iâ—â—o proportion between our works which arâ— altogether unperfect and the excellency of those great blessings and benefits which the Father giveth us freely in his Son Rom. â— 18. And therefore in this and the former respects there can be no merit in any meer man wherefore it is no less absurd to say that we merit salvation at Gods handâ— by good works then if one should say Thou hast given me an hundred pounds therefore thou oughtest to give me a thousand C. Was not this Doctrine of merit taught in the times of Ancient Fathers M. Merit being taken in his proper sense for due and just desert was never allowed of the sound Professors for a thousand years after Christ Perkins 1. Vol. 574 575. second Vol. 535 536. Such therefore as will be justified and saved by their own works and challenge eternal life by their merits do shew themselves to be most proud and unthankful persons and deserve most justly to be condemned eternally C. The Papists at their end do renounce their own merits and profess that they look to be saved only by the merits of Christ M. If there were nothing else but this it were enough to prove their doctrine of merit to be a false doctrine for if it were a truth then a man is not only in his life time to profess it and maintain it but also in his death yea rather to die for it then to deny it But seeing they in their life profess it and maintain it but at their death renounce it it is a manifest argument that even they themselves do know that it is not a true but a false Doctrine C. If they know that it is not a truth what makes them then in their life-time so stiffly to maintain it M. It serves greatly to maintain and uphold the Popes Kingdom for they teach that the over plus of Christs merits and of the merits of Saints and Martyrs is the treasure of the Church which being gathered together and put into a store chest is in the Popes custody and he alone hath the plenary opening and shutting of this Chest and the ordering and disposing of these merits by vertue whereof he gives out Indulgences and Pardons when and to whom he will So that such as have not merits â—now of their own may have them from thence And so hereby he maintains and upholds his Kingdom for hereby comes in infinite wealth and revenues Perkins 3. vol. 1. part pag. 165. 2. D. 2. Vol. 590. 2 a. In these and many other particular points the Papists teach contrary to the Articles of the Creed and therefore are no true Catholicks neither do they belong to the Catholick Church as is thus proved Whosoever have not the Catholick Faith do not belong to the Catholick Church but the Papists have not the Catholick Faith therefore they do not belong to the Catholick Church That they have not the Catholick Faith is plain by that aforegoing DIALOGUE 6. C. Do they teach any thing contrary to the Doctrine of the Sacraments M. Yes many things Christ ordained but only two Sacraments The Church of Rome hath added to them five more namely Confirmation Penance Matrimony Orders and Extream Unction C. Are not these Sacraments indeed M. No surely for there are four things necessarily required to make a Sacrament First the Authority of Christ commanding it Secondly the element or outward sign as the matter of it Thirdly the word of institution as the form Fourthly the end and use to be a seal of our faith for remission of sins These four things are not to be sound in their five latter Sacraments and therefore they are no Sacraments indeed Master Attersol on the Sacraments pag. 119 to 150. Synopsis Papis Controv. 14 15 16. C. May not the Church then institute and ordain Sacraments M. None may ordain a Sacrament but only the Lord. As none may put a sign and seal to a mans last Will and Testament but only the maker of the Testament so none may ordain Sacraments which are signs and seals of the New Testament and Covenant of Grace but only the Lord which made the Covenant And therefore the Church of Rome in doing the contrary proves her self not to be the true Church of Christ but rather the Church of Antichrist They do also in many other things teach contrary to the Doctrine of the Sacraments As First that the Sacraments do give grace and namely remission of sins ex opere-operata by the work wrought Rhem. Acts 22. Sect. 1. Secondly that not only faith doth justifie but the Sacraments also Them Rom. 6 Sect. 5. Whereas Sacraments are Signs and Seals of Justification Rom. 4.1 Thirdly that Infants dying without Baptism cannot be saved Rhem. Joh. 3. Sect 2. They have also added many idle ceremonies to Baptism as Cream Tapâ—â—s Salt c. with an opinion of salvation and worship annexed unto them yea in times past they baptized bells but now they began to be ashâ—â—â—d of it and say that they were but only hallowed and consecrated to holy uses â—elar l. 4 de Pant. Rom. cap. 12. Synops s Papisâ— Contrâ— v. 12. Quest 5. Concerning the Lords Supper they have likewise most grâ—sly abused it in many things First they take away the Cup from the Laity whereas the Church of Rome for above a thousand years after Christ used both signs in the Communion The Communion under one kind was decreed and determinated as a publick Law in the Council of Constance about the year 1114. Perk. 2. Vol. 554.2 b. Secondly they reserve the Bread in boxes pixes and other vessels of the Church for days weeks and months They shew it to the people the Priest lifting it over his head and going with it in procession All this is contrary to the Sacrament for it is no Sacrament unless there be a giving receiving eating and drinking M. Attersol on the Sacraments 386 387. The reservation of the Sacraments was not allowed of but rather found fault withal by the Fathers Perk. 2 Vol. 557. Thirdly they adore fall down and honor the Sacrament with Divine Worship calling it their Lord and God A thing never heard of among the heathen Idolaters namely to worship a piece of Bread or rather a thin Water The adoration in
Blessed Virgin your confidence your refuge and your only hope but the holy Scripture not only commands you to trust in God but it forbids you to trust in the Creatures Jer. 17. Cursed be man that trusteth in man and maketh flesh his Arm but blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord and whose hope the Lord is Fifthly You confess that it is by the goodness and mercy of that God you are saved so far you are right But you believe also that you are saved by the merit of your Works and if you have none good of your own you buy some of other of folks which Priests make you believe they have store of And counsel you as many as have money to buy But doth not the Apostle say That every one shall give an account of himself to God Again Every one shall give an account what he hath done in the body whether it be good or evil And the Apostle expresly Rom. 11. If it be by grace then it is no more of works Ephes 2. We are saved by grace through faith and not of our selves it is the gift of God and not of Works lest any man should boast Sixthly You would be no Christians if you did not believe that Jesus Christ was made of Woman in respect of his Humane Nature and like unto his Brethren in all things sin only excepted And that in respect of his Divine Nature he is the express Image of the Father Very God of Very God But you believe and adore another Christ who is made of bread and is not at all either God or Man having not the least resemblance of either nature though by his resurrection from the dead his glory is much Augmented Yet it hath not destroyed the verity of his humane Nature nor made his body invisible or impalpable After the Consecration of your Priests I neither see or touch any thing but bread I cannot see or touch the natural body of Christ is it possible any man living should perswade me by any Arguments in the World in this particular contrary to my five senses Behold my hands and my feet Handle me and see for a Spirit hath not Flesh and Bones as you see me have and where there is not Flesh and Bones to be seen and felt there cannot be a Corporal presence Behold then oh you Papists to what a Religion you invite and call us even to the Idolatrous practice of the Heathen World to pray unto our fellow Creatures to Worship Images and fall down to the Stock of a tree I say to the worshipping of the consecrated Host which is a more stupid Idolatry then the worst of the Heathens were ever guilty of you invite us to a Religion that takes from us half the Sacrament of the Lords Supper Notwithstanding the Institution of Christ in express words and the constant practice of the Primitive Church to the contraty You practise the heathen persecution of taking away our Bibles and would involve every Layman in being a Traditor the next step in the account of the Primitive Church to Apostacy from the Christian Faith You tempt us to a Religion that contrary to the command of trying all things and holding fast that which is good and paying to God a reasonable service enjoyns an implicite faith and blind obedience To a Religion that instead of the guidance of the Word of God sets up an Infallible Judge and Arbitrator of all Doctrines the Pope of Rome Who instead of the Faith once delivered to the Saints adds new Articles of Faith And instead of that our propitiation made by Christ and the condition thereof Faith and Repentance sets remission of sins upon quite other Terms and proposes the gift of God to be purchased with money For instance Sacrilege is valued at seven Groats Incest at five Simony at seven Perjury six Murther five And so on for every sin if you have but money you need not fear a pardon though you never Repent or forsake your sins But let me instance a little further In the seventh place you confess with us that Jesus Christ is ascended into heaven and there sits at the right hand of God but you pretend to believe that he is also on Earth and in a Million of places at once That he is on Altars and in Pyxes in the hands or in the stomach of the Priests and of all those that do Communicate But the holy Ghost tells us not only that Jesus Christ in respect of his Humane Nature is ascended into Heaven but that the Heavens must contain him until the time of the restitution of all things Act. 3. and that he shall then descend in the same manner as he ascended Act. 1. This glorious Saviour not only saith I go to my Father but to shew us that he withdrew his body out of the world so absolutely that it should be no more there in any manner whatsoever he saith I leave the world and go unto the Father John 16. The poor you have always with you but me you have not always John 12. And he gives express caution against the false Imagination of his Corporal Presence If they say Christ is here or he is there believe it not Behold he is in the desart go not forth behold he is in the secret chambers believe it not Matth. 24. Again in the eighth place you give Jesus Christ the Honor to call him the Saviour and Redeemer of the World But then do you not affront him to Communicate these glorious Titles to meer Creatures do not the devoutest persons in your Religion call the Blessed Virgin the Redeemer and Saviour of the World and Bell. in his fourth chapter of his Book of Indulgences saith expresly that the Saints are in some sort our Redeemers But the Gospel tells us Not only that Jesus Christ is our Saviour but it tells us plainly that there is no salvation in any other and that there is no name under heaven given amongst men whereby we must be saved Act. 4. Ninethly In appearance you exalt the sacrifice which Christ hath offered on the Cross But in effect you annihilate it and tacitely accuse it of Insufficiency for you have invented another which is that of the Mass But the Apostle doth not only say That Jesus Christ offered up himself to God That he hath purchased Eternal Redemption for us And that by one oblation he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified But he teacheth expresly that he offered not himself often for then must he have often suffered from the foundation of the World And as it is appointed for men once to die and after that to judgment so Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many And that where there is remission of sin there is no more offering for sin and that without shedding of blood there is no remission Heb. 9.10 With one hand you Papists lay hold on the merits of Christ but with the other you lay hold on
the Sacrament belongeth unto Christ sitting in Heaven and is an inward worship of the heart or lifting up of the mind being stirred up with the outward signs Pope Honorius the third in the year 1220. was the first that ever instituted the adoration of the Sacrament And after him Vrban the fourth ordained a Feast in honor of the body of Christ Perkins 2 Vol. 564. Attersol on the Sacraments 388 389. Fourthly they turn the Sacrament into a sacrifice for the quick and the dead abolishing the fruit and remembrance of the death of Christ disannulling his Priesthood giving him to his Father whereas the Father hath given him to us c. ib. p. 309. Fifthly they maintain Transubstantiation These are their very words If any man shall say that there remaineth the substance of Bread and Wine in the Sacrament after the words of consecration or shall deny that the whole substance of Bread and Wine is changed and converted into the body and blood of Christ the forms and shews only of Bread and Wine remaining which singular and miraculous conversion the Church calleth Transubstantiation let him be accursed Con. Trid. Sess 13. Can. 2. This their Doctrine of Transubstantiation is a very fable to mock fools withal and it overturneth both the nature and use of the Sacraments pag. 45 46. pag. 365. to 369. If there were a miraculous conversion as they say there is of the Bread and Wine it would appear to the outward senses For all true miracles are wrought openly cleerly and evidently to mens senses John 6.26 But the Bread and Wine by the judgment of all the senses remaineth and appeareth to be the same in substance which it was before of the same quality quantity colour taste handling smelling vertue and nourishment there is not any one sense or all the senses together that can judge otherwise of it then it did before If a man should be called in when the Bread and Wine is set on the Table and bidden to consider well what he there seeth smelleth and tasteth and then is willed to go forth and to come in again after the Consecration is ended by the Priest and to do the like and then is asked what he thinketh of it he no doubt will answer unless fear of persecution make him to conceal the truth I see feel smell and taste the same wafer-cake and wine that I did before I can perceive no natural and substantial change therein And therefore it followeth that there is no miracle wrought and consequently no Transubstantiation at all The difference that is is in the end and use only Before consecration it was common Bread and Wine ordained for the nourishing of our bodies After consecration it becometh holy Bread and Wine sanctified by the Lord not so much to feed the body as the soul C. Did not the Ancient Fathers hold this Doctrine of Transubstantiation M. They knew nothing hereof for at least Eight hundred years after Christ Afterwards begun the disputations of Transubstantiation but not approved as an Article of Faith The Church for a whole thousand years taught no other then spiritual receiving of Christ In the year One thousand two hundred and fifteen Transubstantiation was decreed and determined in the Council of Lateran under Pope Innâ—cent The third and made a main matter of Faith Perk. 2 Vol. 558 559. C. What say you then of their Transubstantiated or consecrated host as it is called or the bread in the box carried in procession and worshipped M. Surely it is nothing else but a wheaten or breaden god or rather an Idol nothing inferior to Aarons Calf or Jeroboams Calves or the Nehustan and piece of Brass that Ezechias brake in pieces nay as vile and detestable as an Idol among the Heathen And for a conclusion of their doctrine of Transubstantiation I will here set down a witty conceit which one shewed me not long since I have kept the matter but changed the Meeter to make it somewhat the sweeter The Priests do make Christs body and blood Hereof none must once doubt They eat they drink they box him up They bear him all about DIALOGUE 7. C. I am satisfied touching the first point namely that the Papists are not of sound Faith but how do you prove that they are not of good life seeing they do so many good works M. I prove it thâ—â— Where the Doctrine is corrupt the life â—annot be good but their Doctrine as yea have heard is most corrupt therefore then life cannot be good A true saith is the ground of a good life and without which it is impossible to please God Heb. 11.6 yea whatsoever is not of Faith is sin Rom. 14 23. A true saith they have not and therefore their works cannot be good and such as may please God That they have not a true and sound Faith hath bâ—â—n shewed in many particulars and it further appeareth also in this that they do even wilfully reject the means whereby it is wrought namely the preaching hearing and reading the Word of God They have not neither will they have the Scriptures to be soundly preached read and heard in their own tongue That they cannot abide to have them in their own Language appeareth by this one example One Panier a Town clark of London in the time of King Henry the Eighth hearing that the Scriptures should be put into English he spake to this effect and confirmed it with an Oath viz. that if he knew that the Scriptures should be put into English and that the King would have them to be read in the Church rather then he would live so long to see it he would cut his own throat But as Hall saith who heard him speak it he was not so good as his word for instead of cutting his throat he hanged himself C. What is the cause that they cannot abide to have the Scriptures in â—heir own Language M. S. John gives the reason For every one that doth evil hateth the light neither cometh to it lest his deeds should be reproved and discovered John 3.20 If the Owl flieth abroad by day the bâ—dâ—â—â— and by discern him follow him and â—all upon him and therefore he flies abroad in the night and then he is quiet If the Scriptures should be suffered to be expounded and read of all Nations in their own Language thâ—n that Owl of Rome the Pope I mean with all his fooleries and abominations would be discerned and discovered and then the world would hate him follow after him and persecute him even as the small birds do the Owl and therefore they cannot abide the Scriptures in the vulgar tongue but love darkness rather then light because their deeds are evil C. What say you then to their good works as building of Churches giving of alms c M. These and such like works required in the Law of God in themselves are good and to be practised of all but to them they are as the Fathers called the
vertues of the heathen but splendida peccata glittering dross and beautiful deformities C. Do they teach any thing contrary to the moral Law and to the Doctrine of good works M. They do both teach and practise many things directly contrary to Gods Commandments They teach for good works such things as are not commanded but rather forbidden in the Law of God as namely to go on Pilgrimage to vow single life to fast forty days and forty nights c. First concerning set Pilgrimages unto certain Images there was none of the Fathers did so much as dream of them for Six Six hundred years after Christ at the least Perkins 2 Vol. pag. 541 542. Secondly the necessity of the vow of continency was established first and annexed unto Orders about Three hundred and eighty years after Christ and that by Pope Siricius But it had no universal admission until the time of Pope Hildebrand in the year 1070. Perk. 1 Vol. 583. to 587. 2 Vol. 575 576. Acts and Monuments 1151. Thirdly their Doctrine of single life was never commanded of God nor known in the Primitive Church but hath sprung up since and is indeed the very Doctrine of Devils 1 Tim. 4.13 So as is also the forbidding of meats for Religions sake They teach also that a man may fulfil the Law yea do works of supererogation that is more than the Law doth require and that men of their abundance may allot to others such works of supererogation Rhem. on 1 Cor. 9. sect 6. 2 Cor. 8 sect 3. This Doctrine of theirs makes the Law of God to be unperfect and is directly contrary to the words of Christ Luke 17.10 And it was not know of the Ancient Fathers They spake indeed sometimes of Sepererogation but in a far other senâ—e then Papists do There are no such works to be found in the person of any meer man or Angel but only in the person of Christ God and man Perk. 1 Vol. 598 599. 2 Vol. 540 541. DIALOGUE 8. C. Shew me I pray you in particular what things they teach contrary to the Commandments M. I could plainly prove unto you that they do both teach and practise many things contrary to every one of the Commandments but I will only set down the chiefest and such as most men know to be true The first Commandment concerns the inward worship of God the ground of which worship is the true knowledge of God and without which none can truly worship and serve him for such as our knowledge is such is our worship 1 Chron. 28 9. Psal 9.20 Jer. 9.24 The Papists teach that Ignorance is the mother of devotion but the truth is it is the mother of superstition and Idolatry Gal. 4.8 The Papists therefore being ignorant and without the true knowledg of God cannot truly worship him but must needs be Idolaters worshipping they know not what The first Commandment requireth that we have the true Jehova for our only God They make Christs body to be God because they hold that it may be in many places at once which thing is proper only to God They make the Pope to be God and that in plain words Christopher Marcellus said to the Pope Thou art another God upon earth and the Pope took it to himself Concil Later Sess 4. They give the power to the Pope which is proper to God and so make him to be God As that he can make holy that which is unholy pardon sins c. Perkins 1 Vol. 400. 1. and they give Divine Worship to creatures and so make them their Gods The second Commandment concerneth the outward worship of God or the form and manner of his worship This Commandment they have clean put out of the Decalogue and to fill up the number they divide the last into two The scope of this Commandment is that no Image is to be made of God nor any worship performed to him him in an Image Deut. 4.15 16. But they teach it lawful to make Images of the true God and to worship him in them and that there is a Religious worship due to them Belarm de imag sanct lib. 2. cap. 21. And in the second Nicen Council it was decreed that the Image of God should be worshipped with the same worship that is due unto God Their practice is answerable to their Doctrine for they worship the Images of God of Christ the Saints the wooden Cross yea a piece of bread C. They say that they do not worship the images but God Christ and the Saints in the image M. Suppose that this were true yet in so doing they commit gross Idolatry and the same that the people of Israel did for which God plagued them greatly Exod. 32.5 28. I think there is none so very a Calf as to think that they did worship the Calf it self The Calf was but a representation of God and yet they sinned greatly in making it and worshipping God in it The Heathen in times past could say as much for themselves concerning their worshipping of Images as the Papists now do and yet as they were Idolaters so are the Papists for as touching their superstition and Idolatry blood cannot be more like to blood or an egg to an egg then the one of them is to another The Heathen had for every Nation and Province some peculiar god Among them the Elements had their several gods to rule over them The Heathen had a certain god assigned to their cattel The Heathen had peculiar gods for learning and learned men and for handy-crafts men And all these have the Papists likewise The Heathen erected Altars ordained Priests to offer Sacrifices fell down before their Idols c. So the Papists deck and adorn their Images go on Pilgrimage to them fall down upon their knees before them and make their prayers unto them And what is all this but to worship the very images themselves the which is most gross Idolatry Musculus on Psal 16. verse 4. pag. 139 140. Virels grounds pag. 87. to 92. Attersol on Philemon pag. 63 64. C. They say that there be degrees of Religious Worship the highest is Latria and this is due unto God the lowest is Dulia proper to Saints c. Bellar. de imag Sanct. lib. 2. cap. 25. The Scripture acknowledgeth one only kind of Religious Worship and that due only to GOD Matth. 4.10 Revel 22.9 And this distinction of theirs was not known and received into the Church till Four hundred years after Christ Perk. 1 Vol. pag. 696. 2 Vol. 530. C. Was not the making and worshipping of Images approved of by the Ancient Fathers M. There was no use of Images among Christians especially in their Churches for Three hundred seventy years after Christ Adoration of Images was never publickly authorized till Seven hundred eighty eight years after Christ in the second Council of Nice Perk. 1 Vol. page 696. 2 Vol. 421. If you be disposed to see more at large when Images first came up how they
their own nature are mortal And concerning this venial sin it was not known among the Fathers for Seven hundred years after Christ And thus you see what gross things they both teach and practise contrary to the Commandments of God whereby it plainly appeareth that Popery cannot be of God for thus I reason Whatsoever Religion doth teach things contrary to the Commandments of God is not of God but Popery doth so and therefore it is not of God and so by good consequence Papists cannot be good Catholicks DIALOGUE 13. C. Hitherto you have shewed that the Papists teach many things contrary to the Creed the Sacraments and the ten Commandments now tell me I pray you whether they teach any thing contrary to the Lords Prayer M. They do likewise teach and practise many things contrary thereunto I will but only name some of them The Lords Prayer teacheth us to call upon God only They teach and practise prayer to Saints In the first Petition we pray for the hallowing of Gods Name They give unto Saints departed that which is proper to God and so dishonor Gods Name In the second Petition we pray for the erecting of Gods Kingdom of Grace in our hearts and also for the means thereof namely the preaching and hearing of Gods Word They hinder the coming of Gods Kingdom in rejecting the Word of God and in persecuting such as will preach hear and read it Contrary to the third Petition is their Doctrine of Free-will Contrary to the fifth Petition is their Doctrine of satisfaction for sin In the sixth Petition we pray for strength to withstand Satan and his temptations They teach people to drive away the Devil with holy water and such like childish toys These and other such like things they teach and practise contrary to the Lords Prayer DIALOGUE 14. C. If Popery be so contrary to the grounds of Religion then we may not joyn with them in their profession M. It is true indeed we must therefore do as the Lord bade Jeremy Chap. 15 19. Let them return to thee but return not thou to them We may joyn with them in respect of Civil Society but not in respect of Religion and yet even then we are to take heed lest we be corrupted by them for he that toucheth Pitch shall be defiled therewith Some think that our Religion and the Religion of the present Church of Rome are all one for substance and that they may be united but they are grosly deceived for an union of these two Religions can never be made more then the union of light and darkness and that because the Church of Rome as hath at large been shewed hath struck at the very foundation C. If Popery be so contrary to the very grounds of Religion then what is the cause that so many yea of the more wise and learned sort do embrace and cleave to it M. One special cause of it is that because men will not receive the love of the Truth therefore God will send them strong delusion that they should believe a lie 2 Thes 2.10 11. A second cause is ignorance of the Scriptures and of the grounds of Religion for if men would well acquaint themselves herewith they should easily see the grossness of Popery A third cause is that Popery is very agreeable and pleasing to mans corrupt nature As for example to be justified by our good works to have Images to Worship God in to live in Ignorance to have pardons for our sins to serve God in outward Ceremonies as in choice of meat difference of days c. These are things very agreeable and pleasing to our corrupt nature and therefore one especial cause why so many embrace Popery A fourth cause is the tyranny of the Church of Rome whose chief means to uphold her Religion is fire and sword for were it not for this many thousands in a few years would utterly renounce Popery A fifth cause why so many especially of the Learned do embrace it is pomp and profit that is ambition and covetousness This was that which made the Scribes and Pharisees even against their own knowledg to withstand Christ and his Gospel And this makes many learned Papists to do the like They know no doubt that in some things they err as it doth appear by the words of Stephen Gardiner on his death bed The Bishop of Chichister seeing him to be in a desperate case comforteth him with the hope of remission of sins by the merits of Christ Gardiner hereunto answereth thus What will you open that gap now you may speak it to me and to such as are in my case but if you teach it to the people then farewell all meaning our authority pomp and profit by absolutions Masses c. These are the special causes why so many embrace Popery C. There is one thing more that I would gladly know concerning the Papists and that is whether a Papist may be saved seeing that Popery is so contrary to the grounds of Religion M. You are then to mark what a Papist is A Papist as the Rhemists on Act. 11. Sect. 4. do describe him is one that cleaveth to the Pope in Religion and is obedient to him in all things Every one now that is under the jurisdiction of the Pope is not to be counted a Papist for there are some even in Italy Spain c. that hold the Grounds of Religion do sigh and grone under the Romish yoke and desire to be freed from it yea would rejoyce to see it Again there may be some that for want of knowledge and the means thereof are entangled with some points of Popery but yet they hold the foundation which is Christ Jesus and look to be saved by his merits and not by their own or any others Such we account not Papists but the true Church and children of God But by Papists we mean such as cleave fast to the Pope in Religion are in all things obedient to him will not be reclaimed from their errors refuse to hear the Word of God to read the Scriptures or any other good books Of such we may boldly say that if they thus continue to the end they cannot be saved DIALOGUE 15. C. I do now plainly see that Papists are no good Catholicks because they are neither of found faith nor good life but tell me I pray you who indeed are the true Church and the true Catholicks M. All that do truly and sincerely embrace profess and practise the afoâ—esaid grounds of Religion in what countrey soever they live C. Is the Church of England the true Church M. Yes for it hath the special marks of the true Church namely the Word of God sincerely and soundly preached and the Sacraments rightly administred C. The Papists say that there are diversities of opinions among us that we cannot agree among our selves and that therefore we are not the true Church M. In all substantial points of Religion we agree both amongst our selves and also
with all other sound Protestants in Christendom In other things there have been are and will be diversities of opinions and differences to the worlds end They should first pluck out the beam of their own eyes for we can truly charge them with greater differences As namely with that sharp and bloody contention between the Franciscans and the Dominicans and with the late bitter contention between the Jesuites and the secular Priests wherein the Priests did write as bitterly against the Jesuites and namely against Parsons as ever did any Protestant nay there was never any Protestant writer that did lay such foul and odious crimes to their charg as the Priests did And herein they verified the old proverb When thieves fâ—ll by the ears true men come to have their goods For one dissention that is among us they have at least ten among themselves D. Willet in his fourth Pillar of Papistry hath set down at large First the contradictions and divers opinions of old Papists and new Secondly The contradictions of the Jesuites amongst themselves Thirdly that their stoutest Champion Bellarmine is at variance with himself shamefully forgetting himself saying and unsaying now of one opinion by and by of another And no marvel Oportet enim mendacem esse memorem A lyer had need to have a good memory Fourthly he sheweth the repugnances inconveniences and inconsequent opinions which Popish Religion hath in it self And thus you see how they charge us with that wherein themselves are most faulty DIALOGUE 16. C. Are there none among us that maintain any strange and new opinions contrary to the grounds of Religion M. If there be any such our Church doth not approve of them but rather censure and punish them C. There be some that profess the former grounds of Religion as we do and yet say that there is no true Church among us and therefore will not joyn with us in prayers hearing the Word and in the use of the Sacraments but separate themselves from us what say you of such M. I say that they are possessed with the spirit of pride and singularity and that in so doing they do even deny these Articles of Faith the Catholick Church and the Communion of Saints and are such as the Apostle speaks of Rom. 16.17 Heb. 10.25 39. Master Perkins in his first Vol. pag. 409. calls them a schismatical and undiscreet company and saith that they are full of pride thinking themselves to be full when they are empty to have all knowledg when they are ignorant and have need to be catechised Another saith thus of them The error of those men is full of evil yea of blasphemy who do in such manner make a departure from this Church as if Christ were quite banished from hence and that there could be no hope of salvation to those that abide here And further he saith that if they cannot find Christ here they shall find him no where The errors of these men you may see in a little Treatise set forth by M. Barnard called The Separatists Schism C. I pray shew me some example that they ought not to separate themselves from us and that they do sin in so doing M. In the Church of Corinth the incestuous man was not punished fornication was lightly regarded yea there were some that even denied the Resurrection yet S. Paul doth account and call them the Church and Saints he doth not perswade any to make a separation but doth plainly rebuke them and sheweth how they should punish the evil doer I speak not this to excuse any gross sin that reigneth amongst us for I wish that the same might be severely punished but to shew that where the Word is truly preached and the Sacraments rightly administred as in our Church they are none ought for any cause to separate themselves And that such as do it do sin grievously I will shew you by a familiar example A mother conceiveth and bringeth forth a son and that with great travel and pain She traineth him up to mans estate and that not without great care and labor This son at length espying some spot and blemish or some infirmity in his mother forsaketh her and will not acknowledg her to be his mother what would you now think of him C. Surely I should think such a one to be a very wicked and unnatural son M. Even such are they who for some seeming faults in our Church deny it to be a true Church and do separate themselves from it whereas this Church hath conceived them brought them forth and nourished them For if ever they were truly begotten unto Christ and born a new it hath been by our Church and our Ministery by which likewise they have been trained up and brought to that knowledge which they have C. There are many amongst us that make great profession of Religion but I can see no good works come from them nay they are not only barren in good works but also live in some one gross sin or other Are these the true Church and true Catholicks M. Though they live in the Church yet they are not of the Church they are but Hypocrites and shall if they repent not have the reward of Hypocrites yea it shall be easier in the Day of Judgment for many Papists then for them because by their barren and fruitless yea wicked life they have caused the Name of God his Gospel and the true Professors thereof to be evil spoken of Let all therefore that will be accounted the true Church and true Christians he careful to adorn the Doctrine of God our Saviour in all things and that by a godly conversation and by doing of good works C. The name of God be blessed for this our conference whereby I find my self much edified There remaineth yet one thing more which I will demand of you and that is How I may come to know and be assured that I am indeed a member of the true Church and that I shall certainly be saved M. Be diligent to hear the Word of God preached Read the Scriptures Receive often the Sacrament Acquaint your self throughly with the aforesaid grounds of Religion Joyn hereunto earnest and hearty prayer Set apart some time for these things specially be careful to spend the Sabbath herein And to all these things joyn an holy conversation indevouring above all things to have always a clear conscience toward God and toward men In doing this you shall at length come to that full assurance whereof S. Paul speaketh namely that you are the Child of God and that nothing shall be able to separate you from the love of God which is in Christ Rom. 8.38 Babylon is fallen it is fallen Rev. 14.8 Praise honour glory and power be unto him that sitteth upon the Throne and unto the Lamb for evermore Amen Revel 5.13 FINIS Courteous Reader THese Books following are Printed for and sold by William Miller at the Gilded-Acorn in S. 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March at the Assizes in York Marriage of Arts a play Faithful Shepherdess a play Horatius a play Polyencles a play Combate of love and friendship a play Spanish Gipsie a play Fettiplace the souls narrow search for sin oct English Dictionary or Expositor the twelfth Edition Revised and enlarged by S. C. duod Compleat Bone-setter oct Templum Musicum or the Musical Synop oct The famous game of Chess-play oct Shelton's Tachygraphia Lat. oct Clarks Looking-glass for persecutors oct Printed for F. Coles and William Miller FINIS