same Holy Law in having the same Faith Hope and Charity the same Heavenly Example one worship in Spirit and in Truth one Communion or Communication of the Members which is the Unity of that Church which includes all the Faithful from the beginning of the World to the end c. In short such an Unity as the Holy Scriptures require in being derived from one beginning which is the Holy Ghost who as one Soul quickens and moves all the Parts in having one Head which is Jesus Christ and in being but one Body partaking the same Doctrine Sacraments and Worship of God This Unity by God's Grace all true Protestants breath after as may apparently be evinced by the Harmony of their Confessions although in points of smaller importance there may be some little differences and most of their Dissentions are rather Verbal then Real As to the Sanctity of that Church let but the Lives of the Roman Bishops be perused written by their own Authors a noysomer Sink and Kennel of Abomination can never be raked up in all Antiquity some Atheists some Conjurers some Adulterers Murderers Incestuous Sodomites Simâ—niacks and what not the manners and conversation of their Clergy Religious Men and Women so heinously tax'd and inveigh'd against by those Famous Writers of their own side S. Bernard Nic. Clemangis Alvar Pelagius Claud. Espencaeus c. and at least they will have little cause so boldly to challenge and appropriate it to themselves above all their Neighbours These things are sufficiently known to any that have viewed their Doctors or conversed even with their Modern practices though themselves are very much amended since the Reformation But I love not to tell stories out of the School and I promised at first to refrain from personal Reflections There are Books enough on this Subject and the World talks sufficiently loud of it If all the precedent Prerogatives signifie nothing at last we must be over-born by whole Legions of Innumerable Miracles that are obtruded upon our Credit But so spurious so ridiculous so impious many of them that the more modest and discreet among themselves dare not own them Their best Writers affirm That Miracles are not necessary for the Being of a Church but onely for the Begetting of a new Faith or an Extraordinary Mission Nay I may add not for an Extraordinary Mission neither as we may see in many of the Prophets of the Old Testament of whose Miracles not one word is mentioned Nor are they at all to be expected from or by the Protestants who neither profess a new Faith nor an Extraordinary Mission The Miracles of our Saviour his Apostles and the first Age of the Church are sufficient Seals to the Doctrine they own And as for those so importunately urged by the Romanists they are but too often convinced to be meer juggles contrivances for filthy Lucre Sleights to uphold some gainful Doctrine or to advance the reputation of some particular place or Religious Order done in a Corner of a far different Nature from those of our B. Saviour and rather of the same stamp with those the Apostle speaks of 2 Thess. 2. 9. belonging to him who comes with all Power and Signs and Lying Wonders and Revel 13. 13. who doth great Wonders so that he makes fire come down from Heaven on Earth in the Sight of Men. A man that duly ponders the most palpable Cheats and Impostures of this kind daily practised in the Church of Rome for these By-Respects would almost be of Mr. Chillingworth's mind that it cannot be sufficiently made out that ever so much as a Lame Horse was cured by way of Miracle in confirmation of any Popish Tenet Some insist much on the Outward Prosperity Pomp Splendour and Magnificence of their Church To this the Wise Man hath given an answer Eccles. 9. 1. Our Works are in the hand of God and no man knows either Love or Hatred by all that is before him Nay our Saviour puts it down as a Mark of the false Church Joh. 16. 20. Verily I say unto you that you shall weep and lament but the World shall rejoyce It remains then that the onely Certain and Evident marks of a True Apostolical Church are The Sincere Preaching of God's Word and a Due Administration of the Sacraments To which may be annexed Ecclesiastical Discipline but this is reducible to the other two These are All that the Holy Scriptures afford us Matth. 28. 19. Go and Teach all Nations baptizing them in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost Teaching them to observe all things whatever I have commanded you Act. 2. 42. And they continued stedfastly in the Apostles Doctrin and Fellowship and in Breaking of Bread and Prayers Having thus survey'd the Roman Church in general it will hardly be thought Good Manners if we neglect his Holiness the Pope in particular or as some are pleased to flatter him The Church Virtual For what ever stirâ— and bastle they make about the Church their Mother the plain English of their meaning is nothing but the Pope their Father It is the express Doctrin of S. Thomas Aquinas and his Doctrin in that Church is little less than Canonized 2. 2. q. 1. a. 10. that the making of a true Creed belongs to the Pope as all other things do which belong to the Whole Church and that the Whole Authority of the Universal Church abides in him 2. 2. q. 12. a. 2. Thus as they take all Authority and Sufficiency from the Scripture and give it to the Church so all the Churche's Authority they attribute to the Pope Gregorius de Valentia one of the Learnedst Jesuits tells us plainly That by the Church they mean Its Head that is to say the Roman Bishop in whom resides the full Authority of the Church when he pleases to Determin matters of Faith whether he d th it with a Council or without Bellarmine teaches that the Pope himself without any Council may decree matters of Faith Bannes affirms that the Authority of the Universal Church the Authority of a Council and the Authority of the Pope are one and the same thing The Canon Law in Sext. Extrav Johan 22. c. Cum inter in Gloss. speaks thus It is Heresie to think Our Lord God the Pope may not Decree as he doth And Distinct. 19. in Canon His Rescripts and Decretal Epistles are Canonical Scripture All which passages clearly convince us what is the meaning of those perpetual Braggs of the Catholick Church His Holyness must excuse me if being no Courtier I address not my self to him in the phrase of the Roman Inscription to Paul the V. yet to be seen in that City saluting him as a Vice-God and the Stout Assertor of the Pontifical Omnipotency or as the Gloss of the Canon Law in their last and best Editions viz. the Roman 1580 and Parisian 1612. Our Lord God the Pope Waving therefore these Ceremonies I shall summarily consider his
Spiritual Children This was a very great Scandal to all that heard of it both Protestants and Romanists and for my own part I was so Concerned in it that I writ expresly to my old Learned Friend F. Fran. Ã S. Clara to be satisfied Who quite contrary to my Expectation and which hath much diminished the Esteem I had for him gave we this Answer in Writing That he had done nothing amiss nor misbeseeming an Honest man Nay then thought I the Good Lord open our Eyes And to deal plainly with you from that very Moment I have been very much unsatisfied whether the Roman Principles be safe to Dye in much less to Ruin Estates and Dye for Thus Sir being very timorous of diverting your many Weighty Employments I have given you a Cleer Faithful and Succinct Account of my self And so now Laqueus contritus est c. The Snare is broken and we are escaped My remaining Business is as speedily as I can procure it to be received into the Bosome of my antient Mother the Church of England whom with unfeigned Contrition of heart I acknowledge to have forsaken before I throughly understood and purpose by Gods help to Evidence to the World that I have far more Considerable Motives to return than I had to Wander And though I shall not make such a noise as Those who have Published Exomologeses Challenges c. yet I hope I shall make it appear that the Change I now make is done upon the maturest Deliberation back'd by the most earnest Imploring of the Divine Assistance About five years since it was my hap at the Instance of a Person of Quality who had Considerable Sums to Dispose of to publish a Small Tract entituled The Case of Interest or Usury as to the Common Practice examined in a Letter to the same Person It is the onely Piece I ever yet penn'd and I mention it that if you please you may perceive that I alwayes proceeded upon Principles of Honesty Conscience and Moderation and even then had an Honourable Regard for the Church of England But Good Lord what Outeries were then made against it by the Jesuitical Party who look'd on it as purposely written to affront their Trade what Excommunications threaten'd by others So you may easily foresee what I am to expect when I disingage my self of the Promise I just now made you But a Good God a Good Cause and a Good Conscience will I question not carry me through all It is no small Comfort to me when I think how that Vast Wit Mr. Chillingworth could not escape those very Snares that I have been entangled with And I presume it may serve as an Apology for the Slips and Failings of my Weak Intellectuals when such a Great Master of Reason as He was for a time led Captive Yet at last he most happily Discovered and Proved The Protestant Religion a Safe way to Salvation Those whom I forsake have a Tradition as indeed they have too many That none ever Retire from their Communion but they presently become depraved in their Morals If they mean the Jesuits Morals it is no great Matter I have no wayes to Confute them fully but as Diogenes did Zeno by Walking viz. with a Conscience void of Offence both towards God and Man And if they shall after their Charitable Method think to bespatter me for any thing past I have such Publick Authentick and Late Testimonies under Hand and Seal from the Chief among them of my Comportment though I will not disown the Allayes of Common Frailties and Imperfections that shall be able to Silence the most Impudent Calumny But I fear I have already trespassed upon your Patience and I must referr what else I had to propose till such time I am so happy and truly till then I shall neither be happy nor satisfied as to see you Many Doubts I have to Object fitter to be committed to a Ghostly Father's Ear than to Paper and many Particulars there are wherein I may perhaps gratifie your own Curiosity But having been so long a Romanist and being still a Reputed one I should he loth that Disobedience to Royal Proclamations however they have been slighted by some should be the first fruits of my Conversion And therefore I must patiently attend that good hour when I may satisfie both my Obedience and my Inclinations together In your Conference with Sir P. T. and Mr. Coleman that Wretched man who had he meddled with nothing but what he then pretended himself so desirous to be resolved in had never come to that sad Catastrophe you express so much Candour Meekness Christian Zeal and Charity for Satisfying those Dissenters who in reality did nothing but shuffle with you that it emboldens me to Address a Request to you besides my Thanks which most Cordially I do by these Presents viz. That because I apprehend Danger from some of those I relinquish having already tasted a little of their kindness that ways and because I would not long remain in an Unfix'd Neutral posture you would be pleased to procure leave that I might come up to London where I may attend you and both Give and Receive all desired Satisfaction possible I know you so Eminent that you may procure a License This would Complete my Felicity and as for your own Reward besides the Complacency you take in the very Performance of such Charitable Offices I can but referr you to that of St. James cap. v. ult Brethren if any of you do err from the Truth and one Convert him Let him know that he who converteth a Sinner from the Error of his wayes shall save a Soul from Death and shall hide a multitude of Sins There is one Cavil I must needs remove and it is this How chances this Change just now why in this present Conjuncture It is to be suspected you act more out of Fear than Conscience This Surmise I insinuated before and partly adverted to it But more particularly I have these things to offer in Reply I might ad hominem put the Objectors in Mind how Dr. Vane Mr. Cressey and others forsook the Church of England when it was in a very low persecuted Condition and were not ashamed in their Writings to intimate as much For one of the Motives of their withdrawing was that She never had been well grounded and therefore God seemed to forsake her and Lopt off her Head with much more to the same Purpose as is particularly to be seen in Dr. Bailey's End to Controversie But I scorn such Disingenuous Mean-spirited Principles And I desire that they would withal consider that the Church of England was then reduced to those Exigences for her constant and never blemished Loyalty Whereas divers of themselves now stand charged with something else besides Idolatry and Phanaticisme But to answer for once and all I confess I do it out of Fear not of any temporal Incommodity for that might several other wayes be avoided but of
Scotland and Ireland Denmark Swedeland and the far greatest part of the United Netherlands Switzerland Germany and Hungaria are subject to Bishops and Church-Officers of their own without any dependance upon Him at Rome Even in Bohemia Poland France Transylvania some Countreys of Italy there are multitudes of Reformed Churches which have nothing to do with the Popes Jurisdiction And thus that Large Universality of Power that the Old Gentleman at Rome brags of is at last shrunk away into Spain part of France Italy and Poland some of the Cantons of Switzerland some of the Low Countreys and Germany And here you have a Map of the Papal Universality They boast indeed much of their New Acquisitions in the Indies but not to Examine by what Right they Invaded those Countreys after such a brutish manner were those Conversions made driving the poor Natives to Baptisme like Herds of Beasts to Watering that their own Writers blush at Recording it And when all comes to all it will appear that they Butcher'd more than they Baptiz'd Bartholomaeus Casa a Bishop that lived in those Countreys and Acosta the Jesuit are sufficient Witnesses in this matter And since We are entred upon this much cryed up Universality of the Roman Church it will not be amiss to glance a little at those other Claims and Pretensions whereby she would Impose her self on the World for the Onely Immaculate Spouse of our Blessed Saviour Antiquity is much talked of and it is a kind of Universality in regard of Time as that before mentioned was of Place and Persons But how groundlesly the Roman Church appropriates and ingrosses it to her self is too apparent from the Novel Tridentine Constitutions and Articles And besides it can be no Discriminating Note in as much as it is applicable to things prophane as well as Sacred even to Paganism it self and to Heresies many of which are as Antient as the first Century as well as to Orthodox Doctrine And if we come down to Practice we shall find it far more feasible to discover the True Church here or there at present than to discern where it was in the constant Series of many Ages History being one of the most obscure intricate tedious and fallacious Principles in this case whereon we can possibly proceed Nor could any particular Church or the Catholick Church it self at the Beginning lay any Claim to the Title of being ancient Besides the Characteristical of Truth is not so much to be Antiqua Old as Prima from the Beginning from Christ and his Apostles and such Antiquity the Church of England is very willing to be tryed by in every one of her Articles So that here are two Conditions deficient Soli Semper Antiquity belongs not only to the True Church nor is it alwayes competible to it To this is reducible their Duration or Continuance but this is rejected in the same manner as their Antiquity is to which it is so near allyed And here by the way we have a most Satisfactory Reply to that thred-bare Demand Where was your Religion before Luther I will not at present use his Answer though very good That it was in the Bible where their 's never was Nor will I demand where theirs was before the late Assembly at Trent some years after Luther But I say it was by wonderful Providence preserved all along down from the Apostles dayes to ours and so will be to the Consummation of the World So we need not turn over all the Immense Volumes of Antiquity to give in a Catalogue of visible Professors of the Reformation and yet this may and hath been sufficiently done but our only Task is to prove our Religion the same which was taught by the Blessed Jesus and his Apostles which can only be done by appealing to the Sacred Records of the Gospel and as for the Professors we have his Promise that he will preserve a Select Company though sometimes living in a corrupt visible Church as Wheat among Tares or the seven thousand in Elisha's time that had not bowed their Knees to Baal 1 Kings 19. 18. to his second Coming though he hath not told us where to find them in every year And therefore such as go about to demonstrate that such Professors were not in Being do but attempt to enervate our Saviours Promise and render themselves and Christianity equally ridiculous The Multitude Extent and Variety of their own Professors is indeed Matter of great Ostentation and it hath in part been adverted to in the Business of Universality But in Truth it is so far from being a certain Argument of the Truth of their Church that it rather concludes the Contrary Fear not little Flock sayes our Saviour and strive to enter in at the Straight Gate What shall we think of that time S. Jerome speaks of Cum ingemuit Orbis Mirabatur se factum Arianum when as Vincentius Lyrinensis speaks in a manner all the Latin Bishops partly by Force and partly by Fraud were deluded into Arianisme It is indeed a Note of Anti-Christ Revel 17. That the Whore shall sit upon many Waters which Waters are People and Nations and Tongues As for the Name Catholick so often objected we know that Names have little Weight with wise men that there were some Hereticks who called themselves Apostolical Men that S. John in his Apocalypse tells us there were such as had a Name to live but were dead and that Bellarmine himself acknowledges that if one only Province should retain the True Faith yet might it be called Catholick The Succession of Bishops from the Apostles times is another very plausible Topick on which they much Descant and I confess it bore great Sway with me for a long time especially as to the Validity of Holy Orders Yet upon Mature Deliberation I found more of Pomp than real Solidity in this Pageant though our Ears are continually filled with Clamour about it For neither doth it agree only with the true Church since themselves acknowledge it among the Greeks as in the Patriarchates of Constantinople and Alexandria the former whereof derives from S. Mark the other down successively from S. Andrew to this day nor if you will credit S. Ambrese de paenit l. 1. c. 6. is Succession of Persons so much to be heeded as Succession of Doctrin Non habent haereditatem Petri qui fidem Petri non habent Wherefore if the present Roman Church want the Life and Soul of True Apostolical Succession to wit Apostolical Doctrine a meer local and titular Succession is little worth But the Mischief is that the visible Succession of Bishops in that Sea is not so Glorious and Uninterrupted as is pretended And this is notorious in all Monuments of History and Antiquity that it hath been fouly stained by Simoniacal and Violent Entries upon the Popedom by Schismatical Intrusions and by a perfect Alteration of the very Form and Substance of Election appointed by the Apostles and practised in the primitive Church
For either S. Peter named his Successor or he was chosen by the Clergy alone or else by the Clergy and People and then confirmed by the Emperour But now he is chosen by a pack of Cardinals a sort of Clergy altogether unheard of in primitive Ages all created by Popes themselves some in Favour to their Kindred others in Faction and to curry Kindness with some Christian Princes especially those of France and the House of Austria who alwayes have their Creatures very busie in the Conclave most of them as fit for Clergy-men as S. Peter was for a Courtier as my Lord of Hereford speaks in his Legacy a Spruce Delicate Effeminate Clergy and the World talks far worse things of them very fit persons for the Choice of S. Peters infallible Successor The truth is this boasted succession is so weak a support to the Roman Cause that their most confident Champions could never so much as pretend the very shadow of Divine Authority for it Alphonsus à Castro and others very frankly acknowledge it is not De fide a matter of Faith that this or that or the present Pope is S. Peter's Successor But of this more by and by Nor is there the least agreement in Ecclesiastical History concerning the Immediate Successor of S. Peter Some put Linus next some Clemens some Cletus And it is a most miserable Shift that Bellarmin is put to and below his great Wit to affirm the business may be thus Composed That S. Peter left his Episcopal Seat to Clement but Clement when S. Peter was dead out of his Humility would not ascend the Chair as long as Linus and Cletus were living who had been the Coadjuters of S. Peter in his Episcopal Function so Linus succeeded S. Peter Cletus to Linus and Clemens to Cletus But if S. Peter left his Chair to Clement how comes this Apostolical constitution to be abolished and why do not the Popes now design their Successors but leave a matter of so high Consequence to the factious Canvassing of the Haughty Ambitious Cardinals How durst Clement refuse the Charge intrusted to him by so great an Apostle and that only out of a Compliment A Man that duly ponders this Circumstance might very well conclude it to be a most remarkable Providence of God and intended for the humbling of that proud Church that when they come to make good their claim to that Exorbitant unlimited Authority they at this day Exercise in the Christian World they should stumble at the very Threshold as we say and fail in the very first name of their Vaunted Catalogue In a Word all things here are dark and in a Riddle and afford not sufficient matter even to ground an Implicit Faith upon But what shall we think of those long and frequent Vacations in that See for some years together and Schisms for 30 nay 70 years Which was a long Vacation indeed for it is Bellarmin's Rule An uncertain Pope is accounted for none at all Nay many and great Authors have put a Woman into the Succession many of their Bishops have been Hereticks and this makes another Interruption even Occult Heresie rendering the Pope ipso sacto none Let Cardinal Baronius a Man of undoubted Authority with them serve instead of a thousand Witnesses He treating of the year of our Lord 912 thus represents the wretched deformed Face of that Church How filthy a time was it when Whores bare all the sway at Rome At their pleasure Sees were changed Bishopricks disposed of and which is most horrible and scarce to be uttered their Gallants were thrust into the Seat of Peter We find no where any mention of Clergy choosing or giving Consent all Canons were put to silence the Pontifical Decrees were choaked Antient Traditions proscribed and all Sacred Rites extinguished Thus had Lust gotten every thing into its own hand Where did this Uninterrupted Succession sleep all this While Well near 200 years together saies the same Annalist did these monstrous abuses continue Certainly if Discontinuance of Time or Illegal Entry can marr a succession this of the Romish Church is sufficiently spoiled Benedict the 9th was a Boy of 10 years old John the 13th a Hectoring Lad not above 18. John the 11th was set up by that Infamous Strumpet Theodora and her Daughter Marozia by force of Arms deposed him John the 12th was Bastard to Sergius by Marozia and was violently intruded into the Popedome by his Mother It is not so much the wickedness of these Popes Lives as the manner of their Creation that we urge to invalidate the Succession Above 50 Popes were thus installed successively for those 200 years besides many other occasions frequently occurring in History wherein this applauded Succession hath been very notably disturbed To which if we adjoin the 30 Schisms wherein 2 and 3 Popes have been set up in opposition to one another the matter will be out of all Controversie One of these Schisms viz. that between Clement and Urban lasted for 70 years till the Duke of Savoy was Elected Pope by the Council of Basil to put a period to that fatal Tragedy And many of these Competitors had such Learned Advocates and Patrons that Bellarmin cannot assign which was the true Pope pudet haec opprobria vobis Et dici potuisse et non potuisse reselli Their Unity is no less bragg'd of than their Universality and Succession and with as little Justice for Unity without Truth and sincere Charity is but a Conspiracy or Confederation I find Revel 17. 13. that in the Kingdome of Anti-Christ they are of one mind and make War with the Lamb. And the Devils themselves in the possess'd person could unite into a Legion And if we a little better consider this pretended Roman Unity it will soon be discovered to be purely slavish and enforced an Unity of Fear more than of Affection a product of the Inquisition rather than of Charity Bellarmin seems to intimate as much They cannot think otherwise saith he because they have subjugated their sence to the sence of another meaning the Pope Nor yet is this their Unity let the Quality of it be what it will so compleat as they would make us believe How do the Jansenists and Jesuits at this day hug one another The large Order of the Dominicans look upon the Jesuits as no better then Semi-Pelagians in the Doctrine of Grace and Free Will and the Jesuits to requite them call them Calvinists The Seculars and Regulars how Unanimous they are appears by their continual Clashing And those who are throughly acquainted with their Customs may easily perceive that there are as many Sects and Factions in point of Opinion as there are Religious Orders in that Church and in point of Charity and Affection as many parties as there are Religious Houses But as for that real Unity which according to Dominie Bannes in 2. 2. q. 1. a. 10. consists in having one God and Christ for our King in being governed by the
they brag was President of their Council was sent shut up in Carriers Budgets who a thing worthy to be laugh'd at when the Waters were up as it falls out many times was fain to stay till they were down again before he could repair to the Council By this means it came to pass that the Spirit was not carried on the Waters as in Genesis but along besides the Waters c. Nothing is more talk'd of than the Infallibility of the Church of Rome and this I know to be a most tempting Bait to get Proselytes especially amidst those Many Dissentions in the Christian World at this Day But because this Pretext hath been utterly destroyed by the Lord Falkland Mr. Chillingworth and other most Learned Pens I will only Recommend this Single Consideration to All Judicious Roman Catholicks who would not be chouced out of their Wits Estates and Liberties by a Gang of Ecclesiastical Mountebanks viz. That this Huge Swelling Prerogative of Infallibility is so Sensless a Thing so Ungrounded that no Romanist according to his own Principles can have so much as a probable Moral Assurance of that wherein he thinks himself Infallible And unless every one in particular be Infallible it is to little purpose to boast of an Infallible Judge For a Man may as well mistake the Meaning of his Sentence as the Sentence of one who proceeds only upon prudent Moral Assurance and we see that thousands do erre in the Interpretation of those acknowledged Infallible Oracles the Holy Scriptures The Consideration I recommend is this That after All the Stirr that is made about Infallibility the Learnedest amongst them knows not where to meet with it nor in what cases it is annexed to that Chair in what it forsakes it Some as the Jesuits generally will have it in the Pope but then whether with his Cardinals or by Himself is controverted very briskly Others will have it in a General Council and this Opinion is backt by no less Authority than the Councils of Basil and Constance But then the Church hath been very long without it and possibly may never injoy it by means of a General Council to the End of the World That wherein they fix it with most plausibility is both the Pope and a Council together But even here we are at a great many losses For as to the Pope no man can be assured of his being a true Pope considering the various defects that may render him otherwise as a fundamental Error in his Election Simoniacal Induction the female Sex Want of true Baptism and Holy Orders both which depend upon the Intention and Validity of those from whom he receives them and theirs upon the like Qualifications in their Predecessor c. Occult Heresie and Many others And then as to a Council which consists chiefly of Bishops tho the Popes for some ends best known to themselves have now pack'd in Cardinals Abbots Generals of Orders c. besides that the Validity of a Council depends upon the uncertainty of the Pope's being truly Qualified the very same Difficulties occur in every particular Member as did in respect of the Pope himself The like uncertainty appears in every Sacrament administred in that Church some whereof are absolutely necessary both Necessitate Medii Praecepti v. g. in Baptism Absolution Consecration of the Host which if it be not duly performed Idolatry is committed by the People in adoring it even by their own Concessions Azorius the Jesuit Enchirid. c. 8. openly proclaims That it is a more tolerable Error in them who worship Golden and Silver Statues as the Gentiles did their Gods nay a piece of red Cloth on the top of a Spear as the Laplanders are reported to do than in those who adore a piece of Bread And now I would fain know of a Lay-Roman-Catholick what is become of his Infallibility where it is and to what purpose it serves him No where is it to be found as I know of but in the bold Assertion of every pragmatical Confessor Who bids you be sure to look to your Faith who are the Solifidians now to believe as the Church believes and then all is safe for the breach of the Ten Commandments there are Merits and Indulgences enough in the Church which being mixt with a little Attrition and Confession will do the work Though in the mean while He himself can neither tell where this Infallible Church is nor what she certainly believes Methinks S. Paul spoke as much like a Prophet as an Apostle as if he foresaw the Haughtiness of the Members of that Church to which he wrote And therefore to curb them and banish from their Minds all such vain conceits of Infallibility he tells the Church of Rome she stood on no firmer grounds than her Neighbours His words are these worthy to be had in everlasting Remembrance by All Roman-Catholicks Rom. 11. 18 19 Boast not against the Branches c. Well because of unbelief they were broken off and Thou standest by Faith Be not high-minded but fear For if God spared not the natural branches take heed lest he also spare not Thee Behold therefore the Goodness and Severity of God on them which seli Severity but towards Thee Goodness if Thou continue in his Goodness otherwise Thou also shalt be cut off Which words need rather your Practice than my Paraphrase How much Safer and more Satisfactory is it to rely on the Holy Scriptures themselves which by all Sides are acknowledged Infallible For as much as they were divinely Inspired by that great Infallible Truth which neither can be deceived nor deceive his Creatures which can make you wise enough to Salvation and who hath promised to every humble Petitioner and devout Practiser a sufficient Competency of Knowledge in what is necessary for his present Condition and Eternal Happiness Now all this you will find abundantly provided for in the Doctrine and Constitutions of the Church of England Here is the Word of God faithfully Translated and exactly as far as the Idiomes of Languages will permit compared with the Originals and All those Books received of whose Authority there was never any doubt made in the Church Some others called Apocryphal are read indeed but as Ruffinus in Exposit. Symboli speaks non ad Fidem firmandam sed ad Mores Instruendos Not for confirming Faith but for direction of Manners And they are excluded from the Canon upon very weighty Reasons For that they were never committed as of Divine Authority to the Jews to whom the Oracles of God were intrusted Rom. 3. 2. Nor are they to be found in the Hebrew Canon They are never found cited by Christ or his Apostles and in some places they contain things manifestly false contradictory both to themselves the other Genuine Prophetical Writers You have here the three Creeds the Apostles that of the Nicene Council and that of S. Athanasius together with the four first General Councils which represent to us the Sincere
Saints and Angels is here looked upon as at least very Dangerous and not having any President in the Old or New Testament S. Paul hath imparted his mind to us in this matter Coloss. 2. 18. Let no man beguile you of your reward in a voluntary humility and worshipping of Angels intruding into those things which he hath not seen The Doctrines of Merit Indulgences Purgatory c. are presumptuous at best and full of Abuses contrived more for the Priests profit than the Penitents comfort All which considered together with the small grounds for the belief of them they are worthily disowned by the Church of England Nor was Bellarmin when out of the heat of School Disputes of a Different Judgment l. 5. de Justif. c. 7. Propter incertitudinem c. By reason of the Uncertainty of our own Justice and the Danger of Vain Glory Tutissimum est c. It is the safest course to repose all our Confidence in the alone Mercy and Benignity of God In short you will find that the Church of England in her Reformation which was most Regular and by the Supreme Authority of the Whole Nation retains all the Essentials of Christianity and onely Rectified such things as She found and the whole World complained were some Ridiculous some Impious Others Sensual and Cruel Such are the Innumerable Crossings Repetitions of Names Kissings of the Pax and Images Offering up of Incense and Candles Impertinent Pilgrimages c. and a Thousand the like absurdities Such as teach men to put their Confidence in Bless'd Beads and Medals Counterfeit Relicks Confraternities Sodalities to trust to Mundayes Prayers for the Dead and our Ladie 's Litanies and Ascribe to pieces of Wax called Agnus Dei's Divine power and Efficacy even as much as is due only to the Pretious Blood of the Son of God Nor is this the belief and practice onely of a few Old Wives but the Authentick Book of the Sacred Ceremonies of the Roman Church tells us how Urban V. sent three Agnus Dei's to the Greek Emperor with most Blasphemous Rythmes annexed concerning their Virtue Amongst others this is Verbatim set down Peccatum frangit ut Christi sanguis et angit that it Destroys Sin as the Blood of Christ doth And this was not the Practice of one Phantastical Pope alone but according to the foresaid Book l. 1. Every Pope in blessing these Agnus Dei's uses this Prayer That it would please thee O God to bless these things which we purpose to pour into this Vessel of Water prepared for thy Name so as by the Worship and Honour of them we thy Servants may have our heinous offences done away the blemishes of our Sins wiped off and thereby we may obtain pardon c. No Meaner a Person than the Angelical Doctor S. Thomas Aquinas attributes the same Virtue of taking away Venial Sins to Holy Water And likewise 3. qu. 25. a. 3. in c. most Orthodoxly defends That Stocks and Stones I mean Images are to be worshipped with Latria the same Honour that is due to the Creator Suarez and Vasquez teach the same To Conclude this Discourse In the Church of England You will meet with all that is Good and Warrantable in the Church of Rome what ever is Necessary to Salvation and that by the Confession of the Learnedest Romans Let Bellarmin speak for all l. 4. de Verbo Dei c. 11. The Apostles themselves never used to Preach openly to the people much less propounded as Articles of Faith other things than the Articles of the Apostles Creed the Ten Commandments and some few of the Sacraments because saies he These are simply Necessary and Profitable for All Men the Rest besides are Such as that a Man may be Saved without them This made Antonius de Dominis Archbishop of Spalatto even at his Return to Rome to acknowledg the English Church to be a True Apostolical Church And Father Fulgentio the Venetian Companion to Father Paul the Famous Compiler of the History of the Council of Trent had a most High value and Tender Respect for this Church as having in it all the Requisites for Faith Manners and Discipline And that Incomparable Man Hugo Grotius had so Venerable an Affection for her above all other Reformed Churches that he told our Embassador in France That he Intended after his Return from Swedland whither he was designed Embassador from the States General to transport himself with his whole Family hither on purpose to dye in the Bosome of the English Church In such Repute is She even with Foreigners And to speak one word to the Roman Catholicks of England even in their own Language By their own Concessions the Church of England is safer to Communicate with than that of Rome For To Believe onely what is in the Scripture is as much as is necessary as Bellarmin Confesses To worship God without an Image is acknowledged by all both safe and acceptable To pray immediately to God and use the Lord's Prayer without Repeating so many Ave Maria's to perform the best works we can and not stand on the point of Merit c. and so of the other matters in Controversie is by both Sides granted secure Whereas the other Things in debate are strongly disputed by very Learned and Pious Men. Now what would a Man require more than what all acknowledge to be in the Church of England viz. Means effectually conducing and sufficient to Believe Well to Pray Well to Live Well and to Dye Well It remains onely that the Truly Devout and Loyal Persons in our Nation that are of the Roman Persuasion will but vouchsafe to take the Courage and Pains following Our Blessed Saviour's Advice John 5. 39. Search the Scriptures and S. Paul's 1 Thess. 5. 21. Prove all things 2 Cor. 13. 5. And examine your selves whether you be in the Faith A POST-SCRIPT To the Roman Catholicks of my Acquaintance Ever Honoured and still Respected Friends HAving thus fairly and ingènuously unbosomed to you the very thoughts of my Heart I beseech You not to take with the Left Hand what I offer with the Right Many of You I know to be Truly Vertuous Noble and Loyal to Many I have most Endearing Obligations and I think none can contradict me if I affirm That my Converse among You was repay'd with Love and Esteem and I take Heaven and Earth to witness that I still value you as tenderly as I do my own Soul God onely knowes how many Throes and Struglings I had to part with those whom I so Earnestly affected But Truth at least as it seems to me is Great and will prevail My Request to You All is That You would not let us break in point of Charity though our Opinions are not altogether Coincident That You would for the removing any scruples that may arise believe me as I shall answer at the Last Tribunal That I was not onely Sincere but Zealous while I remained among You and that whatever I performed was with the perfect Intention of and Compliance with the Roman Church and as Validly done as any Actions of that nature are capable of admitting Lastly I desire for God's Religion's and Your own sake that we may refrain from All Contumelious Reflexions on one another In that Long Converse and Great Familiarity I had with you it is impossible but Failings and Imperfections must be discovered on both sides Let All be concealed Under the Mantle of that Charity which hides a multitude of Sins still think of me as you ever found One that sought not Yours but You an honest plain down-right meaning Person And as for my present Proceedings Leave me to stand or fall to that Great Judge to whose and his Churche's Censure I with the most profound Obedience Submit whatever I Write or Do. And Once more I recommend to your most impartial and serious Consideration this Important Quaery Whether it be not Sufficient Ground to withdraw from the Communion of a Church when She is convinced publickly to Teach Practise and Command Treason and Rebellion to its Members Sicut Reputari cupiunt Haberi Fideles as the Lateran Council Thunders it out as they desire to be Accounted and Treated as Christians As to the Traiterous and Monstrous Plot now in Question What Mr. Oats and Mr. Bedlow with the rest of the Informers Evidences are I know not nor am I much Inquisitive His Sacred Majesty and his Great Council are Judges of that But of this I am as sure as I can be of any humane Transaction That the Roman Church Teaches and Commands such Practices That they have been frequently put in Execution abroad and especially at Home And that consequece to such Doctrines Mr. Colemâ—â— by his own Confession and Letters which he did not deny was very Busie in attempting to Dissolve the Parliament and in procuring Assistance from the French King by the interposition of Monsieur le Chese the Jesuit who was that King's Confessor to use his own words To Carry on the Mighty Work in their hands no less than the Conversion of Three Kingdoms and the Utter Subduing of a Pestilential Heresie which hath Domineer'd over a great part of this Northern World a long time and that there never was such hopes of success since the days of their Q. Mury as now in These days And I am sure that a most Worthy Justice of Peace was Barbarously Murder'd who took the Examinations upon that occasion and that many other Insolent Actions were committed by that Party Nor can it be any satisfaction to the Nation for well-minded Persons to say they Disclaim and Detest such Actions unless they Kenounce the Principles and Disown the Authority which have promoted and still are ready to prompt men to such Desperate Practices God Almighty grant Us All his Grace to Consider in This Our Day the Things that Belong to Our Peace before they be Hid from Our Eyes Amen FINIS