in the same Church and I pray then where will your Errours remain but in your own bosoms But see further the truth of this our Saviour parting out of this world tells his Apostles That he would be with them even to the end of the world so that we have two Persons of the Blessed Trinity promised to assist the Church of God for ever Matth. 28. v. 20. besides God the Fathers Divine aid and if this Church Erre with their guiding then there can be no truth at all for us to be guided by for this is as clear as the Sun that if the Church of God be guided by an Infallible Spirit it cannot Erre And the Church of God is guided by an Infallible Spirit therefore the Church of God cannot Erre And though I have made this good already yet I will make it more plainly appear from Christs own words where he exhorting Brethren to be reconciled one to another which if they will not do by reasonable perswasions they should tell the Church Matth. 18. v. 17. and if they will not hear the Church let them be as Heathens and Publicans by which it is plain that if the Church were not Infallible Just and free from Errour our Saviour would never have tyed us to her Judgement in our Faith and Manners under so sad a penalty as being a Heathen if we do not hear and submit to her and therefore it is very necessary for every one to submit to Gods Church which is infallibly true lest they be Heathens in the esteem of God and Man and consequently out-lawes to the Kingdom of Heaven Again see what our Saviour saith to this purpose in the same Gospel And I say unto thee Matth. 16. v. 18. that thou art Peter and upon this rock will I build my Church and the Gates of Hell shall never prevail against it now if the Church could be erroneous then you must deny this Gospel to be true for no Errours can be in the Church but by the prevailing power of the Devil which is meant by Hell-Gates and which our Saviour saith shall never prevail against it so by this we are certain the Church cannot Erre and we may confidently confide in her in all matters of our Salvation But for your further assurance if our Saviour be not enough I will show you what St. Paul saith concerning this truth where he confirms all that hath been said of it speaking to holy Timothy 1 Tim. 3. v. 15. But if I tarry long that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave they self in the house of God which is the Church of the living God the pillar and ground of the truth Now here I might stop and say no more for Saint Paul hath said enough for if it be the piller or support of truth and the ground from whence truth is derived is it not monstrous to think of Errour and I would fain know in what place Christians should ever be free from errour in their Faith if not in the Church of God and for to say that there is no way to be free from it would be very strange for then all men would grope in dark uncertainties which is quite contrary to the Qualities and Excellencies of Gods Church as was foretold by the Prophet Isaiah speaking of the Church of Christ Chap. 35. v. 8. And an high way shall be there and it shall be called the way of holiness and fools shall not erre therein now if there be no possibility for fools to erre in it certainly wise men cannot But this is no small subtilty of our Adversaries to hold this opinion well knowing that their Church hath been and is full of errours and that the gates of Hell hath prevailed against it hath manifestly appeared and doth now appear when all that they can do cannot allay the furious spirits of one Kingdom nor reduce them to any Obedience to their Church so that if they did not hold this Opinion as an Article of their Church all the world would see theirs was not the Church of God because it hath errours by which they are forced to maintain it as well as they can though it be against both Scripture and Reason too Now that this Church of God is onely the Roman Catholick is plainly shown already by her conformity to and practice of Gods holy word in all her points of Faith which she teacheth Christians to believe and therefore all her enemies wrong her and themselves too in saying the contrary for wheres they cry out the Roman Church was once the true Church of God but she is fallen from it now as they never could prove the time when nor the occasion how so is it impossible it ever should because as I have already shown Gods Holy Spirit guides and directs it that the Gates of Hell can never prevail to overthrow it nor bring it to errour And now having sufficiently proved the Infallibility of Gods Church I cannot but advise every one that hath any care of their eternal welfare to imbrace and believe what she preacheth concerning the same and so conclude with that of St. Augustine Many things saith he with much reason kept me in obedience to the Catholick Church the consent of people and Nations holds me the Authority of the same Church which is risen up by Miracle nourished with Hope augmented by Charity established by its Antiquity the succession of Bishops holds me therein whâ—ch beginning in the See and Authority of Saint Peter to whom God recommended the care of his Flock is maintained to this present time lastly the name of Catholick holds me in it and addeth he would not believe the Gospel it self if he were not assured of it by the Catholick Church Chap. 12. Proving the Doctrine of Remission of Sins as commanded by Christ and practised by his Apostles contrary to the Opinion of Protestants WEre not the mindes of many men corrupted with imperious principles they could not be so evil as to question yea deny the gifts both of Grace and Nature that God hath given both to Angels and Men when we have much reason to adore and praise him that he hath so much esteem of any of our Nature as to bestow such prerogatives upon them amongst which this is not the least that I am to treat of concerning remission of Sins by a Priest which though there be a grand mistake in this Point amongst Protestants and we are abused in it yet I shall by Gods assistance and by his holy word clear the mistake which may easily remedy the abuse for in all Mysteries of Christian Religion we are to consult with Gods word which if rightly understood cannot deceive us and not with our own shallow understandings which easily may neither are we to be led away with aiery fancies of our own nor with a giddy multitude nor ought the slanderous tongues of men to be trusted in but if you finde it plainly declared
Gods Church that they have not yet left their Cradles that is they are rocked up and down by their new opinions and so far from being settled that it is to be feared they never will for what wise man can be so much an enemy to truth as to think Gods Church was not spread in the world before Henry the Eighths time or Martin Luthers or John Calvins The rise of all Sectaries who were the first bringers in of all Religions but the Roman as every one knows which hath read any thing and for such men who were known to be leud and evil livers to pretend new lights and discoveries from God for the alteration of Christian Religion who seeth not but that it was preposterous as it hath proved for I would demand why did our Blessed Saviour preach Christian Religion and send his Apostles and Disciples to preach the same to all Nations in the world that they might plant true points of Faith and they did do it and watered it with their Blood was this done for nothing that when these pretended Reformers came they must make the world believe that God would undo all again what had been practised so long in all Christendome to have new Religions of their making set up sure these men thought that either God knew not what he did when he planted the first or that all people but themselves were very simple to receive a second Faith from them of their own inventing as plainly appeared soon after and doth still for no sooner were they severally grown to any authority with silly people but they began to rail and revile one against the other just as we see their succeeding followers do to this day which indeed is proper to all Sectaries and Hereticks to do which shewed then and now of what far distance their doctrine was from pleasing God who is the God of peace and hareth contention as also far from being of his Church since there is no such custome as Saint Paul saith and yet we see by wofull experience in this Kingdome how these Sects which are the spawn of Heresie still grow more and more amongst us and in their increasing are still more monstrous then at first in their opinions against God and Christian Religion and yet they say as the first of them did that God hath sent them to convert and purge the world and bring in new Relgions and so all Hereticks that come after this Age will say the like and so it seems by them that God will never settle any but have every Age a new Religion And thus we may see what a tempestuous sea Heresie is which tumbles them up and down that follow it and never are at rest here till they imbarque themselves in the secure Ship of the Catholick Church where God himself is the Pilot from whence those unhappy souls that went out and were the cause of these prodigious storms have suffered shipwrack on the quick-sands of their own giddy fancies Again let us observe further how monstrous these Heresies and Factions are and how destructive both to mens souls and to Monarchy in the Civill Government of our Bodies First we may easily perceive what ruine it hath brought to many souls Their bad practices and proceedings when they are taught to deny all these Principles of Faith proved in this Book by the word of God and other high points by some of them as the Godhead of Christ and the Holy Ghost is denyed by Antebaptists and Quakers and too many others and Baptisme of Infants and amongst them altogether is practised such a furious contempt of Gods word and all the Sacraments and Divine Mysteries of Christian Religion as never was yet known or heard of in the Christian world before so that some people are even distracted and know not where to go for to finde rest for their souls because so many Sects pretend for the truth and are all false because as Saint Paul saith there is but one Faith one God and one Baptisme and the Catholick Church is the onely Haven for all those troubled spirits that seek for truth to finde repose in And how destructive they are to Civill Government I need not quote any Authour to prove it since our King and Kingdome at home as well as others abroad have felt the hellish hands of Heresie and faction in such sort that Rebelling against our deceased lawful Sovereign they did not onely spill his Royal Blood but thousands of his Subjects and this under the appearance of Religion too as well as any but they that see not these to be snares and pits of the Devil deserve to fall into them since none but those that are wilfully blinde can be caught in such visible ginns And now as I have briefly shown you the rough and stormy Seas of Heresie and Factions so I will open the gate to let you see the smooth and pleasantest Waters of Gods Church which runs through every vein of the world peaceably without noise or disturbance agreeable to his Word wo said My peace I leave with you and that you love one another as I have loved you which words of our Saviour is no where observed as I have shown by the malice and contentions that is amongst Hereticks but in the Catholick Church The Churches Antiquity and rise which hath had this peace which Christ left ever since he left it and as it began then in his time and the Apostles to be a famous Church throughout the world so hath it continued in the same splendor and purity to this day as is plainly seen first by her being so conformable in her Doctrine she now teacheth to the true and infallible word of God as I have proved Secondly in her continuance of her lawful Line of Pastours Thirdly in her Apostolical care for the Conversion of Nations that know not God which otherwise might perish Fourthly The Churches practice by her Miracles famed throughout the world as our Saviour said who ever did believe truly in him should have power to cast out Devils Mark 16. v. 17 18. and take up Serpents and drink poison and not hurt them so his Church which hath onely truly believed in him hath onely had many Members that hath truly done those Miracles as many Protestants themselves confess Again if we consider the different order that is in both Churches it may justly amaze all reasonable men the Priests of the Catholick Church never marry nor enjoy any great Estates that so they may be freely divested from the worlds interests as the Apostles were to attend wholly to perform their charge in Gods Church and the conversion of souls on the contrary the Ministers of all other Churches do generally marry and enjoy very great Possessions and Riches by which they are so incumbred with the world as very few are more as we daily see by their continual Suits of Law and griping cares to advance themselves from one
ravening Wolves But again our Saviour saith in Saint Marks Gospel Mark 10. v. 29 30. There is no man that hath left house or lands or Wife and Children for my sake and the Gospels but he shall receive an hundred fold here and in the world to come eternal life Thus in many places is this truth made so clear to us by Christ himself that I hope none will be so much an Infidel as to practice the contrary But further to show you this truth observe this notable place concerning this point where our Saviour speaking concerning the general day of Judgement declares for what causes some are saved and some damned for to the just he saith Mat. 25. v. 34. Come ye blessed of my Father inherit the Kingdom prepared for you and then in the next verse he tells them for what causes they are made eternally happy Ver. 35. For I was a hungry and you gave me meat I was thirsty and you gave me drink naked and you clothed me c. And the reasons why them on his left hand received the sentence of hell fire was because they did not do these good works which the other had done Ver. 41 42. and so as the just by good deeds had obtained heaven so the wicked by their evil ones had obtained hell Now I verily think that if a Heathen or Jew should read this Book they would say it was rather made for instructing them in the Faith of Christ then for those that profess themselves Christians and to believe the Bible and yet to deny all this thus proved by the Bible Now having proved this by the words of Christ we will see what Saint Paul his Apostle saith who I will warrant you is of the same minde as you shall see by his words to the Corinthians 1 Cor. 3. Now he that planteth and he that watereth are one and every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labour by which words it is plain that every man shall receive his reward according as he hath himself deserved And in the second to Timothy he saith I have fought the good fight I have kept the faith Chap. 4. v. 7.8 henceforth is laid up for me a crown of righteousness which God the righteous judge will give me at that day and to all that love his appearing Now here we see that Saint Paul knew his reward for those good works and declares that all that loves Gods appearing shall be rewarded at the last day And more in his Epistle to the Hebrews Heb. 6. v. 10. he speaks to the purpose in this point That God is not unrighteous to forget you work and labour of love which ye have shewed towards his name in that ye have ministred to the Saints Now you may perceive St. Pauls Opinion which was that it would seem unjust in God if he should not reward our good works but as certain it is that God cannot be unjust so is it as certain that he will reward our good deeds done in communion with his Church which if our works did not deserve or merit we should receive no reward at all but on the contrary receive an eternal punishment Again Saint John Evangelist saith in the Revelation Rev. 3. v. 4. To him that shall overcome shall thus be invested in white Garments and I will not put his name out of the Book of Life and I will confess his name before my Father and before his Angels And again Ver. 12. He that shall overcome I will make him a pillar in the Temple of my God and he shall go out no more And in another place he saith Ver. 21. To him that shall overcome will I grant to sit with me in my Throne I might and could produce many more places out of holy Scripture to this purpose but they that will not believe these will not care for ten thousand proofs made against their perverse principles but I will onely advise those that have any care of their salvation to consider first what Gods word which is truth it self declares to them And secondly what the practise of our Church is in this and other points of Religion and how agreeable to the same word as is clearly shown for in reason onely is this apparent to all Christians that if God as he doth inspire us to do all our good works then must needs those works be meritorious because God inspired them to be done and hath promised to reward the doing of them according to that of Saint John Be thou faithful unto death and I will give thee a crown of life Rev. 22. v. 12. And behold I come quickly and my reward is with me to give every man according to his work Chap. 11. Proving that Gods Church cannot Erre in her Doctrine of Religion and so may be trusted in by every Christian contrary to Protestants opinion DID the Adversaries of Gods Church but consider with themselves what authority and courage and order it hath exercised for this sixteen hundred years they would surely conclude that no government but that of Gods holy Spirit could ever perform the like for by its authority it hath alwayes supprest and beaten down Heresies and by her courage overcome all the torments and sufferings her enemies could invent to lay upon her and by her Order hath ever retained in her Members one uniform Faith and Obedience in all places where her Doctrine hath been spread which if it be granted or can be proved that Gods Holy Spirit is at all times with his Church to direct her in her Doctrine I hope none will deny but that then she is infallible and so cannot possibly be capable of Errour and that it is so shall be made manifestly to appear if you will believe Christ himself who cannot deceive us where in Saint Johns Gospel telling his Disciples that he must go to his heavenly Father to prepare them places at length he gives them and his whole Church this Consolation And I will pray the Father and he shall give you another comforter that he may abide with you for ever John 14. v. 16. Now we all know that the Apostles were not to remain for ever upon earth for they are dead and gone so that this promise of Christ was to them and his Church after them which is to remain to the end of the world and in the next verse he tells them who this comforter shall be Even the Spirit of truth whom the world cannot receive Now I would fain know how Gods Church can Erre in what she declares to us of Faith Ver. 17. when Gods Holy Spirit is with it And again But the Comforter Ver. 26. which is the Holy Ghost whom the Father will send in my Name he shall teach you all things Now we may be sure that since the Holy Ghost is to teach the Church all things there can be nothing but Truth taught
in Scripture then are we bound to believe it for this is a general crime in this Age that men think nothing can be true if their narrow capacities cannot comprehend it as if all the mysteries of our Faith were so open for every ones understanding to enter the knowledge of them which if they were so then there were no need of Faith because Faith is onely required in those things our natures cannot comprehend and so might every Turk and Pagan be as good a Believer as a Christian therefore for the redress of this evil we are to understand whether Christ gave this power to his Apostles or no for if they had the power to pardon sins as being the Heads of his Church the same power must remain to their Successours in that Church because otherwise all succeeding Ages would receive no benefit by that gift which our Saviour gave for the good of us all that lay hold of it And to prove that they had this power is plain and easie enough first from Saint Matthews Gospel where our Saviour telling Saint Peter he would build his Church on him he saith Mat. 16. v. 18 19. And I will give thee the Keyes of the Kingdom of Heaven and whatsoever thou shalt binde on earth shall be bound in Heaven and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven by which it is clear that he had a great power given him to pardon or not to pardon and that those which he did not pardon on earth should not be pardoned in heaven which is the same in Gods Church to this day and therefore let every one consider what reason they have to be members of it by which consists our eternal salvation Again our Saviour tells his Disciples in general saying Whatsoever ye shall binde on earth shall be bound in heaven Mat. 18. v. 18. and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven by which it is plain that they had this power of remission of sins and to deny the same power to their Successours in Gods Church would in my esteem be very unreasonable And as in all other points of Faith the contempt of them proceeds from a want of a right understanding of them as I have shown elsewhere so is it the same in this for it is buzzed in poor peoples ears Can man pardon sins or can Priests forgive us or the Pope absolve us without any consideration of the nature of it at all for if we rightly understood our selves or did but consult with reason we should soon be undeceived in this mystery For in the first place know that it is the gift of Christ himself and therefore not to be questioned by any man Secondly Priests cannot pardon sins by any natural power they have more then other men but by a supernatural grace from God we know and confess that it appertains to God onely by nature to pardon sins and so doth many other things as working of Miracles and casting out of Devils and healing the sick and the like which power we know God hath given unto men as well as the other proved by Christ himself where he speaking of all that truly believed in him saith he These signes shall follow Mark 16. v. 17 18. in my name shall they cast out Devils they shall speak with new tongues they shall take up Serpents and if they drink any deadly thing it shall not hurt them they shall lay hands on the sick and they shall recover now it is certain all these excellencies appertains to God by nature but if he is pleased to give this power to men what reason have we to question or be offended with it which power is equal to that of remission of sins and we see are both given to men by God Thirdly we are to consider that Priests do not pardon our sinnes immediately from themselves but Ministerially as when they apply the words of Absolution on us God hath promised to pardon us otherwayes he will not John 20. v. 23. as Christ saith Whose sins ye remit they are remitted and whose sins ye retain they are retained so that you see this is plainly true if you dare believe Christ himself Now that this may not seem strange to you do but consider that great vertue that is in Baptisme where by the application of water and a few words by the Priest or Minister the childe is pardoned of all its original sin now it is not the Minister nor Water nor words that pardons the Childe but God himself who is pleased by them and that means to do it and yet it is so far from dishonouring God that he is honoured by it because it is his holy will it should be so and this all Protestants believe which is as great a gift of God to mankinde as is the other and by all people thus plainly understood will not appear so strange and monstrous as they are made believe it is now we may plainly see how far those kinde of men are from being in Gods Church that do not onely not practise this truth but rail against and contemn it though it be published by our Blessed Saviour himself for the good of the whole world Again consider if God had not ordained this in his Church how should we know that our sins are pardoned by God at all or when they are so pardoned but that he hath promised when they do it on earth he will do it in heaven and this is our onely assurance and as it were a mark by which we know our sins are pardoned that we may thank his Divine Name for it which otherwise we should be very uncertain when to do I shall conclude this Chapter with that wholesome Counsel of St. Augustine who desireth That none make doubt of the Priests right in Remission of Sins Aug. No. Test q. 53 seeing the Holy Ghost is purposely given them to do the same in which case if any be yet contentious he must deny the Holy Ghost to be God and not to have power to pardon sins And onely adde that of St. Ambrose who saith St. Amb. lib. 1. c 7. de peuitent Why should it be more dishonour to God or more impossible or inconvenient for men to forgive sins by Pennance then by Baptisme seeing that it is the Holy Ghost that doth it by the Priests Office and Ministery in both Chap. 13. Proving the Churches Vniversality and that no Church is or can be Catholick but the Roman against the Opinion of Protestants OF all the great actions that God hath openly done for mankinde there is none that he hath declared more apparently then that his Church should be spread in all parts and corners of the whole world to the intent that all Nations hearing the sound of the Gospel there could be none that might plead any ignorance in the not hearing of it Now as this shall be proved by the words of Christ himself
so I will first show it you by the Infallible Prophesies of the Prophets of God Isa 2. v. 2. and first of Isaiah And it shall come to pass in the last dayes that the Mountain of the Lords house shall be established in the top of the Mountains Christs Church and shall be exalted above the hills and all Nations shall flow unto it so here is one true testimony that the Catholick Church shall be spread in all parts and all Nations shall partake of her holy Doctrine and not to lye hid in a corner as in one Kingdome or City or Congregation or this mans Church or that mans Church as all Sectaries do by which I shall plainly prove they cannot be any thing like Gods Church And again the same Prophet saith speaking of the many benefits that we shall enjoy under Christs Church That the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord Chap. 11 v. 9 10. as the waters cover the Sea Now as we know they are spread in all parts of the world so is the knowledge of Gods truth spread by his Church in the same manner which quality agreeth to no other Church but the Roman Catholick The same Prophet declares further Chap. 49. v. 22 23. That Kings shall be thy nursing Fathers and Queens thy nursing Mothers and to show the great reverence they should bear to this Church of God saith he They shall bow down to thee with their faces toward the earth and lick up the dust of thy feet Now I would demand what Church or Sect in the Christian world that hath Kings and Queens for their nursing Fathers and Mothers but the Roman Catholick and so by consequence cannot be the Church of God but are as wandering sheep having no true shepherd and so are daily exposed to the rage and fury of that ravening wolf John 10. v. 12. the Devil Again the same Prophet speaking how largely Gods Church should be stretched forth under the Gospel Isa 54. v. 2 3. saith Enlarge the place of thy Tent let them stretch forth the curtains of thine habitation spare not lengthen thy Cords and strengthen thy stakes for thou shalt break forth on the right hand and on the left and thy seed shall inherit the Gentiles and make the desolate Cities to be inhabited Now let the understanding Reader judge where this Prophesie is fulfilled in Protestants and Sectaties or in the Roman Church which is thus stretched out and hath her Members in the West-Indies and East-Indies in China in Tartary in Egypt in Assyria in Africa and Asia in Turky and all parts of Europe as the Empire of Germany the Kingdoms of Spain France Poland England Dominions of Italy and every Land in Christendom is either all or a considerable part of this Church which none in the world can say besides and so are very far off from fulfilling this Prophesie And in another place he saith Chap. 66. v. 18. And it shall come to pass that I will gather all Nations and Tongues and they shall come and see my glory Thus hath this holy Prophet by Gods inspiration foretold clearly the Universal or Catholick State of the Church of God in the time of the Gospel and Jeremiah the Prophet hath not been silent in Prophesying the fame for saith he Jer. 31. v 37. If heaven above can be measured and the foundation of the earth searched out beneath then will I cast off the seed of Israel and the measuring line shall go forth from Gareb to compass about Goath all which do declare the large extent of Christs Church And for confirmation of these Prophesies and what else hath been said I shall produce now the words of our Blessed Saviour himself who telling his Disciples of all the troubles they were to suffer for his name before Kings and Judges Ma k 13. v. 10. but saith he The Gospel must first be published among all Nations which plainly shows that Gods Church must be Catholick or Universal and I would fain learn from our Adversaries what Church hath taken the pains to publish the Gospel to all Nations and so fulfil these Prophesies but the Pastors of the Church of Rome for this may be urged to the shame of all Sects that if none took more pains in converting of Heathens Jews and Infidels then they do many millions of souls might perish for want of the knowledge of the living God but they instead of labouring to convert forreign Nations and so make the Church Universal lie at home in a corner of the world jangling one with another and sleeping on beds of Doun in Ladies bosoms and yet by all means theirs is the true Church and they the onely Pastors sent to convert the world and yet never intend to go about any such matter It is a wonderful thing to consider that men that read the Bible and all these Prophesies can be so ignorant to think that Gods Church should be pinn'd up in so narrow limits as any one Sect or Congregation did Christ himself preach for that and command his Apostles to publish the Gospel to all Nations who did so and lost their lives in that work was all this done I say to have his Church thrust up in a corner and to be no where else how then shall all Nations come to know God how shall they be Baptized in the Name of the Father Son and Holy Ghost how shall they partake of any Sacraments how shall the Church hear their differences Mat. 18. v. 17. and decide them as our Saviour saith it shall how I say shall all this be done if it were so straitned but since she is a Catholick Church she is every where and so all persons inspired by God in all places may receive if they will the foresaid benefits which otherwise can never be done And thus is plainly shown you that there is an Universal Church and that it is the Roman Catholick is as plain in its agreement with Gods Word according to Saint Paul who highly commends the same Faith Rom. 1. v. 7 8. in these words To all that be in Rome beloved of God called to be Saints grace to you and peace from God our Father and from our Lord Jesus Christ First I thank my God for you all that your Faith is spoken of throughout the whole world from which words we may gather that if the Faith of the Romans was so inlarged in the world sixteen hundred years ago that now it is much more for then Gods Church was but in her Infancy and now she is in her flourishing State she was then under most cruel persecutions by Tyrants and now praised be God she is at rest with her friends so that now we may clearly see that all those that are shut up in such narrow Corners are meerly Sects and Heresies and are clean shut out from the bosom of the Spouse of Christ which is his Holy Catholick Church
now and yet might as well have pretended the spirit as they since we see he was so well given as to go so far from his own Countrey to worship God in Jerusalem and to read the Bible in his going home In like manner our Saviour meeting with two of his Disciples going to Emaus Luke 24. v. 27 45. after his Resurrection it is said he expounded to them all the Scriptures and when they were altogether he appeared to them and opened their understandings that they might know the Scriptures from whence we may justly gather that if his Disciples and Apostles which were so conversant with Christ in his life-time were so ignorant of Scripture as not to know the meaning of the Prophets which foretold his Resurrection the third day and other Mysteries of his Death and sufferings what ignorance then have we or at least we ought to think so that never had those large means that the Apostles had but such is the miserable state of these unhappy times that many think themselves more wise and more holy then the Apostles were or then the whole Church of God is now and I think in time they will like Lucifer suppose themselves equal to God himself Thus having sufficiently proved the difficulty of understanding the Scripture with the danger of expounding it to our own private sense together with what course to follow in knowing the true meaning which is by adhering to Gods holy Church I will conclude with that saying of Saint Augustine Augustin l. 1. cont Crescon Then do we hold saith he the verity of the Scriptures when we do that which now seemeth good to the Universal Church which the authority of Scripture themselves do commend so that forasmuch as the holy Scripture cannot deceive whosoever then is afraid to be deceived with the obscurity of questions let him therein ask counsel of the same Church which the holy Scripture most certainly and evidently pointeth and sheweth unto us Chap. 16. Proving the necessity of the Churches Divine Servince to be said in the Latine Tongue or in one Language in all places of the world where it is exercised contrary to Protestants Opinion DId all Christians follows the counsel of our Blessed Saviour in his commanding us to submit and adhere to Gods Church there would not be such quarrellings in our mindes nor bad speeches from our mouths against her holy Institutions which though sometimes have not an apparent rise from Scripture yet are ordained in the Church by the instinct of the Holy Ghost who as I said is alwayes with her to direct her in all her proposals to us concerning our Salvation and as we may reasonably think that as God hath committed to her charge the dispensation of the holy Sacraments to us and other high qualities so he hath invested her with power to Ordain Constitute and Decree any thing that may be to the good and benefit of the same Church which Decrees and Constitutions we are bound to observe and without any difficulty in Conscience may so long as it is not against Gods word but rather agreeable to the same amongst which things that are thus constituted by the Church this of the Latine Service is one which I shall prove to be somewhat agreeable to Scripture and altogether to Reason and the practice of the Church of God in all Ages First we will observe something pertinent to this in Saint Lukes Gospel wheere he declares Luke 1. v. 10. that when Zacharias the Priest was offering and praying to God in the Temple for himself and all the people that the whole multitude of the people were praying without at the time of his offering Incense by which it appears that they knew not what he said nor understood any thing of it which is now the main objection against us in this point by our Adversaries but to satisfie these people we are to take notice that the publick or common Service of Gods Church being compos'd of Sucrifice Prayers and Thanksgivings is therefore chiefly designed for the honour and glory of God as being every day offered up to him by the Priests and not for the edification of the people so much by understanding it as by the benefit they receive and partake of being present at it for when the Priest saith the service of the Church he offers it to God for himself 1 Cor. 14 v. 2. Heb 5. v. 1.2 3. for the people present for the whole Church or for any other necessities of people that are absent so that it matters not whether they understand him or no since they have as much benefit of his Prayers as if they did for if they heard him not speak a word it were the same thing so long as God both hears him and understands him to whom it is offered and designed for in Sacrifice Prayer and Thanksgiving the Priests spak to God and not to the people for example when any man lies sick or in distress at home he sends to the Church to be prayed for by the Minister and Congregation now shall we think because he hears nor understands not those which pray for him that he hath no benefit by their prayers this were absurd to think for then we should be never the better for our Saviours Intercession to his heavenly Father for us whom we understand not nor know when nor for what he intercedes to him and yet we all receive much good by it and so we do in the Priestâ— saying the Divine Service who representeth the place of our Saviour on earth to mediate for us and we are assured that the effectual servent prayers of a righteous man prevaileth much James 5. v. 16. whether we hear and understand them or no but yet to discover the folly of those that impugne this practise they may please to take notice that the Latine tongue is not so much unknown or understood as it is thought it is for if there was any need to understand the Service as I have proved there is not there be many thousands of our Church and others that understand the Latine Tongue and those people that do not are so well instructed by the Church that with the instruction and the custom of hearing Mass they know when to kneel and when to stand when to pray and when to give thanks when to do reverence and when not besides most of the Service they have in their English Books and may know any part of the rest when they will if there were any need as there is none so that it is not said in Latine because the common people should not understand it as Hereticks falsly report but for a great necessity and convenience in the Church as I shall suddenly prove but first it is observable that though the common people in England read th Bible in English yet they understand not half of it nor which is worse are never made to understand it yet Protestants will say they must
ends of the Mercy-seat And again God saith to him That there he would meet and commune with him now these Cherubims were the Images of the highest Order of Angels and sure they think God knew not what he did in commanding these Images if he had forbid them before And further to shew you that absurdity observe that God likewise commanded Moses to make the Image of a Brazen Serpent and set it up upon a pole that those which were stung with Serpents as many were should look up to that image and be cured And Moses made a Serpent of Brass Num. 21. v. 8 9. and set it upon a pole and if a Serpent had bitten any man he looked upon the Serpent of Brass and lived now one would think that this should be Idolatry so to look up to this Image and be presently cured or cause them another time to do so that were so prone to it as the Jews were but that they are we know it was God and not the Image that cured them But now I would fain know from our Adversaries who was the first commander of Images to be made and set up I hope they will say now that God was for if they do not they must belye Gods word which must be truth and their own Consciences which may be false It is enough to amaze a serious man when he considers the grand cheat that is put upon thousands of poor souls and the continual thundring out of Pulpits against Images Oh these Idolatrous Images when God knows they adore an Idol which is their giddy fancy by offering up their will memory and understanding on its prophane Altar for observe that if God had forbid Images why do they picture Deaths Image in their Churches and Queen Elizabeth's lying in her Tomb and the Marble Statues and Tombs of Kings and other persons with Flags Streamers and Images of some Benefactors and the like let every Christian judge were these better then Christ or his blessed Mother or the Apostles or were they better Benefactors to the Church then Christ hath been and his Discriples for if it be no sin nor Idolatry to set up those in Churches sure it is none to set up Christs and his Saints Images But perhaps you will say we do not adore them as Gods nor pray to them nor trust in them and I do assure you that I will say nor Catholicks neither but do denounce a curse against them that do adore or pray or trust in them as Gods for can any but senseless creatures think that we which adore God in spirit and in truth and confess him to be three distinct Persons and one God can be so sottish as to think that an Image or Picture can either hear speak or see much less to be trusted in as a God Again If Images were forbid why do Protestants nay the Ministers themselves desire to have their own Pictures and Wives and Childrens which are onely for Vanity and not for Devotion at all as Christs and his Saints Images are as I shall show hereafter and besides there is no Protestant of the Profession of Carving and Painting but will make an Image of Christ and his Apostles or any else for money and do daily sell them as we all know which if it were Idolatry then were you guilty for making selling and keeping them too which is as foolish to think as the other And now having sufficiently proved the lawfulness of them I will now show what good use we have and may have by them as for example I would fain know why an ignorant person or any other may not receive knowledge and instruction by seeing our Saviours bitter passion painted and plainly set forth as to read it Printed upon Paper for in that way we receive our knowledge by the eye and so do we by the Pictures and I am sure it is more dolorous and piercing to see the perfect manner of his sufferings Painted then to read them Printed though both be very good besides many times when our mindes are wandering after worldly business yea in our prayers too often then if we reflect our eyes upon those heavenly Figures as our Saviour and his Saints it reduces our strayed thoughts to God and heaven and to what our Blessed Saviour hath suffered for us and so they are books to those that cannot read and great helps to Devotion to them that can and I am very certain that if the greatest enemies of them in the world did use and practice them the same manner as Catholicks do it would as justly it might convert their hatred to a perfect love of them and be much ashamed that they have so long slandered Gods Church and deprived themselves of so great a good by believing such abominable untruths wherewith she hath been falsly charged withal and therefore that I may totally root out of mens mindes those common aspersions cast upon her I shall adde a little to declare how and in what manner they are to be used according to that of the Councel Coun. Trent We command all Bishops and others who have the Office and care of Teaching that they diligently instruct faithful people teaching them that the Images of Christ of the Virgin Mary Mother of God and of other Saints are to be had and retained especially in Churches and that due reverence be given unto them not that there is any Divinity to be believed to be in them or power for which they are to be worshipped or that any thing is to be asked of them or that confidence is to be put in them as anciently the Gentiles did in their Idols but because the honour which is done to them is referred to those who they represent Now by this alone you may see what this supposed Mountain of Image Worship is come to which is so untruly thundered out in Pulpits against us so that when we pray before an Image we do not pray to the Image nor when we look with reverence upon them we do not adore them but as I said before in the other Chapter what respect is done to the Kings Chair of State or Chamber of Presence or Picture is referred to him and his Honour so is it the self same to christs and his Saints Images and as no man would take him for the Kings friend but his enemy that should contemn break or burn his Picture or his Mothers or his Favourites so justly may we think them to be Christs enemies that have done all that to his and his holy Mothers and Saints with as great scorn and contempt as might be and all under the pretended zeal for the word of God by which they have deceived many thousands of poor souls but now having as I hope sufficiently proved the verity of our practice herein and the impostures of those that profess the contrary I leave it to every reasonable man to judge whether it be lawful or no and so conclude with the
and so consequently are in a very dangerous state as to the salvation of their souls Our Saviour doth further demonstrate this extent of his Church by the similitude of a grain of Mustard-seed Mark 4. v. 31 32. which being at first very small it groweth to a great tree so that the fowls of the aire makes their nests therein even so the Church was at first very small but now it is so spread over the face of the earth that all men may make their nests that is come into her Communion and be secure of their salvation living according to her holy commands which you see are agreeable to the Divine Word of God Again Christ saith speaking of the visibility of his Church in the world A City set upon a hill cannot be hid Mat. 5. v. 14 15. neither do men light a Candle and put it under a Bushel but on a Candlestick and it giveth light to all in the house Now this light that Gods Church was to give by this here spoken by our Saviour is not at all seen to forreign parts by any Church but the Roman Catholick who hath the light of her Doctrine as far extended as the Sun hath his beams when all others being but in Corners at home can give no light at all to any which clearly shows none of them can be Gods Church but of the Synagogue of Satan for they have none of the marks of the true Church so plainly set down in Scripture as to be Catholick or Universal and to be visible in all Ages to be at union and peace one with another to convert Nations and several others which they have none for instead of universality and being spread all over the world many of them will not make ten Parishes in ten Kingdoms and the best of them scarce a whole Kingdom in the whole world and instead of being visible to all ages the names of Protestants Presbyterians Independents Anabaptists and the rest were never heard of a hundred and sixty years past and as for their union in Faith which Christ left his Church as a mark I leave to all people to judge how much that belongs to any of them that have seen and known these twenty years confusion about Religion for Saint Paul saith of the Church of God If any man be contentious we have no such custome And for their converting of Nations I am sure they will not boast of that themselves since they never did any By all this it is plain that as the Roman Church hath all these properties so she must be and is this onely true Catholick and Apostolick or none at all and from her must we receive our Faith according to that of our Creed I believe in the Holy Ghost the Holy Catholick Church so that they that deny the Church to be Catholick or the Catholick Church do plainly deny their own Bibles and the Apostles Creed which are the Articles of our Faith But having said enough on this subject for all reasonable people I will conclude with that saying of St. Augustine Augustin tract 1. in Ep. Joan For albeit particular hills in one Countrey may be unknown in another yet saith he a Mountain that passeth throughout all Countreyes and filleth up the whole world as Daniel Prophefied the Church of Christ should do cannot but be apparent to the sight of all men Dan. 2. v. 44 45. but onely of such as illingly shut their eyes from the sight thereof Chap. 14. Proving that Fasting on certain Dayes commanded by Gods Church to be lawful and good contrary to the Opinion of Protestants HAd Almighty God when he created man a reasonable creature to do his will and to live in sobriety and temperance made him an Epicure and designed him for no other purpose he could not have lived either in more contempt or less practice of this Divine Vertue then the people of our Age do who indeed look upon all the rare Examples and holy Institutions of our Blessed Saviour as things indifferent and of no concern at all to them nay are so far from the practice of them themselves that they deride and scorn those that do as if it were a crime to be vertuous or to follow the examples and commands of our Saviour who in many places of his holy word hath exhorted us to the good work of Fasting as very necessary to subdue our sensual appetites and to obtain heaven This will evidently appear if you confult with Holy Writ where we shall first see our Saviours great example in fasting forty dayes and forty nights Mat. 4. v. 2 and I would gladly know wherefore he did so if not for our example of a good life for he never committed sin and therefore did not require to do any such thing for punishment and I think no man will say he did it for pleasure by which it is plain that he fasted for our example but the common objection is can you fast as Christ did if not to what purpose is yours done he fasted forty dayes can you do so and thus people would fain slip their necks out of the nooze for I would ask them wherefore was Christ humble and meek why did he pray and watch and weep why was he patient and courteous to all but onely for our example that we should imitate him and shall we not strive to do any of these vertues but slight them all because we cannot do them with that perfection as Christ did them is not this meer madness to think but let such people know that as it is impossible for the best of us to do them with exactness as he did so God doth not require it from us but to the utmost of our powers we are bound to practise them and so we are this Christian act of fasting the force and power of which Mat. 17. v. 21. as our Saviour saith Casteth out some sorts of Devils which being so we may very well think that God cannot but be pleased with the doing of it and we may justly imagine that the Apostles were strict observers of this rule for Saint Paul in his counsel that he gave to Timothy bids him to mingle a little wine with his water for his healths sake 1 Tim. 5. v. 23. which plainly shows that he chiefly abstain'd from strong drink drinking onely water and so it is said of St. John Baptist that his meat was locusts and wilde honey which was very hard food for nourishing the body in any delights but rather served as they designed them for mortification and that is the onely cause that Gods Church commands her Children to fast and abstain from meat that they may in some measure break their own wills and mortifie their fleshly members that they may be more conformable to Gods will and better disposed to his holy service It would be too tedious to set down all places of holy Scripture to prove this as the often fasting
of the Israelites and of King David who mourned and wept 2 Sam. 1. v. 12. and fasted until evening and of Nehemiah that mourned and fasted certain dayes Nehem. 1. v. 4. and prayed before the God of heaven and in another place the Jews fasted and prayed with earth upon their heads Ch. 9. v. 1. and as it was a practise by all our fore-fathers so it is and ever will be in Gods Church Again we read that all the City of Nineveh at the preaching of Jonas put on sack-cloth Jonah 3. v. 7. and fasted both man and beast now in my opinion these proofs might have been omitted for the proof of this point since reason and Christianity might induce us to practice that which in it self is the occasion of much good both for soul and body It hath been so general a practice in all ages by Gods Church that Saint Augustine said They were guilty of a mortal sin that did not saft the holy time of Lent and certainly there is none that is thus sick of that disease but those that relye wholly upon kitching physick and so take so much care to preserve and feed the body that they totally neglect the medicines and food for the soul And besides what hath been said as to the example of Christ and the good it procures to our souls let us consider what holy intents the Catholick Church hath in the keepign of some particular dayes of fasting and as for the time of Lent she hath ordained the keeping of it forty dayes before the Passion and Resurrection of our Saviour first to imitate to the utmost of our power his holy example Secondly that we should by Fasting and Praying then more then ordinary have a dolorous resentment of his bitter Passion which he suffered for us And thirdly that we might with true prepared hearts celebrate the happy time of the Resurrection of his glorious body and with reverence approach to the holy Sacraments of Gods Church and for our Fasting on Friday every week it is that we may all cease from the pleasures of our taste that day our Saviour tasted Gall and Vinegar and a little to punish our bodies by fasting when our Saviour suffered so many dolorous wounds for us in his tender and delicate Body for the salvation of the world Now if any one can finde any evil in these intents and practices of the Church let them quarrel with them still but if not as I am sure justly they cannot then are they bound in conscience to follow the practice of so holy an Institution I will a little digress from my first purpose by quoting an ancient Father or two for confirmation of this point and so conclude this Chapter as first St. Jerome Elias and Moses saith he by fasting forty dayes were filled with a familiarity with God In c. 58. Isa and our Lord himself fasted as many in the Wilderness to leave unto us the solemn dayes of Fast that is Lent And again saith he We fast forty dayes Ep. 54. ad Marcel or make one Lent in a year according to the Traditions of the Apostles in time convenient And grave St. Ambrose saith plainly That it was not ordained by men but consecrated by God nor invented by any earthly cogitation but commanded by the Heavenly Majesty thus is it plainly proved that this practice is no new invention but what hath been generally practised by all holy men who have been Members of the Roman Catholick Church and so will it continue as long as God hath a Church upon earth which we are sure will be until the consummation of the world Chap. 15. Proving that Scripture is very hard to be understood and that we cannot rightly know the meaning of it but by relying upon the Church of God which is infallible contrary to Protestants Opinion IT would not seem a little strange did we but consider the folly of many men who have such low thoughts of Angels and Saints as that they know nothing and yet are so grosly arrogant of their own knowledge that none of the grand Mysteries of the Bible as they think are unknown to them and that the whole Church of God is less to be trusted in then they and so by this demy Devil self-conceit they wrong themselves and strive to deprive Gods Church of that priviledge which Christ hath given to her alone with commands to us to hear and obey her in all things concerning our Salvation but had these men been acquainted with St. Augustine he would have told them another story who cryes out concerning Scripture O wonderful profoundness of thy words wonderful profoundness my God wonderful profoundness it maketh a man quake to look on it to quake for reverence and to tremble for the love of it and those places saith he which I know not are many more then those that I know by which every considerate man may judge with himself that if this great Doctor and light of Gods Church had this opinion of Scripture and of his weakness in expounding it what little reason every particular man hath to think it easie for him to do that never was so learned and inspired of God as he was as all the Christian world knoweth and that his opinion then is agreeable to the Catholick Church now and that to Gods holy word shall be made most manifest and first from St. Peters own testimony who though he was an Apostle of Christ yet apprehended Saint Pauls Epistles to be very hard in the understanding of them as also in all his Epistles saith he are many things hard to be understood which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest as they do also the other Scriptures unto their own destruction And if there be so many places hard to be understood how many may be justly conclude there is in the Revelations where as St. Jerome saith every sentence is a Mystery and how many in the Canticles and in the Prophesies of Daniel and many other places and I would know how any particular man can tell what Christ meant in many Mysteries he spake and how he knows what the Angel meant when he revealed those high Mysteries to St. John and what Solomon meant when he declared these excellent simiditudes of Gods Church and what St. Paul meant when he writ those hard places spoken of if they answer me Gods Spirit tells them the meaning and that they are perswaded 't is so let every one judge how poor this answer is which is common amongst them for cannot every Sectary plead the same a Cobler may alledge that as well as a Doctor and a Tinker as well as a Divine and this presumption of interpreting the Bible by private spirits hath been the cause of all these Sects and Opinions that are now in the world which would rend the seamless Coat of Christ which is his Church in pieces if they could If God had ordered every one to be his own
not therefore leave the reading of it quite because the understanding of some parts is beneficial to them so their Common Prayer being read and sung in Cathedrals and other places is not understood by many of the wiser sort much less by the common people and so is all one as if it were in Latine yet if there were any benefit to be had it would be never the less to them because they understood it not since as I said before it is offered to God onely for all the Church and not to us And since it is so in these practices amongst them I hope they will not but think that those that are ignorant amongst us may and do receive much comfort by our Churches Service since by being so often at it and good instructions from Priests they come in short time to the knowledge and meaning of it but perhaps some may object that since we cannot understand them perfectly why should we go to Church to hear the Servince to which I anser that it is without complare better to go to Gods Church to offer our Devotions by every ones praying to God by being present at the Instituion of the Blessed Sacrament by seeing devout people receive it with true devotion besides none but Atheists will deny but that it is better to do any act of Devotion in a Church dedicated to Gods holy Service and nothing else then in a prophane house which is chiefly designed for temporal business but indeed as Protestants do their Devotion in Churches there is no great difference who sit on their tails staring about them when their Common-Prayer is said and have more regard to the manner then to the matter performed But it is far otherwise with Catholicks in the Church for there every one is on their knees praying to God for such things as they stand in need of and the Priest prayes for them all so that were it in the Mother Tongue it signified nothing more and if they heard him not speak a word it were the same for why the Priest is bound to say the Divine Service every day if there were no person present but himself and yet we may receive benefit by his Prayers too that neither see hear nor understand him because the prayers of any good man prevailes with God though the persons prayed for were a thousand miles off This now that hath been said may suffice any moderate person as to the belief that there is no necessity of understanding the Common Service as there is in the hearing of Sermons for those are alwayes preached in the Mother Tongue to common people because when the Priest saith Mass or Divine Service he speaks to God and when they preach it is directed to man onely But now I will show the reason why it is said in Latine in all places of the world and the convenience of it First we are to consider that the Catholickd Church is not pinn'd up into one Kingdom or Dominion as other Churches are that say their Service in the Mother tongue for which reason since that all Nations from her receive one uniform Faith so they have all one Service in one Language which hath many conveniences with it and no incommodity at all for by that maeans Priests that are sent into Forreign Countreyes where they speak never a word of the Language when they come there yet may do that for which they were sent and commanded there that is say Mass and administer the Sacraments as well as if they did and those in those Countreyes where they are sent can as well understand them as their own Priests they had before being Natives Besides many thousands of Catholicks travel from one part of Christendome to another and come where they will in any of their Churches they understand and hear the same Service that they do at home which if it were not said in all places in one Language they could not for since the Catholick Church is composed of so many Nations and are continually travelling and mixing one with the other it would be barbarious to all strangers to hear that Service which none of them understood If there were any necessity for the understanding of it as for example the French Spaniards Italians Dutch â—â—sh c. come all at one time to our Service here in England now were it said in English it would be barbarous to them all but being in the same Tongue as it is in their own Countreyes they understand it as well as if they were there so that the discreet Reader may see what necessity and convenience the Church hath in using the Latine service which if it were confined to so narrow limits as others are would use none but the Mother Tongue as others do so that all Christians may see the integrity of Gods Church which in this and all other points orders every thing for the good and convenience of all her Members which is done with so much wisdome and prudence that it plainly appears to be guided by the Spirit of God as also the malice of our enemies is shown who make people believe that Papists are kept in gross ignorance and must not read the Bible nor must not understand the Common Service because they shall not as they say know what the evil of it is and such fooleries in continually buzzed in their ears but bow slanderously let every Christian judge Now that this hath been the practice of the whole Church for this sixteen hundred years and the belief of all the ancient Fathers our adversaries themselves know sufficiently yet for the love of their large Revenues will not discover it nor other points as true as Gospel to the people that want understanding for which one day they must be sure to give a severe account to God whom they cannot deceive And for to bring in the Sentences of the Fathers to prove this would swell this Book into a larger Volume then is designed I will quote them where they are to be found that every one may know their practice in this point and first see Saint Cyprian Expo orat domn 13. Saint Gregory Lib. 7. Ep. 65. Jerome Prefat in Psal ad Sophron. Chrisos lib. 2. c. 13. and conclude with Saint Paul 1 Cor. 11. v. 16. that if after all this that hath been said any man be contentious we have no such custome nor the Church of God Chap 17. Treating in general of both Churches NOw having plainly proved all the chief points of our Faith by the Protestants own Bible I shall proceed a little to speak in general concerning both Religions that all men may consider and see by their Antiquity Rise Practice and Proceedings which is the likeliest to be the Church of God if it had not been or were not to be proed by Scripture for in the first place we shall finde all Religions but the Roman Catholick so like innocents for Age They are all Novelties in comparison to