besides her Authority She will have your Assent to their being of Divine Authority to depend wholly upon her Testimony Notwithstanding that God Almighty hath vouchsafed to the World marvellously full and plentiful Evidence thereof and such as is adapted to the capacities of all those who have the use of Reason but never once mentioned this as a part of that Evidence and therefore much less can it be thought the Whole How infinitely ill hath this Corrupt Church deserved at the hands of all Christians although this were the onely Abuse she had put upon them For to say nothing of her Horrible Pride and Uncharitableness in making the truth of the Scriptures dependent on her Testimony that her Pretence supposing her making her self the onely true Church this is the greatest injury imaginable to Christianity nor can she take a surer course than this to make all men Infidels And that upon these two Accounts First This Pretence of hers is immediately founded upon a Precarious and most Evidently false Principle viz. That of her Infallibility I dare appeal to those of her own Sons who have studied the Controversie whether there was ever a more shamefully baffled Cause in the World than this is Whether by their Infallible Church they mean with the Iesuits the Pope alone or with others the Pope with his General Council that is a pack of Bishops and Priests of his own Faction As the Psalmist saith If the Foundations be destroyed what shall the Righteous do So if this be the Foundation of our Christian Faith and that be proved to be a Rotten Foundation as nothing was ever proved if this be not then what shall we Christians do We must then acknowledge our selves a Generation of most Credulous Fools and that our Faith is vain If the Foundation be tottering the whole Superstructure must fall to the Ground But so fond is this Unsatiably Covetous and Ambitious Church of her Great Diana Infallibility by the Pretence whereof she hath raised her self to such a Height and Grandeur that she is well content if that must fall that our Saviour and his Apostles both the Old and New Testament should fall with it And she hath done all that lies in her to make it necessary that those who shall have the wisdom to reject her Ridiculous Doctrine of Infallibility should at the self-same time renounce Christianity If Popery were Chargeable with no other Crime as it is with innumerable others and many of them intolerable I say were it Chargeable with no other Crime but the making our Belief of the Authority of the Books of Scripture to be founded on the Infallibility of the Romish Faction we ought to be as zealous for the Preventing its Reestablishment in this Nation from whence it hath happily been twice Expelled as we are desirous to Preserve the Christian Religion Secondly The Romish Churche's making her Authority the sole Foundation of our Belief of the Scriptures makes the Testimony of the Spirit to the Truth of Christianity in our Saviour when on â—arth and in the Apostles and others in the Primitive Ages to be now perfectly Insignificant I think it makes them to be so as to the Church Representative for she pretends to her Infallibility and consequently to her Infallible Assurance of the Truth of Christianity as an immediâ—te Gift of the Holy Ghost therefore what need hath she of the Testimony of Miracles But as to Private Christians I can by no means understand in what stead they stand them for if the Churches Authority be necessary to their believing the truth of the Scriptures and therefore to their believing that there were those Miracles really wrought which the Writings of the Apostles tell us of then why may they not without any more ado make her Authority the immediate ground of their Assent to the truth of Christianity It is said that the truth of the Matters of Fact are not knowable at this distance such as whether there were such Persons as our Saviour and his Apostles whether they performed such Miracles and the Apostles wrote such Books c. but by the Tradition of the Church because no such Matters are to be known at any considerable distance but by Tradition To this it is Answered that it is one thing to believe the Matters of Fact upon the Churche's Tradition and another to believe them upon her Authority founded upon her Infallibility Now this latter we reject but adhere to the former as a Ground of our belief of those things But then by the Tradition of the Church we are far from meaning that of Rome onely We mean the Catholick Church or the whole Collective Body of Christians throughout the World from the Apostles times down to this present Age of which the Roman Church is but a Part and therefore does Impudently in appropriating Catholicism to her self and that a very Vitiated Part too and that Church Representative an exceedingly small Part. And we receive the Tradition of the Catholick Church as a Ground as I said of believing these Matters not as tâ—e Ground because we take in another Tradition viz. that of those who are out of the Church and Enemies to Christianity the Iews especially In short we believe those and the like matters of Fact upon the same ground that we believe all other wherein Religion is not concerned but there are Circumstances which give the Tradition of Christian matters of Fact a mighty Advantage above other Traditions as unquestionable Assurance as these give men when they are General and Uninterrupted But 't is well known to all who are not strangers to the Popish Writers what lamentable work they make in proving the Testimony of the Church to be the foundation of our Faith concerning the Authority of the Scriptures This Proof they fetch out of the Scriptures themselves and their main Text for this purpose and for the Infallibility of their Church is those words of S. Paul 1 Tim. 3. 15. where he calls the Church the Pillar and Ground of Truth But what a manifest Circle is this We ask them how it appears that the Scriptures are the Word of God They answer it appears from the Testimony of the Church We ask again how it appears that the Testimony of the Church is true They reply it appears from the Scriptures And so they prove the Authority of the Scriptures by the Testimony of the Church and then wheel about again and prove the Authority of the Church by the Testimony of the Scriptures But again We can either be certain of the truth of these words of S. Paul setting aside the Authority of the Church or we cannot be Certain If we can be Certain why then not of the truth of the whole Scripture as well as of this single Text If we cannot be certain of the truth of this Text without the consideration of the Churche's Authority what Folly or rather Knavery is it to make this Text an Argument to prove the thing in Controversie by when the truth of this Text is questionable upon the same grounds that the truth of the Scriptures in general is Again When they say that the Testimony of
the Church is the Ground of this our Faith they tell us that by the Church they mean the Church of Rome and that She onely is the True Church We reply that there are a many Societies of Christians in the World that hold no Communion with the Church of Rome and Each of these calls it self a True Church and therefore how shall we know that they are none of them so but that the Church of Rome alone is They tell us that this Church alone hath the Notes and Characters of the True Church We ask again how it doth appear that those Notes and Characters they give are true and genuine and if they are that their Church onely hath them Here they are forced to fly again to the Scriptures and produce us some which they would have us believe are very pertinent to the purpose though none but those who see by their Light are able to discern any such matter But whether they be to the purpose or no is no part now of our Enquiry but this is that which we shew from hence how still they are intangled in their own Net and Run round in a Circle Yet once again these People would perswade us that there is no knowing the Scriptures to be of Divine Authority but by the Testimony of their Church whenas 't is impossible to know that there is any such thing in being as a Church but by the Scriptures And thus you see what prime Christians these Romanists are what Worthy Catholicks If there were no better Champions than these for the Authority of the Scriptures or the Truth of Christianity Atheists and Infidels long since would have filled all Places As it is well known how they abound in the Popish Countries and most of all in Italy and of all Italy most in Rome And but for Old Mother Ignorance whom they have a marvellous Fondness for as well they may their Holy Mother the Church would by this time have had but a very small number of Children or Friends But I would this had been the worst on 't as alas it is not For Multitudes among them being well aware that they are merely imposed on and being Acquainted with no better than an Implicit Faith and thinking that no more is to be said for Christianity than they learn from them shake off both their Popish and Christian Faith together But we must not let that forementioned Text wholly pass on which is laid such mighty Stress for the proving of the Infallibility of the Roman Church which gives her such a plausible Pretence for the Enslaving of Mens Minds and Understandings The whole Verse runs thus with the Verse foregoing Thâ—â—e things write I unto thee hoping to come unto thee shortly But if I tarry long that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thy self in the House of God which is the Church of the living God the Pillar and Ground of Truth According to Episcopius his reading of these latter words it is not the Church that is here called the Pillar and Ground of Truth but God manifested in the flesh justified in the Spirit c. in the next Verse For he makes that 15. Verse to conclude with living God Verses and Pointings being arbitrary and The Pillar and Ground of Truth to begin the next Verse thus The Pillar and Ground of Truth and without controversie the great Mystery of Godliness is God manifested in the flesh c. But there is no need of using any artifice to make these words unserviceable to the design of proving the Infallibility of the Church of Rome for all that can be gathered from them is no more than this That the Church is the support of that Truth which is necessary to Salvation viz. the Doctrine of the Gospel That which preserveth it in the world is the Churches constant profession of it and standing up for it That is this is the External and Visible means whereby this Truth is kept from perishing and being lost Or according to Grotius The Church doth uphold and lift up the Truth it causeth it not to slip out of mens minds and also to be beheld far and near For the Testimony of many good men who all say that they received these Doctrines and Precepts from the Apostles must needs have great force and efficacy upon those who are not obstinate and contumacious So that First This Great man seems to understand by the Church in this place onely that which was most Ancient But Secondly There is no reason at all to understand by the Church here onely the Church Representative but the whole Body of Christians must necessarily be meant It being called the House of God but the Apostles Bishops and Pastors are called the Builders of the House and Governours never the House it self And besides the Church which is here called the Pillar and Ground of Truth is that over part of which Timothy presided That thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thy self in the House of God c. that is as a Bishop and Pastor in it Thirdly If it should be understood of the Church Representative 't is however intolerable impudence to make it onely the Roman But Fourthly This Text makes nothing to the purpose of Infallibility in the Church of Rome's sence understand by the Church of the living God which Church you please especially if you do not limit it to the First Age As is plain from what hath been said and it needs no more words to make it plainer Now how can we have greater assurance that the Church of Rome is an Arrant Impostor than this one thing gives us viz. That She will not allow us the Liberty of judging for our selves The Great Apostle S. Paul allowed this Liberty to the Corinthians in those words I speak as unto wise men judge â—e what I say 1 Cor. 10. 15. And dare they say that he overshot himself in that saying or passed a mere Complement upon the Corinthians 'T will not be at all strange if they do considering how many worse things several of them have said of this Apostle But I say this Church will not permit us to see with our own Eyes but we must take the whole of our Religion upon trust that is upon her bare word pin our whole Faith upon her Sleeve and receive the most Fundamental Articles upon her Warrant and Authority Nay though she would seem to give us leave to use our Reason in the choice of our Church yet neither doth she this really but what she gives with one hand takes away again with the other in that she will not suffer us to judge of the sence of Scripture and consequently not of those Texts whereby she pretends to prove her self the onely true Church For if we be
Inferences from each of the Arguments of the foregoing Sections CHAP. X. Which treats of the First Inference from the First Proposition That the most Excellent Liberty doth consist in an Intire Compliance with the Laws of Righteousness and Goodness Or in Freedom from the Dominion of Sinful Affections Namely That those are most Vnreasonable and Depraved People who complain of the Divine Laws as intolerable Intrenchments upon their Liberty Where it is shewed First That upon supposition our Liberty were restrained by the Laws of God it would nevertheless be most unreasonable to complain upon that account Secondly That the Laws which oblige Christians do not restrain their Liberty pag. 127. CHAP. XI The Second Inference viz. That such a Freedom of Will as consists in an Indifferency to good or evil is no Perfection but the Contrary pag. 135. CHAP. XII Which Treats of one Branch of the First Inference from the Argument of the Second Section That in Freedom from the Dominion of Corrupt Affections doth that Liberty Principally or rather Wholly Consist which Christ hath purchased for us Namely that several Notions of Christian Liberty which have too much prevailed are false and of dangerous Consequence The First of which is That which makes it to consist wholly or in part in Freedom from the Obligation of the Moral Law Certain Texts urged by the Antinomians in favour of it vindicated from the sence they put upon them And the extreme wildness and wickedness of it exposed in Five Particulars pag. 143. CHAP. XIII A Second False Notion of Christian Liberty viz. That which makes it to consist in Freedom from the Obligation of those Laws of Men which enjoyn or forbid indifferent things This Notion differently managed by the Defenders of it First Some extend it so far as to make it to reach to all Humane Laws the matter of which are things indifferent Secondly Others limit it to those which relate to Religion and the Worship of God The 23. Vers. of the 7. Chap. of the 1 Epist. to the Corinthians cleared from giving any Countenance to either of these Opinions The Former of them Confuted by three Arguments And the Latter by four Vnder the Second of which several Texts of Scripture which are much insisted upon in the defence thereof are taken into Consideration An unjust Reflection upon the Church of England briefly replied to And this Principle that the imposing of things indifferent in Divine Worship is no Violation of Christian Liberty proved to be no ways Serviceable to Popery by considering what the Popish Impositions are in Three Particulars pag. 164. CHAP. XIV An Answer to this Question Whether the Prescribing of Forms of Prayer for the Publick Worship of God be not an Encroachment upon Christian Liberty Wherein it is shewed that this is not a Stifling of the Spirit or Restraining the exercise of his Gift And what in Prayer is not as also what is the Gift of the Spirit Whereby is occasioned an Answer to another Question viz. Whether an Ability for Preaching be properly a Gift of the Spirit pag. 198. CHAP. XV. A Third False Notion of Christian Liberty viz. that which makes Liberty of Conscience a Branch of it Two things premised 1. That Conscience is not so sacred a thing as to be uncapable of being obliged by Humane Laws 2. That no man can properly be deprived of the true Liberty of his Conscience by any Power on Earth That what is contended for is more properly Liberty of Practice than of Conscience The Author's Opinion in reference to this Liberty delivered in Ten Propositions That whatsoever Liberty of this Nature may be insisted on as our Right it is not Christian Liberty but Natural Liberty pag. 219. CHAP. XVI The Third Inference from our Notion of Christian Liberty viz. That Popery is the greatest Enemy in the World thereunto Where it is shewed First That the Church of Rome Robs those who are subject to her of that Natural Liberty which necessarily belongs to them as they are Men viz. That which consists in the free use of their Vnderstandings in matters of Religion That She will not permit men to Examine either her Doctrines or Practices by the Holy Scriptures nor yet to receive the Holy Scriptures themselves otherwise than upon her Authority The Wickedness of this exposed in two Particulars The alledging of Scripture for it shewed to be the grossest Absurdity Their great Text 1 Tim. 3. 15. spoken to Her Tyranny over mens Minds further shewed pag. 254. CHAP. XVII Where it is shewed Secondly That Popery is as great an Enemy as can be to Christian Liberty And First To that Liberty which our Saviour hath purchased for the World in general As 1. That it tendeth as much as is possible to the Corrupting of mens Souls by subjecting them to vile Affections This shewed in the general viz. in that it is apt to beget false Notions of God and more particularly in that it brings men under the Power of the Lusts of Malice Revenge Cruelty Pride and Ambition Covetousness Uncleanness Intemperance and the greatest Injustice and Unrighteousness 2. That it no less tendeth to Disquiet mens Minds with certain troublesome Passions pag. 272. CHAP. XVIII The Third Particular discoursed on viz. That the Admirable Method our Lord hath taken to Instate us in our Christian Liberty is made lamentably Ineffectual by Popery This shewed as to each of those four Particulars that Method consists of The Second Head briefly spoken to viz. That Popery is also the greatest Enemy to that Liberty Christ purchased for the Jews in Particular A Pathetical Exhortation to a higher valuing of the Priviledges we enjoy in the Church of England concludes the Chapter pag. 299. CHAP. XIX The Fourth Inference That he onely is a true Christian that looks upon himself as obliged to be no less Watchful over his Heart and the frame and temper of his Mind than over his Life and Conversation pag. 318. CHAP. XX. The Last Inference Viz. That the most Proper and Genuine Christian Obedience is that which hath most of Liberty in it namely that which proceeds from the Principle of Love to God and Goodness pag. 322 ERRATA PAge 247. line 15. for Six read Thirty Six Page 259. line 6. after Controversie add this Parenthesis if they could be ingenuous Page 287. line 17. after opportunities for add or in order to A DISCOURSE OF Christian Liberty The Introduction THERE is nothing toward which Mankind is more naturally or vehemently affected than Freedom and Liberty there is so great a value and price set upon it that Life it self is not thought too precious to be hazarded or laid down for it And many have rather chosen to die by their Enemies hands than to be inslaved by them It was the saying of Cato Malui mori quà m uni parere I had rather die than that one man meaning Iulius Caesar should Lord it over me And he was as good as his word he laid
may be easily mistaken when we undertake to determine of the Fitness of them Thus having with submission to my Superiors offered my Opinion about this weighty Argument in the foregoing Propositions I hope I shan't be censured as immodest if I also add that I do not see but Governours might avoid the two Extremes in reference to Liberty of Conscience as it is called by having a constant regard to such like Rules And that the Governed on the other hand by doing the like might understand without much difficulty within what bounds they ought to confine themselves in Craving of their Governours or Expecting from them this kind of Liberty But I think it seasonable to suggest this one thing more to these that they would so behave themselves that those who have Power to grant it as far as is sitting might not be tempted to think it a thing onely adapted to the serving of Interest and by that means be the more inclined to a total Refusing of any such Liberty I mean that there be no Occasion given to what is so Commonly not without ground said viz. When 't is mens Temporal Interest to plead for Liberty of Conscience then they are Zealous for it but the Tables are no sooner turned but who like them against it Were we as honest as we should be we should be more fixed and constant and not so vary in our Principles as our Circumstances vary We should not in one Circumstance build what before we destroyed and in another destroy what we before built And so declare amidst all our Stir and Noise about Liberty of Conscience that we have either none at all or but very little Conscience But in the Conclusion of all I must not forget that which hath occasioned all this Discourse about Liberty of Conscience viz. that whatever that Liberty of this kind is which we have a Right to it is not a Branch of Christian but of mere Natural Liberty There is no Text of Scripture that mentioneth this as a Liberty of our Saviour's Purchasing and therefore no Christian may claim it as a Christian. 'T is due to men of all Religions who may be supposed to make Conscience of what they do and not only to the Professors of the Christian Religion And 't was always and in all places as much mens Right as it hath been since our Saviour's Appearance in the World and is in those Parts of it where his Gospel is received CHAP. XVI The Third Inference from our Notion of Christian Liberty viz. That Popery is the greatest Enemy in the World thereunto Where it is shewed First That the Church of Rome Robs those who are subject to her of that Natural Liberty which necessarily belongs to them as they are Men viz. That which consists in the free use of their Vnderstandings in matters of Religion That She will not permit men to Examine either her Doctrines or Practices by the Holy Scriptures nor yet to receive the Holy Scriptures themselves otherwise than upon her Authority The Wickedness of this exposed in two Particulars The alledging of Scripture for it shewed to be the grossest Absurdity Their great Text 1 Tim. 3. 15. spoken to Her Tyranny over mens Minds further shewed HAving now spoken to all the False Notions of Christian Liberty that I know of and discovered the intolerable Mischievousness of them as well as Falsity I proceed to another Inference from our Notion thereof namely Thirdly That Popery is a Religion if I honour it not too much in calling it so that is the greatest Enemy in the whole World to Christian Liberty Should all the wicked Wits in the World meet together to Consult and Complot how to Banish out of it this Liberty they could not devise more effectual means for the doing of it than those which are pitch'd upon by the Church of Rome And here we will shew First That She Robs those who Subject themselves to her of that Natural Liberty which necessarily belongs to them as they are Men or Reasonable Creatures And much more Secondly That She Robs them of that Liberty which it was the Design of our Saviour's Coming into the World and of all he did and suffered here to instate us in First That She Robs those who Subject themselves to her of that Natural Liberty which necessarily belongs to them as Men or Reasonable Creatures There is no Liberty so Essential to Humane Nature or so much its Inviolable Right as that which consists in the free use of our Understandings But a Papist is miserably tied up and inslaved here and that in those matters wherein it is of Infinitely the greatest Importance and Concernment to him that his Mind should be free namely in matters of Religion which have such a necessary influence into the Welfare of our Souls and our Eternal Happiness But notwithstanding that Injunction of S. Paul 1 Thes. 5. 21. Prove all things hold fast that which is good And that of S. Iohn 1 Epist. 4. 1. Beloved believe not every Spirit but try the Spirits whether they be of God c. This Church denieth to her Children all judgment of Discretion in Points of Religion at least except in this one Point the choice of the Church for their Guide which having Chosen they must follow her blind-fold all their lives after They must be Implicit Believers and Implicit Chusers She will 〈◊〉 and believe for them All their â—â—dgment and Faith must be resolved into hâ—rs as being if you will believe her 〈◊〉 and Uncapable of being either deceivâ—◠〈◊〉 self or of deceiving others And therefore to take our Saviour's 〈◊〉 to 〈◊〉 thâ— Scriptures except for the forementioned one thing nay for that too as we shall see anon is to put an Affront upon Her Authority and the Bereans who were so highly commended for so doing were guilty of great Sauciness and high Presumption And She takes the most successful course that can be thought of that you shall not Search the Scriptures by locking them up as She does and making the Bible so scarce a Book to be light upon where she hath Power enough to do it and in those places where her Power is Clipt by using a many wicked Artifices to keep the Vulgar from looking into it who are so miserably imposed upon by their wretched Priests as to think it a lighter sin to be Drunk or to commit Fornication and transgress many an express Law of God than to cast their Eyes upon the Holy Scriptures So well aware is this Church that a great part of her Religion is neither to be found there nor agreeable with them but as expresly as it can be done by words contradicted by them And as you may not Examine any of her Doctrines or Practices by comparing them with the Rule of Faith and Practice the Scriptures so neither which is but a necessary consequence from thence may you have any other Foundation for your Belief of the Books of Scripture themselves
all tending to entertain the several Humours of all men and to work what kind of Effects soever they shall desire c. So that where is mad Licentiousness more countenanced in the whole World than it is by this Church And where are poor Mortals made such miserable Slaves as She makes them And consequently how can there be a greater Enemy than the Romish Church is to that which we have proved to be the true and most Excellent Liberty And now is it possible that after the reading of the foregoing Account of the unsupportably Tyranny the intolerably Corrupt Principles and most Abominable Practices of the Church of Rome we should not be very greatly affected with the Priviledges we enjoy in the Church of England And with the infinite Goodness of God to us in giving us our Birth and Education in a Church which affords us all the Advantages of which that Church like a cruel Step-Mother robs her Children We live in a Church which lays before us the Scripture Arguments for our Confirmatiâ—n in the Christian Faith which obligeth us to receive the Faith of Christ upon the self-same Grounds and Motives that are proposed by our Saviour and his Apostles and upon no other We live in a Church which not onely gives us free leave but likewise enjoyns us to read the Holy Scriptures and deprives us of no part of them We live in a Church which requires us to receive nothing as an Article of Faith upon her bare Authority that assumes nothing of Inâ—allibility to her self but freely gives us the Liberty of trying all things That imposeth nothing upon our Belief or Practice as necessary to Salvation but what is in the plainest and most express terms to be found in the Bible That makes the Scriptures a complete Rule of Faith and adds not one syllable of her own to supply their defect That takes no Liberty in her Constitutions but such as she believes to be agreeable to the General Apostolical Rules of doing all things decently and in order and to Edification and imposeth these not as of Divine Institution or as necessary in their own nature but onely as Expedient for the more solemn grave and decorous Management of the Publick Worship of God This being left by Christ and his Apostles to the Prudence of the Governours of each particular Church We live in a Church which Abominates the Worship of God by Images allows no Prayers to Saints or Angels but onely to the true God by the alone Mediation of our Lord Iesus Christ. We live in a Church which renounceth all Merit of good Works and teacheth us to expect Salvation onely for the sake of Iesus Christ and through his Righteousness but gives not the least countenance to Licentious practices or Remissness in good Works and teacheth the absolute necessity of purging our selves by the Assistance of the Divine Grace from all Filthiness both of Flesh and Spirit in order to our being made capable of God's Complacential love here and Glory hereafter Lastly whereas I might be exceedingly large upon this subject we live in a Church wherein we want no necessary help for the building us up in our most holy Faith or our having the Design of our Saviour's Religion happily effected in us namely the Reformation of our Lives and our being Renewed after the Image of God which consisteth in Righteousness and true Holiness O that at length we could become more eflectually sensible of the blessed priviledges the Divine Goodness vouchsafeth to us of the Church of England lest we be made to Prize them by the Loss of them Lest our general monstrous Ingratitude and lamentable Unprofitableness under them and the Wantonness Peevishness and Causless Separation of Multitudes from the Communion of this Church provoke the Divine Majesty to put our Necks once more under the Iron Yoke of those Tyrants which made such Vassals of our Fore-fathers If that dismal day should again come as God grant it may not with what Sorrow and Grief of Soul shall we reflect upon our neglecting and despising such happy Opportunities as we now enjoy What would we not then gladly part with to regain them when we are deprived of them And O that our several divided Parties were capable of being perswaded to consider Sedately and Seriously before it be too late what their Gain will be by the Fall of our Chuch when themselves and their Religion lie buried together in her Ruines CHAP. XIX The Fourth Inference That he onely is a true Christian that looks upon himself as obliged to be no less Watchful over his Heart and the frame and temper of his Mind than over his Life and Conversation I Shall now return to more immediately practical discourse for what remains of this Treatise which is far more pleasing to my self than that I have been employed in for several of the past Chapters as necessary and seasonable as that is also Fourthly From our Notion of Christian Liberty this is another manifest Inference viz. That a true Christian is one that looks upon himself as obliged to be no less watchful over his Heart than over his Life and Conversation to take as great care to cleanse the inside of the Cup and Platter to use our Saviour's expression as the outside to be as vigilant over his Affections as over his outward Behaviour to be as Solicitous about purging himself from all immoderate Love of the things of this World as about procuring them by warrantable and lawful means The true Christian makes as much Conscience of Lusting after a Woman and cherishing impure thoughts as he doth of Lascivious and Wanton Practices Of harbouring Revenge in his Breast and bearing ill will to any as of repaying Injury with injury He needs not to be made sensible that 't is no less his duty to forgive and love his Enemies than to forbear reviling them or doing evil to them that 't is as indispensably necessary to be low in his own Eyes and to think meanly of himself as to beware of a haughty and supercilious carriage towards others that he cannot more safely Covet than he can Steal his Neighbours goods that he is as much bound to bring his Will into subjection to the Will of God under the severest Providences as to forbear Murmuring Repining and Charging of God foolishly He who is a Christian in deed as well as in name placeth Religion in Governing his own Spirit no less than in any External performances or forbearances of what nature soever in putting away from himself all Wrath Bitterness and Sourness no less than in abstaining from uncivil deportment towards his Brethren This man doth not think it more necessary to do good works than to do them from a good principle And he is as much concerned about Loving of God as about Doing what he hath commanded him and Forbearing what he hath forbidden him He no less endeavours to Hate sin than not to Commit it and to be in love
offend any I shall be sorry for it but must withal take leave to tell the offended that it is an Evidence of exceeding great Weakness not to say worse to be Angry with those who endeavour in the Spirit of Meekness to convince us of our Dangerous Mistakes But such is the Fate of Conscientious opposing Popular and Prevailing Errors that it seldom meeteth with better success than kindling the Passions and sharpening the Tongues and Pens too of those who are most obliged to be thankful for it But Wisdom is justified of her Children But however it be taken it was never more seasonable nor ever scarcely so Necessary to do our utmost towards the rectifying of Peoples Apprehensions about matters of this nature when our Contentions and Animosities about little things mostly things very little in themselves and so great a Defection from our Church merely upon the account of such things as are no where condemned by the Law of God nor are opposed by any express or plain Text but by exceedingly laboured and far fetch'd Consequences have given our Adversaries such Advantage against us and do them far greater service than all their open Attempts or secret wicked Plots and Conspiracies through the infinite Goodness of God to us have hitherto done God Almighty grant that that saying be not to be applied to us ere long which was used of our Predecessors the Britains when their intestine Quarrels had occasioned their being Vanquish'd by the Romans viz. Dum singuli pugnant Vniversi vincuntur While they severally contend and quarrel with one another they are all overcome by a Common Enemy I must confess when I consider what Excellent Treatises have of late been published fraught with Unanswerable and the most convincing and affecting Arguments to perswade our Brethren of the Separation to ease us in a great measure of our Fears of Popery or Confusion by Returning to the Communion of that Church wherein most of them were Baptized and when withal I observe what little Success those Treatises have had I have as faint hopes as can be that so small an endeavour as this should do any Service But however it is some satisfaction to my Mind to express my Good Will But we are told by some that we may thank the Church of England if ever the Pope be again our Master and particularly that Principle of Hers we have been now defending viz. that Imposing of Indifferent things in the Worship of God is no Violation of Christian Liberty And that this Principle will open a door to Popish Conformity if we should be once more so unhappy as to be brought into Subjection to the Roman Yoke To these I Reply in the First place That 't is unconceiveable how any thing but Malice or the thickest Ignorance can charge the Church of England with serving the Interest of the Popish Religion For is any thing more Notorious than that almost all the opposition that hath either heretofore or of late been made against Popery hath been by the Bishops and the other Clergy of this Church To say nothing of what the Separating Party have done though not upon that Design to promote Popery which would be as large as unpleasant a Theme to insist on what have they done in defence of the Reformed Religion against Popery Have they all of them put together done the half quarter part of that Service in this kind that One Excellent Dean of our Church hath done Truly I much doubt it And I think I may adventure to say that all the Reformed Churches together can hardly shew of their own so many Learned and Judicious Treatises against the Body and the several Parts of Popery as our single Church can shew of Hers. Again Is any thing better known than that the Priests and Jesuits and Popish Faction do at this time spit all their Venome and bend all their Force against the Church of England and indeed always have done This sheweth that they are well aware though so many among our selves will not acknowledge it but would have the World think the directly contrary that our Church is the most Formidable of all their Adversaries In short Who needs Arguments to convince him that the Church of England is at present our onely Bulwark against Popery As ever since the Reformation she hath been acknowledged by our Brethren beyond Sea to be the strongest and most impregnable upon several accounts But Secondly as to this Principle of our Church that Imposing of Indifferent things in the Worship of God is no Violation of Christian Liberty it is a most weak and ignorant furmise that it should in the least befriend Popery Those little understand what Popery means that think thus For First There is nothing more plainly demonstrable than that many of those things which are imposed by the Roman Church are far from being Indifferent in their own nature but the grossest Corruptions as contrary to the Doctrine and Practice of the first Ages of the Church and which is far more as contrary to the Laws of God and our Saviour Christ as is Darkness to Light I have given a Catalogue in the Design of Christianity of the chief of these with Remarks upon them and thither I refer the Reader that needs satisfaction Secondly Other of Her Impositions which are Indifferent in themselves are made to change their Nature by the Notion under which they are enjoyned by her That Church enjoyns no Indifferent things as such as ours doth all she imposeth as appears by her 34 th Article but as made necessary by Divine Authority She pretending to the Infallible Guidance of the Holy Ghost in all Her Decrees and Constitutions And therefore expects your Receiving them as you do the Holy Scriptures with a Divine Faith and the self-same awful Regard and Reverence I might add too that several of her Rites and Ceremonies are imposed under a most Superstitious notion either as Sacraments conveying Grace or as having some special Virtue in them to atone the Divine Majesty or to scare away the Devil c. Thirdly It is my opinion too that though their Ceremonies were never so innocent in themselves yet the Multitude of them doth make them in the lump to cease to be Indifferent My reason is because it is unconceiveable to me but that so great a Number must needs so employ the Mind in the Worship of God as that it is not possible to be intent thereupon and consequently must frustrate at least in a great measure the Design of Worship But this is no Reason to a Papist who cannot be thoroughly so and acknowledge the necessity of exercising the Mind in Divine Worship For his Holy Mother hath taught him this mad and impious Doctrine That the Sacraments confer Grace ex opere operato from the work Done and so are differenced from those of the Old Testament they conferring Grace ex opere operantis from the work of the Doer as also that a mere general
Cruelty Pride and Ambition Covetousness Uncleanness Intemperance and the greatest Injustice and Unrighteousness As for Malice and Cruelty as now we intimated they are the Natural and Genuine Off-spring of that most Horrible Uncharitableness that is proper to Popery When men have once conceived such an opinion of any of their Fellow-Creatures as that they are hated of God and damned Reprobates they think themselves obliged to Hate them too and Hatred and Cruelty are never separated We have already given Instances of Popish Cruelty in Butchering Protestants and shewed what a vast Sea of Bloud hath been shed by the Papists which hath been at the command of their Holy Father and the instigation of his cursed instruments the Iesuits And I now add that they have not satisfied themselves with the mere shedding of Bloud but have devised the most exquisitely tormenting Methods of doing it such as can hardly be recited without great Horror and Consternation of mind To pass over the inexpressible Tortures of the Holy Inquisition what say you to long protracting the torments of those whose Bodies have been committed to the merciless Flames by letting them down by degrees with Pullies that the lower parts might be consumed before the Fire could reach the Vitals What say you to Roasting alive To Flaying off mens skins alive To Boiling of the Young Children of Hereticks alive and casting them alive to be devoured by Swine What say you to Ripping up the Bellies of Women Great with Child their hands and feet being first nailed down To Hanging men at their own doors by their privy Members To Burying men alive and young Children making holes in the Ground out of which they have put their hands and made sad moan for their Mothers What Heart is so hard as not to bleed at the mere Reading or Hearing such things as these But these and innumerable such like nay far more horrible things we might shew are Instances of Popish Cruelty And those inâ—licted upon the account of no greater Offences than Refusing to be Idolaters and not daring to be partakers of Rome's Sins lest they receive of her Plagues But how should those think that these Devilish Barbarities do not well become them who presume the poor Wretches they so torture to be Accursed of God Devoted to destruction and to far more grievous and intolerable Torments and that the Hatred God bears to them doth cause him to accept it as an Excellent piece of Service at their hands to be their Destroyers and Tormenters that is the Executioners of His Wrath Moreover the Absolute Obedience they owe to Christ's Vicar imposeth a Necessity upon them not to boggle at the greatest Cruelties whensoever his Holiness shall please to imploy them in such Services which his Pride and Malice will never permit him to fail to do whensoever he thinks it consistent with his interest And that a power to employ his Vassals in such work as this was conferred by Christ upon S. Peter and his Successors Pope Pius the Fifth tells you in the beginning of his Bull against Queen Elizabeth Saith he Regnans in excelsis c. He that Reigneth on High to whom is given all Power in Hâ—â—â—en and in Earth hath committed the one Holy Catholick and Apostolick Church to one alone on Earth viz. Peter Prince of the Apostles and to his Successor the Bishop of Rome to be governed with a plenitude of Power This one hath he constituted Prince over all Nations and Kingdoms but what to do The next words tell us Qui evellat destruat dissipet disperdat plantet aedificet That he may pluck up destroy break in pieces waste Blessed work plant and build i. e. upon those Ruines And Pope Innocent the Third applieth to the Popes in a literal sence those words in the Prophecy of Ieremy See I have set thee over the Nations and over the Kingdoms to root out and to pull down and to destroy and to throw down to build and to plant And it would be a most tedious piece of work to shew what use the Popes have made of this their pretended power and how they have menaced with Excommunication those good-natured or prudent Princes whom they have not found forward to obey their Commands in destroying Hereticks So necessary is it that a Papist if he will be true to his principles should be either actually Cruel or in a ready preparation to be so And where is the Lust of Pride and Ambition so gratified to the height as in the Church of Rome As for the Head of this Church can there be a prouder or so proud a Creature upon Gods Earth Who claims as Universal and Unbounded an Empire over Mankind as the Father hath invested his Son Iesus withal Who pretendeth his Authority to exceed as much the Royal Power as the Sun doth the Moon Which are the words of the now mentioned Pope Innocent in the place cited Who assumes to himself as great a Power over Kings and Emperors as over the meanest of Peasants and Authority to dispose of their Crowns and Kingdoms at his own pleasure And whensoever he hath been strong enough hath made them feel it Who claims as great a power over Mens very Consciences their Minds and Understandings as we have seen in matters of Religion as God himself can Nay usurpeth such a Power as God himself abhors to have as shall be shewn anon So that if the Man of Sin who sitteth in the Temple of God and Exalteth himself above all that is called God be not to be found in Rome no part of the World ever was or will be able to shew him And how is it possible that such prodigious Pride in the Head should not affect and influence the Members both Clergy and Laity and that there should be none or little contagion in such an Example Surely the Example of the profoundly Humble Iesus cannot have a more powerful influence upon his Disciples than that of his Diabolically proud and haughty pretended Vicars must needs have upon their Proselytes especially considering the great propensity of Humane Nature to this Sin of Pride But as for the Popish Clergie they have infinite temptations to the gratifying to the height this Lust and as great Opportunities for it To pass by the Cardinals and Bishops the former of which have the stile and go in the Equipage of Princes and are co-partners with their High and Mighty Lord in his forementioned vast Rule and Government And the latter not inferior to the greatest of the Nobility and have been Censured for going too much out of their way to meet Princes I say to pass by these their Common Priests Monks and Friers have the greatest incentives to Pride haughtiness and Contempt of others that the most Ambitious of them all can well wish to have As for the Priests I need not say how much their pretended Power of Transubstantiating the Elements in the Eucharist which is no less than making a