to judge these to be heinous abuses which did much endanger the Salvation of Souls therefore being the Pastors of the Church and being assisted in it by the Civil Powers they had both good reason and sufficient Authority to reform the Church from these Abuses and he left it to M. C. to chuse on which of these Particulars they should discourse M. B. said The Bishops and Pastors having the charge of Souls were bound to feed the Flock with sound Doctrine according to the word of God So S. Paul when he charged the Bishops of Ephesus to feed the Flock and to guard it against Wolves or Seducers he commends them to the word of Gods Grace which is the Gospel And in his Epistles to Timothy and Titus wherein the Rules of the Pastoral charge are set down he commands Timothy and in him all Bishops and Pastors to hold fast the Doctrine and form of sound words which he had delivered and tells him the Scriptures were able to make the man of God perfect If then the Bishops and Pastors of this Church found it corrupted by any unsound Doctrine or Idolatrous Worship they were by the Law of God and the charge of Souls for which they were accountable obliged to throw out these Corruptions and reform the Church and this the rather that the first Question proposed in the Consecration of a Bishop as it is in the Pontifical is Wilt thou teach these things which thou understandest to be in the Scripture to the People committed to thee both by thy Doctrine and Example To which he answers I will M. C. said We had now offered as much as would be the subject of many days discourse and he had but few minutes to spare therefore he desired to be informed what Authority those Bishops had to judge in matters which they found not only in this Church but in all Churches round about them should they have presumed to judge in these matters D. S. said It had been frequently the Practice of many Nations and Provinces to meet in Provincial Synods and reform Abuses For which he offered to prove they had both Authority and President But much more in some Instances he was ready to shew of particulars that had been defined by General Councils which they only applied to their Circumstances and this was never questioned but Provincial Synods might do M. C. desired to be first satisfied by what Authority they could cut themselves off from the Obedience of the See of Rome in King Henry the VIII his days The Pope then was looked on as the Monarch of the Christian World in Spirituals and all Christendom was one Church under One Head and had been so for many Ages So that if a Province or Country would cut themselves from the Body of this Nation for instance Wales that had once distinct Princes and say we acknowledge no right William the Conquerour had so that we reject the Authority of those descended from him they might have the same Plea which this our Church had For the day before that Act of Parliament did pass after the 20. of Henry the VIII the Pope had the Authority in Spirituals and they were his Subjects in Spirituals Therefore their Declaring he had none could not take his Authority from him no more than the Long Parliament had right to declare by any Act that the Sovereign Power was in the Peoples hands in pursuance of which they cut off the Kings Head D. S. said The first General Councils as they established the Patriarchal Power so the Priviledges of several Churches were preserved entire to them as in the case of Cyprus that the British Churches were not within the Patriarchal Jurisdiction of Rome that afterwards the Bishops of Rome striking in with the Interests of the Princes of Europe and watching and improving all Advantages got up by degrees through many Ages into that height of Authority which they managed as ill as they unjustly acquired it and particularly in England where from King William the Conqueror's days as their illegal and oppressive Impositions were a constant Grievance to the People so our Princes and Parliaments were ever put to struggle with them But to affront their Authority Thomas Becket who was a Traitour to the Law must be made a Saint and a day kept for him in which they were to pray to God for Mercy through his Merits It continuing thus for several Ages in the end a vigorous Prince arises who was resolved to assert his own Authority And he looking into the Oaths the Bishops swore to the Pope they were all found in a Praemunire by them Then did the whole Nation agree to assert their own freedom and their Kings Authority And 't was considerable that those very Bishops that in Queen Maries days did most cruelly persecute those of the Church of England and advance the Interests of Rome were the most zealous Assertors and Defenders of what was done by King Henry the VIII Therefore the Popes Power in England being founded on no just Title and being managed with so much Oppression there was both a full Authority and a great deal of reason for rejecting it And if the Maior Generals who had their Authority from Cromwell might yet have declared for the King who had the true Title and against the Usurper so the Bishops though they had sworn to the Pope yet that being contrary to the Allegiance they ow'd the King ought to have asserted the Kings Authority and rejected the Pope's M. B. said It seemed M. C. founded the Popes Right to the Authority he had in England chiefly upon Prescription But there were two things to be said to that First that no Prescription runs against a divine right In the clearing of Titles among Men Prescription is in some Cases a good Title But if by the Laws of God the Civil Powers have a supream Authority over their Subjects then no Prescription whatsoever can void this Besides the Bishops having full Authority and Jurisdiction this could not be bounded or limited by any Obedience the Pope claimed from them Further there can be no Prescription in this case where the Usurpation has been all along contested and opposed We were ready to prove that in the first Ages all Bishops were accounted Brethren Colleagues and fellow-Bishops with the Bishop of Rome That afterwards as he was declared Patriarch of the West so the other Patriarchs were equal in Authority to him in their several Patriarchates That Britain was no part of his Patriarchate but an exempt as Cyprus was That his Power as Patriarch was only for receiving Appeals or calling Synods and did not at all encroach on the Jurisdiction of other Bishops in their Sees and that the Bishops in his Patriarchate did think they might separate from him A famous Instance of this was in the sixth Century when the Question was about the tria Capitula for which the Western Bishops did generally stand and Pope Vigilius wrote in defence of
persons well affected to the Reformation It is not material what their true motives were for Iehu did a good work when he destroyed the Idolatry of Baal though neither his motives nor method of doing it are justifiable nor is it to the purpose to examine how those Bishops that reformed could have complied before with the corruptions of the Roman Church and received orders from them Meletius and Felix were placed by the Arrians the one at Antioch in the room of Eustatbius the other at Rome in Liberius his room who were both banished for the Faith and yet both these were afterwards great Defenders of the truth and Felix was a Martyr for it against these very Hereticks with whom they complied in the beginning So whatever mixture of carnal ends might be in any of the Secular men or what allay of humane infirmity and fear might have been in any of the Ecclesiasticks that can be no prejudice to the cause for men are always men and the power of God does often appear most eminently when there is least cause to admire the instruments he makes use of But in that juncture of affairs the Bishops and Clergy of this Church seeing great and manifest corruptions in it and it being apparent that the Church of Rome would consent to no reformation to any good purpose were obliged to reform and having the Authority of King and Parliament concurring they had betrayed their Consciences and the charge of Souls for which they stood engaged and were to answer at the great day if they had dallied longer and not warned the people of their danger and made use of the inclinations of the Civil Powers for carrying on so good at work And it is the lasting glory of the Reformation that when they saw the Heir of the Crown was inflexibly united to the Church of Rome they proceeded not to extream courses against her for what a few wrought on by the ambition of the Duke of Northumberland were got to do was neither the deed of the Nation nor of the Church since the Representatives of neither concurred in it But the Nation did receive the righteous Heir and then was our Church crowned with the highest glory it could have desired many of the Bishops who had been most active in the Reformation sealing it with their Blood and in death giving such evident proofs of holy and Christian constancy that they may be justly matched with the most Glorious Martyrs of the Primitive Church Then did both these Churches appear in their true colours That of Rome weltring in the Blood of the Saints and insatiately drinking it up and our Church bearing the Cross of Christ and following his example But when we were for some years thus tried in the fire then did God again bless us with the protection of the rightful and lawful Magistrate Then did our Church do as the Primitive Church had done under Theodosius when she got out from a long and cruel persecution of the Arrians under those enraged Emperours Constantius and Valens They reformed the Church from the Arrian Doctrine but would not imitate them in their persecuting spirit And when others had too deep resentments of the ill usage they had met with under the Arrian Tyranny Nazianzen and the other holy Bishops of that time did mitigate their Animosities So that the Churches were only taken from the Arrians but no storms were raised against them So in the beginning of Queen Elizabeth's Reign it cannot be denied that those of that Church were long suffered to live at quiet among us with little or no disturbance save that the Churches were taken out of their hands Nor were even those who had bathed themselves in so much blood made examples so entirely did they retain the meekness and lenity of the Christian spirit And if after many years quiet those of that Religion when they met with no trouble from the government did notwithstanding enter into so many plots and conspiracies against the Queen's person and the established government was it any wonder that severe Laws were made against them and those Emissaries who under a pretence of coming in a mission were sent as spies and agents among us to fill all with blood and confusion Whom had they blame for all this but themselves or was this any thing but what would have been certainly done in the gentlest and mildest government upon earth For the Law of self-preservation is engraven on all mens natures and so no wonder every State and Government sees to its own security against those who seek its ruine and destruction and it had been no wonder if upon such provocations there had been some severities used which in themselves were uniustifiable for few take reparation in an exact equality to the damage and injury they have received But since that time they have had very little cause to complain of any hard treatment and if they have met with any they may still thank the officious insolent deportment of some of their own Church that have given just cause of jealousie and fear But I shall pursue this discourse no further hoping enough is already said upon the head that engaged me to it to make it appear that it was possible the Doctrine of the Church should be changed in this matter and that it was truly changed From which I may be well allowed to subsume that our Church discovering that this change was made had very good reason and a sufficient authority to reform this corruption and restore the Primitive Doctrine again And now being to leave my Reader I shall only desire him to consider a little of how great importance his eternal concerns are and that he has no reason to look for endless happiness if he does not serve God in a way suitable to his will For what hopes soever there may be for one who lives and dies in some unknown error yet there are no hopes for those that either neglect or despise the truth and that out of humour or any other carnal account give themselves up to errours and willingly embrace them Certainly God sent not his Son in the world nor gave him to so cruel a death for nothing If he hath revealed his Counsels with so much solemnity his designs in that must be great and worthy of God The true ends of Religion must be the purifying our Souls the conforming us to the Divine Nature the uniting us to one another in the most tender bonds of Love Truth Justice and Goodness the raising our minds to a heavenly and contemplative temper and our living â—s Pilgrims and Strangers on this Earth ever waiting and longing for our change Now we dare appeal all men to shew any thing in our Religion or Worship that obstructs any of these ends on the contrary the sum and total of our Doctrine is the conforming our selves to Christ and his Apostles both in faith and life So that it can scarce be devised what should make any
A RELATION OF A CONFERENCE Held About RELIGION AT LONDON BY EDW. STILLINGFLEET D. D. c. With some Gentlemen of the Church of Rome LONDON Printed and are to be Sold by Randal Taylor near Stationers-Hall 1687. THE PREFACE THere is nothing that is by a more universal agreement decried than Conferences about Controversies of Religion and no wonder for they have been generally managed with so much heat and passion parties being more concerned for Glory and Victory than Truth and there is such foul dealing in the accounts given of them that it is not strange to see these Prejudices taken up against them And yet it cannot be denied but if Men of Candor and Calmness should discourse about matters of Religion without any other interest than to seek and follow Truth there could not be a more effectual and easie way found for satisfying Scruples More can be said in one hour than read in a day Besides that what is said in a discourse discreetly managed does more appositely meet with the doubtings and difficulties any body is perplexed with than is possibly to be found in a Book and since almost all Books disguise the Opinions of those that differ from them and represent their Arguments as weak and their Opinions as odious Conferences between those of different Perswasions do remedy all these Evils But after all the Advantages of this way it must be confessed that for the greater part Men are so engaged to their Opinions by interest and other ties that in Conferences most Persons are resolved before-hand to yield to no conviction but to defend every thing being only concerned to say so much as may darken weaker Minds that are Witnesses and give them some occasion to triumph at least conceal any foil they may have received by wrapping up some pittiful shift or other in such words and pronouncing them with such accents of assurance and perhaps scorn that they may seem to come off with Victory And it is no less frequent to see Men after they have been so baffled that all discerning Witnesses are ashamed of them yet being resolved to make up with impudence what is wanting in Truth as a Coward is generally known to boast most where he has least cause publish about what feats they have done and tell every body they see how the cause in their Mouth did triumph over their Enemies that so the praise of the defeat given may be divided between the cause and themselves and though in modesty they may pretend to ascribe all to Truth and the Faith they contended for yet in their Hearts they desire the greatest part be offered to themselves All these Considerations with a great many more did appear to us when the Lady T. asked us if we would speak with her Husband and some others of the Church of Rome as well for clearing such Scruples as the perpetual converse with those of that Religion had raised in the Lady as for satisfying her Husband of whose being willing to receive instruction she seemed confident Yet being well assured of the Ladies great candor and worth and being willing to stand up for the Vindication and Honour of our Church whatever might follow on it we promised to be ready to wait on her at her House upon advertisement without any nice treating before-hand what we should confer about Therefore we neither asked who should be there nor what number nor in what Method or on what particulars our discourse should run but went thither carrying only one Friend along with us for a Witness If the Discourse had been left to our managing we resolved to have insisted chiefly on the Corruptions in the worship of the Roman Church to have shewed on several Heads that there was good cause to reform these Abuses and that the Bishops and Pastors of this Church the Civil Authority concurring had sufficient Authority for reforming it These being the material things in Controversie which must satisfie every Person if well made out we intended to have discoursed about them but being put to answer we followed those we had to deal with But that we may not forestall the Reader in any thing that passed in the Ladies Chamber which he will find in the following account we had no sooner left her House but we resumed among our selves all had passed that it might be written down what ever should follow to be published if need were So we agreed to meet again three days after to compare what could be written down with our Memories And having met an account was read which did so exactly contain all that was spoken as far as we could remember that after a few Additions we all Three Signed the Narrative then agreed to Few days had passed when we found we had need of all that care and caution for the matter had got wind and was in every bodies Mouth Many of our best Friends know how far we were from talking of it for till we were asked about it we scarce opened our Mouths of it to any Person But when it was said that we had been baffled and foiled it was necessary for us to give some account of it Not that we were much concerned in what might be thought of us but that the most excellent cause of our Church and Religion might not suffer by the misrepresentations of this Conference And the truth was there was so little said by the Gentlemen we spoke with that was of weight that we had scarce any occasion given us of speaking about things of Importance So that being but faintly assaulted we had no great cause of boasting had we been ever so much inclined to it At length being weary with the Questions put to us about it we shewed some of our Friends the written account of it And that those of the Church of Rome might have no pretence to complain of any foul dealing on our part we caused a Copy of it to be writ out and on the 19. of April sent it the Lady T. to be shewed to them And one of us having the honour to meet with her afterwards desired her to let her Husband and the others with him know that as we had set down very faithfully all we could remember that they had said So if they could except at any part of this Narrative or would add any thing that they either did say which we had forgot or should have said which themselves had forgot to say we desired they might add it to the account we sent them For we looked on it as a most unreasonable thing that the Credit of any Cause or Party should depend on their Extemporary Faculty of speaking the quickness of their Invention or the readiness of their memory who discourse about it though it will appear that in this Conference they had all the advantage and we all the disadvantage possible Since they knew and were resolved what they would put us to of which we were utterly ignorant Save that about
as our Church judged brought in the Doctrine of the corporal presence without all reason the Church made that Explanation to cast out the other so that upon the matter it was a negative He added that it was also unreasonable to ask any one place to prove a Doctrine by for the Fathers in their Proceedings with the Arrians brought a great Collection of Places which gave light to one another and all concurred to prove the Article of Faith that was in Controversie so if we brought such a consent of many Places of Scripture as proved our Doctrine all being joyned together we perform all that the Fathers thought themselves bound to do in the like case D. S. then at great length told them The Church of Rome and the Church of England differed in many great and weighty points that we were come thither to see as these Gentlemen professed they desired if we could offer good reason for them to turn Protestants and as the Ladies professed a desire to be further established in the Doctrine of the Church of England In order to which none could think it a proper Method to pick out some words in the obscure corner of an Article and call for express Scriptures for them But the fair and fit way was to examine whether the Church of England had not very good reason to separate from the Communion of the Church of Rome therefore since it was for truth in which our Souls are so deeply concerned that we enquired he desired they would joyn issue to examine either the grounds on which the Church of England did separate from the Church of Rome or the Authority by which she did it for if there was both good reason for it and if those who did it had a sufficient Authority to do it then was the Church of England fully vindicated He did appeal to all that were present if in this offer he dealt not candidly and fairly and if all other ways were not shufling Which he pressed with great earnestness as that only which could satisfie all Peoples Consciences M. W. and S. P. T. said God forbid they should speak one word for the Church of Rome they understood the danger they should run by speaking to that D. S. said He hoped they looked on us as Men of more Conscience and Honesty than to make an ill use of any thing they might say for their Church that for himself he would die rather than be guilty of so base a thing the very thought whereof he abhorred M. B. said That though the Law condemned the endeavouring to reconcile any to the Church of Rome yet their justifying their Church when put to it especially to Divines in order to satisfaction which they professed they desired could by no colour be made a Transgression And that as we engaged our Faith to make no ill use of what should be said so if they doubted any of the other Company it was S. P. his House and he might order it to be more private if he pleased S. P. said he was only to speak to the Articles of the Church of England and desired express words for that Article Upon this followed a long wrangling the same things were said over and over again In the end M. W. said They had not asked where that Article was read that they doubted of it for they knew it was in no place of Scripture in which they were the more confirmed because none was so much as alledged D. S. said Upon the terms in the sixth Article he was ready to undertake the twenty eighth Article to prove it clearly by Scripture M. W. said But there must be no Interpretations admitted of M. B. said It was certain the Scriptures were not given to us as Parrots are taught to speak words we were endued with a faculty of understanding and we must understand somewhat by every place of Scripture Now the true meaning of the words being that which God would teach us in the Scriptures which way soever that were expressed is the Doctrine revealed there and it was to be considered that the Scriptures were at first delivered ro plain and simple men to be made use of by all without distinction therefore we were to look unto them as they did and so S. Paul wrote his Epistles which were the hardest pieces of the New Testament to all in the Churches to whom he directed them M. W. said The Epistles were written upon emergent Occasions and so were for the use of the Churches to whom they were directed D. S. said Though they were written upon emergent Occasions yet they were written by Divine Inspiration and as a Rule of Faith not only for those Churches but for all Christians But as M. W. was a going to speak M. C. came in upon which we all rose up till he was set So being set after some Civilities D. S. resumed a little what they were about and told they were calling for express Scriptures to prove the Articles of our Church by M. C. said If we be about Scriptures where is the Judge that shall pass the Sentence who expounds them aright otherwise the Contest must be endless D. S. said He had proposed a matter that was indeed of weight therefore he would first shew that these of the Church of Rome were not provided of a sufficient or fit Judge of Controversies M. C. said That was not the thing they were to speak to for though we destroyed the Church of Rome all to nought yet except we built up our own we did nothing therefore he desired to hear what he had to say for our own Church he was not to meddle with the Church of Rome but to hear and be instructed if he could see reason to be of the Church of England for may be it might be somewhat in his way D. S. said He would not examine if it would be in his way to be of the Church of England or not but did heartily acknowledge with great Civility that he was a very fair dealer in what he had proposed and that now he had indeed set us in the right way and the truth was we were extream glad to get out of the wrangling we had been in before and to come to treat of matters that were of importance So after some Civilities had passed on both sides D. S. said The Bishops and Pastors of the Church of England finding a great many abuses crept into the Church particularly in the worship of God which was chiefly insisted upon in the Reformation such as the Images of the blessed Trinity the Worship whereof was set up and encouraged The turning the Devotions we ought to offer only to Christ to the blessed Virgin the Angels and Saints That the worship of God was in an unknown Tongue That the Chalice was taken from the People against the express words of the Institution That Transubstantiation and the Sacrifice of the Mass were set up That our Church had good reason
them but Iustinian the Emperour having drawn him to Constantinople he consented with the Fifth Council to the condemning them Upon which at his return many of the Western Bishops did separate from him And as Victor Bishop of Tunes tells us who lived at that time That Pope was Synodically excommunicated by the Bishops of Africk It is true in the eighth Century the Decretal Epistles being forged his Pretentions were much advanced yet his universal jurisdicton was contested in all Ages as might be proved from the known instance of Hincmar Bishop of Rheims and many more Therefore how strong soever the Argument from Prescription may be in Civil things it is of no force here M. C. said Now we are got into a contest of 1700 years story but I know not when we shall get out of it He confessed there was no Prescription against a divine right and acknowledged all Bishops were alike in their Order but not in their Jurisdiction as the Bishop of Oxford was a Bishop as well as the Arch-bishop of Canterbury and yet he was inferiour to him in Jurisdiction But desired to know what was in the Popes Authority that was so intolerable D. S. said That he should only debate about the Popes Jurisdiction and to his question for one Particular That from the days of Pope Paschal the II. all Bishops swear Obedience to the Pope was intolerable Bondage M. C. said Then will you acknowledge that before that Oath was imposed the Pope was to be acknowledged adding That let us fix a time wherein we say the Pope began to usurp beyond his just Authority and he would prove by Protestant Writers that he had as great Power before that time M. B. said Whatever his Patriarchal Power was he had none over Britain For it was plain we had not the Christian Faith from the Roman Church as appeared from the very story of Austin the Monk S. P. T. said Did not King Lucius write to the Pope upon his receiving the Christian Faith M. C. said He would wave all that and ask If the Church of England could justifie her forsaking the obedience of the Bishop of Rome when all the rest of the Christian World submitted to it D. S. said He wondered to hear him speak so Were not the Greek the Armenian the Nestorian and the Abissen Churches separated from the Roman M. C. said He wondered as much to hear him reckon the Nestorians among the Churches that were condemned Hereticks D. S. said It would be hard for him to prove them Nestorians M. C. asked why he called them so then D. S. answered Because they were generally best known by that Name M. W. said Did not the Greek Church reconcile it self to the Roman Church at the Council of Florence D. S. said Some of their Bishops were partly trepanned partly threatned into it but their Church disowned them and it both and continues to do so to this day M. W. said Many of the Greek Church were daily reconciled to the Church of Rome and many of the other Eastern Bishops had sent their Obedience to the Pope D. S. said They knew there was enough to be said to these things that these Arts were now pretty well discovered but he insisted to prove the Usurpations of Rome were such as were inconsistent with the supreme civil Authority and shewed the Oath in the Pontificale by which for instance If the Pope command a Bishop to go to Rome and his King forbid it he must obey the Pope and disobey the King M. C. said These things were very consistent that the King should be Supream in Civils and the Pope in Spirituals so that if the Pope commanded a thing that were Civil the King must be obeyed and not he M. B. said By the words of the Oath the Bishops were to receive and help the Pope's Legates both in coming and going Now suppose the King declared it Treason to receive the Legate yet in this case the Bishops are sworn to obey the Pope and this was a Case that fell out often D. S. instanced the Case of Queen Mary M. C. said If he comes with false Mandates he is not a Legate M. B. said Suppose as has fallen out an hundred times he comes with Bulls and well warranted but the King will not suffer him to enter his Dominions here the Bishops must either be Traitors or Perjured M. C. said All these things must be understood to have tacite Conditions in them though they be not expressed and gave a Simile which I have forgot D. S. said It was plain Paschal the Second devised that Oath on purpose to cut off all those Reserves of their Duty to their Princes And therefore the Words are so full and large that no Oath of Allegiance was ever conceived in more express terms M. B. said It was yet more plain from the Words that preceed that Clause about Legates that they shall be an no Counsel to do the Pope any injury and shall reveal none of his secrets By which a Provision was clearly made that if the Pope did engage in any Quarrel or War with any Prince the Bishops were to assist the Popes as their sworn Subjects and to be faithful Spies and Correspondents to give Intelligence As he was saying this L. T. did whisper D. S. who presently told the Company That the Ladies at whose desire we came thither entreated we would speak to things that concerned them more and discourse on the Grounds on which the Reformation proceeded and therefore since he had before named some of the most considerable he desired we might discourse about some of these M. C. said Name any thing in the Roman Church that is expresly contrary to Scriptures but bring not your Expositions of Scripture to prove it by for we will not admit of these M. B. asked If they did not acknowledge that it was only by the Mediation of Christ that our Sins were pardoned and eternal Life given to us M. C. answered No question of it at all M. B. said Then have we not good reason to depart from that Church that in an Office of so great and daily use as was the Absolution of Penitents after the words of Absolution enjoyns the following Prayer to be used which he read out of their Ritual The Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ the Merits of the Blessed Virgin Mary and of all the Saints and whatever good thou hast done or evil thou hast suffered be to thee for the remission of Sins the encrease of Grace and the reward of Eternal Life from whence it plainly follows that their Church ascribes the pardon of all Sins and the eternal Salvation of their Penitents to the Merits of the blessed Virgin and the Saints as well as the Passion of our blessed Saviour M. C. said Here was a very severe Charge put in against their Church without any reason for they believed that our sins are pardoned and our souls are saved only by the
in the Sacrament is Faith from these words Whoso eats my Flesh and drinks my Blood hath eternal Life If these words have relation to the Sacrament which the Roman Church declares is the true meaning of them there cannot be a clearer Demonstration in the World And indeed they are necessitated to stand to that Exposition for if they will have the words This is my Body to be understood literally much more must they assert the Phrases of èating his Flesh and drinking his Blood must be literal for if we can drive them to allow a figurative and spiritual meaning of these words it is a shameless thing for them to deny such a meaning of the words This is my Body they then expounding these words of St. Iohn of the Sacrament there cannot be imagined a closer Contexture than this which follows The eating Christ's Flesh and drinking his Blood is the receiving him in the Sacrament therefore every one that receives him in the Sacrament must have eternal Life Now all that is done in the Sacrament is either the external receiving the Elements Symbols or as they phrase it the Accidents of Bread and Wine and under these the Body of Christ or the internal and spiritual communicating by Faith If then Christ received in the Sacrament gives eternal Life it must be in one of these ways either as he is received externally or as he is received internally or both for there is not a fourth Therefore if it be not the one at all it must be the other only Now it is undeniable that it is not the external eating that gives eternal Life For St. Paul tells us of some that eat and drink unworthily that are guilty of the Body and Blood of the Lord and eat and drink Iudgment against themselves Therefore it is only the internal receiving of Christ by Faith that gives eternal Life from which another necessary Inference directs us also to conclude that since all that eat his Flesh and drink his Blood have eternal Life and since it is only by the internal communicating that we have eternal Life therefore these words of eating his Flesh and drinking his Blood can only be understood of internal communicating therefore they must be spiritually understood But all this while the Reader may be justly weary of so much Time and Pains spent to prove a thing which carries its own Evidence so with it that it seems one of the first Principles and Foundations of all Reasoning for no Proposition can appear to us to be true but we must also assent to every other Deduction that is drawn out of it by a certain Inference If then we can certainly know the true meaning of any place of Scripture we may and ought to draw all such Conclusions as follow it with a clear and just Consequence and if we clearly apprehend the Consequence of any Proposition we can no more doubt the Truth of the Consequence than of the Proposition from which it sprung For if I see the Air full of a clear Day-light I must certainly conclude the Sun is risen and I have the same assurance about the one that I have about the other There is more than enough said already for discovering the vanity and groundlesness of this Method of arguing But to set the thing beyond all dispute let us consider the use which we find our Saviour and the Apostles making of the Old Testament and see how far it favours us and condemns this Appeal to the formal and express words of Scriptures But before we advance further we must remove a Prejudice against any thing may be drawn from such Presidents these being Persons so filled with God and Divine Knowledg as appeared by their Miracles and other wonderful Gifts that gave so full an Authority to all they said and of their being Infallible both in their Expositions and Reasonings that we whose Understandings are darkened and disordered ought not to pretend to argue as they did But for clearing this it is to be observed that when any Person divinely assisted having sufficiently proved his Inspiration declares any thing in the Name of God we are bound to submit to it or if such a Person by the same Authority offers any Exposition of Scripture he is to be believed without farther dispute But when an inspired Person argues with any that does not acknowledg his Inspiration but is enquiring into it not being yet satisfied about it then he speaks no more as an inspired Person In which case the Argument offered is to be examined by the Force that is in it and not by the Authority of him that uses it For his Authority being the thing questioned if he offers an Argument from any thing already agreed to and if the Argument be not good it is so far from being the better by the Authority of him that useth it that it rather gives just ground to lessen or suspect his Authority that understands a Consequence so ill as to use a bad Argument to use it by This being premised When our Saviour was to prove against the Sadducees the Truth of the Resurrection from the Scriptures he cites out of the Law that God was the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob since then God is not the God of the Dead but of the Living Therefore Abraham Isaac and Jacob did live unto God From which he proved the Souls having a Being distinct from the Body and living after its Separation from the Body which was the principal Point in Controversy Now if these new Maxims be of any force so that we must only submit to the express words of Scripture without proving any thing by Consequence then certainly our Saviour performed nothing in that Argument For the Sadducees might have told him they appealed to the express words of Scripture But alas they understood not these new-found Arts but submitting to the evident force of that Consequence were put to silence and the Multitudes were astonished at his Doctrine Now it is unreasonable to imagine that the great Authority of our Saviour and his many Miracles made them silent for they coming to try him and to take advantage from every thing he said if it were possible to lessen his Esteem and Authority would never have acquiesced in any Argument because he used it if it had not Strength in it self for an ill Argument is an ill Argument use it whoso will For instance If I see a Man pretending that he sits in an Infallible Chair and proving what he delievers by the most impertinent Allegations of Scripture possible as if he attempt to prove the Pope must be the Head of all Powers Civil and Spiritual from the first words of Genesis where it being said In the Beginning and not in the Beginnings in the plural from which he concludes there must be but one Beginning and Head of all Power to wit the Pope I am so far from being put to silence with this that I am only astonished
Conversions had nothing like the first Conversion of the World to Christianity in them yet their Barbarity remained with them and the Church-men became so corrupt and vicious that they could not have a face to reprove them for those Vices of which themselves were scandalously guilty From the Sixth Century downward what a race of Men have the Popes been chiefly in the Ninth and Tenth Century And indeed any Religion that remained in the World had so retired into Cloysters and Monasteries that very little of it remained These Houses were Seminaries of some Devotion while they were poor and busied at work according to their first foundation but when they were well endowed and became rich they grew a scandal to all Christendom All the primitive Discipline was laid down Children were put into the highest Preferments of the Church and Simony over-run the Church These are matters of fact that cannot be so much as questioned nor should I if put to prove them seek Authorities for them any where else than in Baronius who for all his design to serve the Interest of that Church yet could not prevaricate so far as to conceal things that are so openly and uncontestedly true Now from the Darkness and Corruption of these Ages I presume to offer some things to the Readers consideration First Ignorance always inclines people to be very easie to trust those in whom they have confidence for being either unwilling to trouble themselves with painful and sollicitous enquiries or unable to make them they take things on trust without any care to search into them But this general Maxim must needs be much more certain when subjection to the Church and the belief of every thing established was made a very substantial part of Religion or rather that alone which might compense all other defects Secondly Ignorance naturally inclines people to Superstition to be soon wrought on and easily amused to be full of fears and easie to submit to any thing that may any way overcome these fears A right sense of God and Divine Matters makes one have such a taste of Religion that he is not at all subject to this distemper or rather Monster begotten by the unnatural commixture of some Fear of God and Love of Sin both being disordered by much ignorance hence sprang most of the Idolatrous Rites of Heathenism and all people so tempered are fit for the like humour to work upon Thirdly The Interests of Churchmen led them mightily to study the setting this Opinion on foot This alone set them as high as mortal Men could be and made them appear a most sacred sort of a Creature All the wonders of the Prophets and Apostles were but sorry matters to it What was Moses calling foâ— Manna from Heaven and Water fromm the Rock Elijah's bringing sometimes Fire and sometimes Rain from Heaven what â—â—re the Apostles raising the dead giving sight to the blind and feet to the lanie To the annihilating the substance of Bread and Wine and bringing in their stead not some other common matter but the Flesh and Blood of the Ever-Blessed Jesus He who could do this no wonder he were reverenced enriched secure from all danger exempt from all Civil Jurisdiction and cherished with all imaginable respect and kindness So that it is no strange thing that Churchmen were much inclined to favour an Opinion that favoured their Interests so much Fourthly The Churchmen of these Ages were very likely to be easily drawn to anything which might so much advance their designs that were grown very high especially from the days of Pope Gregory the Great They were struggling with the Civil Powers for dominion and pursued that for many years and spared neither labour nor the lives of Men to attain it And it is not to be thought but Men who did prodigally throw away many thousands in a quarrel would without very nice disputing cherish any opinion that might contribute toward that end And as this was of great use to them so they very much needed both it and all such like shifts for they had none of that sublime Sanctity nor high Learning or lofty Eloquence which former Churchmen had and by which they had acquired great esteem in the World Now the Churchmen in these days having a great mind to preserve or rather to encrease that esteem but wanting those qualities which on a reasonable account might have acquired it or preserved it must needs think of somewhat else to do it by and so found out many Arts for it such as the Belief of Purgatory the Priestly Absolution upon Confession together with the reserved Cases Indulgences and the Pope's Power of taking Souls out of Purgatory And if it be not full as unreasonable to think the Pope should be believed vested with a power of pardoning Sin and redeeming from Purgatory as that Transubstantiation should have been received let any Man judge Fifthly There was such a vast number of Agents and Emissaries sent from Rome to all the Parts of Europe to carry on their designs that we can hardly think it possible any thing could have withstood them In such Ages by giving some terrible name to any thing it was presently disgraced with the Vulgar a clear instance of this was the Fate of the Married Clergy Gregory the Seventh who as Cardinal Benno who knew him represents him was one of the worst Men that ever was born and first set on foot the Pope's Pretensions to the Civil Authority and the Power of deposing Princes and putting others in their places did prosecute the Married Clergy with great vehemency This he could not do on any pious or chaste account being so vile a Man as he was But being resolved to bring all Princes to depend on him there was no way so like to attain that as to have all the Clergy absolutely subject to him This could not be hoped for while they were married and that the Princes and several States of Europe had such a pawn of their fidelity as their Wives and Children therefore because the persons of the Clergy were accounted sacred and liable to no punishment that there might be nothing so nearly related to them wherein they might be punished as their Wives and Children he drave this furiously on and to give them some ill-favoured Name called them Nicolaitans which are represented in the Revelation so vile and odious This was the most unjust thing in the World They might have called them Pharisees or Sadducees as well for all the ancient Writers tell us that Nicolas having a beautiful Wife was jealous and the Apostles challenging him of it he said he was so far from it that he was willing to make her common and thence some set up the community of Wives and were from him called the Nicolaitans But because Women and Marriage were in the case and it was a hateful word this was the Name by which the married Clergy were every where made so odious and though it was much the
vanish into nothing when closely canvassed I have not dwelt so long on every step of the History I have vouched as was necessary designing to be as short as was possible and because these things have been at full length set down by others and particularly in that great and learned work of Albertin a French Minister concerning this Sacrament In which the Doctrines of the Primitive Church and the steps of the change that was made are so laid open that no man has yet so much as attempted the answering him and those matters of fact are so uncontestedly true that there can be little debate about them but what may be very soon cleared and I am ready to make all good to a tittle when any shall put me to it It being apparent then that the Church of Rome has usurped an undue and unjust authority over the other States and Nations of Christendom and has made use of this Dominion to introduce many great corruptions both in the Faith the Worship and Government of the Church nothing remains but to say a little to justify this Churches Reforming these abuses And First I suppose it will be granted that a National Church may judge a Doctrine to be Heretical when its opposition to the Scripture Reason and the Primitive Doctrine is apparent for in that case the Bishops and Pastors being to feed and instruct the Church they must do it according to their Consciences otherwise how can they discharge the Trust God and the Church commit to their charge And thus all the ancient Hereticks such as Samosatenus Arrius Pelagius and a great many more were first condemned in Provincial Councils Secondly if such Heresies be spread in places round about the Bishops of every Church ought to do what they can to get others concur with them in the condemning them but if they cannot prevail they ought nevertheless to purge themselves and their own Church for none can be bound to be damned for company The Pastors of every Church owe a Charity to their neighbour Churches but a Debt to their own which the Stubborness of others cannot excuse them from And so those Bishops in the Primitiue Church that were invironed with Arrians did reform their own Churches when they were placed in any Sees that had been corrupted by Arrianism Thirdly No time can give prescription against truth and therefore had any errour been ever so antiently received in any Church yet the Pastors of that Church finding it contrary to truth ought to reform it the more antient or inveterate any errour is it needs the more to be looked to So those Nations that were long bred up in Arrianism had good reason to reform from that erronr So the Church of Rome will acknowledge that the Greek Church or our Church ought to forsake their present Doctrines though they have been long received Fourthly No later Definitions of Councils or Fathers ought to derogate from the ancienter Decrees of Councils or opinions of the Fathers otherwise the Arrians had reason to have justified their submitting to the Councils of Sirmium Arimini and Millan and rejecting that of Nice therefore we ought in the first place to consider the Decrees and Opinions of the most Primitive Antiquity Fifthly No succession of Bishops how clear soever in its descent from the Apostles can secure a Church from errour Which the Church of Rome must acknowledge since they can neither deny the succession of the Greek Church nor of the Church of England Sixthly If any Church continues so hardned in their errours that they break Communion with another Church for reforming the guilt of this breach must lie at their door who are both in the Errour and first reject the other and refuse to reform or communicate with other Churches Upon every one of these particulars and they all set together compleat the Plea for the Church of England I am willing to joyn Issue and shew they are not only true in themselves but must be also acknowledged by the Principles of the Church of Rome So that if the grounds of Controversie on which our Reformation did proceed were good and justifiable it is most unreasonable to say our Church had not good right and authority to make it It can be made appear that for above two hundred years before the Reformation there were general complaints among all sorts of persons both the subtle School-men and devout Contemplatives both Ecclesiasticks and Laicks did complain of the corruptions of the Church and called aloud for a Reformation both of Faith and Manners even the Council of Pisa a little before Luther's days did Decree There should be a Reformation both of Faith and Manners and that both of the Head and Members But all these complaints turned to nothing abuses grew daily the interests of the Nephews and other corrupt intrigues of the Court of Rome was always obstructing good motions and cherishing ill Customs for they brought the more Grist to their Mill. When a Reformation was first called for in Germany instead of complying with so just a desire all that the Court of Rome thought on was how to suppress these complaints and destroy those who made them In end when great Commotions were like to follow by the vast multitudes of those who concurred in this desire of Reforming a Council was called after the Popes had frequently prejudged in the matter and Pope Leo had with great frankness condemned most of Luther's opinions From that Council no good could reasonably be expected for the Popes had already engaged so deep in the Quarrel that there was no retreating and they ordered the matter so that nothing could be done but what they had a mind to all the Bishops were at their Consecration their sworn vassals nothing could be brought into the Council without the Legates had proposed it And when any good motions were made by the Bishops of Spain or Germany they had so many poor Italian Bishops kept there on the Pope's charges that they were always masters of the vote for before they would hold a Session about any thing they had so canvassed it in the Congregations that nothing was so much as put to the hazard All these things appear even from Cardinal Pallavicini's History of that Council While this Council was sitting and some years before many of this Church were convinced of these corruptions and that they could not with a good Conscience joyn any longer in a worship so corrupted yet they were satisfied to know the truth themselves and to instruct others privately in it but formed no separated Church waiting for what issue God in his Providence might bring about But with what violence and cruelty their enemies who were generally those of the Clergy pursued them is well enough known Nor shall I repeat any thing of it lest it might be thought an invidious aggravating of things that are past But at length by the death of King Henry the eight the Government fell in the hands of