and for ought I perceive we are as unsettled now as at the Beginning And truly he had great reason if Religion and Faith be nothing else but that sense of Scriptuure which each person of sound judgement understands for as it is impossible we should jump and agree in one sense and meaning of the Text so it is impossible we shall ever be settled and agree in Religion Episcopacy is against the Presbyterians some Canonical Books against the Lutherans Supermacy against the Quakers and Infant-Baptism against the Anabaptists and yet you own them as your Brethren and Godly Congregations of the Reformation or if you will deny them they will also scorn you and say they are more of the Reformation than you are and will you not own the Arians c. for your Brethren though you believe the Trinity against them You say they are old condemned Hereticks and does this Language become a Child of the Reformed Church By whom where they Condemned Was it not by the Popish Church That also condemns us and says we are as much Hereticks as they and as we ought not to be so called and judge the Pope and Councils Sentence against us to be bold uncharitable and unjust so we must say of the Arians Pelagians and others condemn'd by them You say Protestants will never own them to be their Brethren God forbid the Protestant Church should be so uncharitable to her fellow Christians and so unjust to themselves B. Morton as learned a Man as the Church of England bred says the Arian Church is a true Church and will say no less of the others But what need we the Testimony of any for what Reason so convicingly proves They who talk by one and the same Rule of Faith are of one and the same Religion therefore Lutherans Protestants Presbyterians and Independants do esteem themselves to be of the same Faith and Religion because they all have the same Rule which is Scripture as each Congregation understands it Also notwithstanding the difference and variety of Congregations in Popery they hold all but one Faith as they say because they have but one Rule of their Belief which is their Infallible Pope and Church But it is evident that those which you call Antient condemn'd Hereticks have one and the same Rule of Faith with our Reformation for ours is Scripture as each person of sound judgement understands it without any obligation of holding the sense of it delivered by Pope Church Councils or any other therefore our first blessed Reformers did not care what sense of it the Church or Pope did hold when they began to Preach the purity of the Gospel but each of them Interpreted it as he thought fit in the Lord and so purged the Church of many Errours This is the very self-same Rule of Faith which Arians Pelagians Nestorians and others premptorily condemned by Rome as Hereticks did follow and walk by Each of them Read and Interpreted Scripture Preached and Believed what sense of it they thought to be true though they knew it was against the Doctrine of the Church looking on Scripture alone as their Rule of Faith without any regard of the Pope Church Councils or Fathers Again he says Epist 2 ad Polon in Tract Theol. pag. 796 That Prayer Holy Trinity one God have mercy of us is Barbarous and does not please me And adds f In Act. Sieueti pag. 87. 1. The Son has his own Substance distinct from the Father His Disciple g con Cenebrard Danaeus says it is foolish insipid Prayer And our great Apostle Luther who as Fox witnesseth was the Chariot and Conductor of Israel and a Man extraordinarily raised and replenish'd with Gods spirit to teach the purity of the Gospel caused that Prayer to be blotted out of the Litanies h In Postil Major in enarat Evang. Domin Trinit That word Trinity says he sounds coldly my Soul hates that word Homoousios and the Arrian did well in not admitting at Lastly Ochinus that great Oracle of England impugns this Mystery with a strong discourse i Lib. 2. Dial. 2. We are not obliged to believe says he more than the Saints of the Ancient Testament otherwise our condition would be worse than theirs but they were not obliged to believe this Mystery therefore we are not obliged Examine I pray the works of these eminent Doctors where I quote them consider if they be not only Men of sound judgement but Men extraordinarly raised by God says the Synod of Charenton the Chariots and Conductors of Israel says Fox Men to be reverenc'd after Christ says our Doctor Powel and Apostolical Oracles sent to teach us the purity of the Gospel and conclude it is an undeniable Verity that this is the Doctrine of the Reformation whereas it's Scripture as Interpreted by such Men Oh! But England France and Scotland believe this Mystery Well! and what then That proves that the Mystery is also the Doctrine of the Reformation because whatever any man of sound judgement thinks to be Scripture it is the Doctrine But is England or France alone the whole Reformation Are not Luther Calvin Danaeus Ochinus as well of the Reformation and men of as sound judgement as they Since therefore they understand by Scripture there is no Trinity it is the Doctrine of the Reformation also that there 's none Believer it or deny it which you like best and you 'll be still of the Reformed Church Scripture as each person of sound judgement interprets it is our Rule of Faith judge you if that be not a good Principle in our Reformed Church whereas this is the Rule of Faith given us by all our Doctors as I proved before this being our Rule of Faith and Reformed Doctrin it is evident that whatever Doctrine is judged by any person of sound Judgement to be contained in Scripture is the Doctrine of our Reformation others say only Figurative Presence is taught in Scripture this also is the Doctrine of the Reformation some understand by Scripture there is Mystery of the Blessed Trinity this therefore is the Doctrine of the Reformation others understand there is no such Mystery this also is the Doctrine of the Reformation so that whether you believe or deny this or any other Tenet controverted you 'll still hold the Doctrine of the Reformation Calvin k Harm in Evang. Mat. c. 26. vers 39. and c. 27. vers 46 lib. 2. Infrit c. 16. sect 10. 11. says Christ pray'd unadvisedly the Eve of his Passion that he uttered Words whereof he was afterward sorry that in his passion he was so troubled of all sides that overwhelmed with desparation he defisted from invoking God which was to renounce all hopes of Salvation And says he l In Luk. par 2 hom 65. and in John hom 54. if you object it is absurd and scandalous to affirm Christ despaired I answer p To. 3. Wettemp in sp 16. This Desparation proceeded from him
if you can whether your noble Progenitors almost for the space of a Thousand years were zealous Papists Cast your eyes then upon their Wisdom known by the Government and Laws which they established Upon their Piety blazon'd by the goodly Churches by the stately Monasteries by the renowned Colledges which they Erected and Endowed and censure them not to have been so stupid so ungodly that with so great zeal and costs they would have embraced honoured and established Papistry had it been so absurd so ungrounded so Superstitious and Idolatrous and so dangerous to Princes and their States as divers of your deceived or deceiving Teachers do give you to understand Neither think your Neighbours who live Papists amongst you so blockish that they would forsake the easie and flesh-pleasing Religion of Luther Calvin and other new Teachers to embrace with so great loss and hazards the austere Profession of Papists if the same were such as you are made to believe Let not therefore any prejudicate conceits defraud you of this fit opportunity to free your selves from the most dangerous mistakes and consequently from the fruitless pangs of too late Repentance where with every one will be fearfully afflicted that departs this life culpably in a wrong and false Religion when the judging light of Christ shall lay open to him how naked he is through his own willfull negligence of Divine Faith of Heavenly Charity and of other Coelestial Vertues absolutely necessary to Salvation Because divers Protestant Teachers endeavours to make their followers believe that the Fathers of the Primitive Church were Protestants which Followers know no otherwise but let them take notice that those Ancient Worthies and Lights of the Church of Christ were either Monks or Founders of Monastical Discipline or at least Approvers and Praisers of the same St. Anthony was a Monk and St. Athanasius his Praiser St. Basil the Great a Monk and the Founder of a Monastical Institute which in the Eastern part of the World is yet practised St. Gregory the Divine was a Monk St. Chrisostom a Monk St. Hierom a Monk the Great St. Augustine the Founder of a Monastical course of Life St. Martin a Monk St. Benedict a Monk and Founder of the famous Order of Monks which does yet flourish in the Western Church St. Gregory the Great was a Monk and by the labours of Forty Monks did first plant Christianity amongst the English Let any Man judge how likely or how true it is that these Men were Protestants Secondly take notice that these ancient and most Learned Fathers were great Praisers Practisers of Austere and Penitential Works consisting in frequent Prayer in much Watching in severe Fasting in hard Lodgings in course and spare Dyet in wearing of Hair-Cloath and the like they lived single lives many of them bestowed their Wealth upon the Poor and other Pious Uses and professed voluntary Poverty following therein the Counsel of Christ given Matth. 19.21 and they not only allowed of but also most highly extolled the observing of perpetual Chastity and Virginity preferring the same far above Matrimony Were not these men then strange Protestants Thirdly take notice that these Ancient Worthies even by the Confession of all Protestants were men of accute Wits of excellent Learning If then they had found in the Word of God as Protestants say they find that only Faith does justifie that good Works are not Meritorious That in Works of Grace men have not Free-will That they are not able to keep the Commandments That it is not in the power of man or woman to live perpetually Chaste that Virginity is not more pleasing to God than Matrimony that to give all to the Poor to Fast Pray and watch much and to undergo other Austerities and Mortifications of the Body doth not profit and enrich the Soul that there is no Purgatory no Pennance to be done no satisfaction to be made for Sin no punishment to be inflicted upon the Faithful for them after this Life If I say the Ancient Fathers had found these and the like Doctrines of Protestants in the Scriptures and why should they not have found them there if there they had been they being so wise so learned and so industrious searchers of the Word of God as they were If there I say they had found these things and had believed them as Protestants do they would have lived as Protestants do for why should they not If these pleasing Doctrines which are light and easie to flesh and the blood and the sweet liberty of the new Gospel has as feelingly pierced and as strongly possessed the Hearts of those Ancients as it did and doth the Breasts and Bowels of Luther Zuinglius Bucer Peter Martyr Beza and their followers the Teachers of the Protestant Religion they would without all doubt with these have preferred Pleasures before Pennance Feasting before Fasting the delights of the Conjugal Life before the continent and single and in a word Riches Honours Pleasures before Labours and smart of a Penitential and Mortified Life before voluntary Poverty and the vexing Attire of Hair-cloth or else they had been mad had they believed as most Protestants do that such exercises as these are needless fruitless yea and superstitious Toys But the truth is that those ancient and shining Lamps of Wisdom and Sanctity did not believe as Protestants do and therefore they liv'd not as they do for they were otherwise instructed in the School of Christ they read and learned another Lesson in his Divine Gospel even the same that Papists now do and therefore they instituted their Lives as they did and were in very deed as much Protestants as the Pope and His Priests and Fryars now are and no more most certainly unless we will have them to have been Sots and mad-men Let not then my noble and dear Country-men the mis-reports of some of your Teachers so far prevail with you as to make you believe the better to keep and quiet you in Protestantism that the Fathers of the Primitive Church were Protestants For certainly those blessed Servants of Christ were as far from being Protestants as the most zealous of your Teachers are from being Papists yea from being Monks or Fryars and from leading their Lives as those Ancients did If then you truly prize the Learning and Sanctity of the Primitive Church and Christianity become of that Belief which their Lives and Practises do preach unto you If you think them saved be not so hardy as to seek a new way to Heaven for the safety of your Souls is of greater moment than so to be exposed to hazard being there can be but one saving Faith Eternal Glory is not easily to be set upon the Dice when you may take secure way to it Become then of the Communion of the Church in which the Fathers lived and died that therein seconding your belief with a vertuous Life you may assuredly attain to Everlasting Happiness beseeching God to prosper your Reading Considering
withal That without Faith in Jesus Christ no Man can be Saved This is not only the Belief of all that wear and deserve the Noble Title of a Christian but certain also out of the Word of God. Act. 4.12 There is not Salvation in any other for neither is there any other Name under Heaven given to Men to wit but the Name of Jesus wherein we must be saved Mark 16.16 But he that shall not believe namely the Gospel and Religion of Christ shall be condemned Heb. 11.6 Without Faith it is impossible to please God. Rom. 5.1 Being therefore justified by Faith let us have Peace toward God by our Lord Jesus Christ By whom also we have access through Faith to his Grace This Ground then is certain and cannot be denied by any Christian For my second Ground I lay That this Faith in Jesus Christ which by God's Ordination is of necessity required to Salvation is not a meer Natural Faith or Humane Credulity which Men may have by their own natural Forces without the help of God's special Grace such as is the Faith of Heathens of Jews and Turks and such indeed as is the Faith of all Hereticks But it is a Divine and Supernatural thing which Men acquire and attain to by the special Aid of God by the help of Divine Grace and therefore this Faith is called and truly is The Gift of God. This ground is certain first out of the Word of God which clearly teacheth That saving Faith is the gift of God Phil. 1.29 To you it is given for christ not only to believe in him but also to suffer for him Eph. 2.8 By Grace you are saved through Faith and that not of your selves for it is the gift of God Not of Works that no man may glory Joh. 6.44 No man can come unto me that is believe in me for our first step toward Christ is Faith unless the Father that sent me draw him And Verse 65. Therefore did I say to you that no Man can come to me unless it be given him of my Father Joh 15.5 I am the Vine you the Branches he that abideth in me and I in him the same bringeth much fruit for without me you can do nothing Namely appertaining to Salvation and therefore not believe as is requisite to Life Everlasting without the help of Christ that is of Divine Grace by Christ merited and purchased for us These places are clear Secondly This ground is strongly proved by Reason For the end of Man being to enjoy Supernatural Glory that is the clear Vision of God in his blessed Kingdom The means to obtain this high and divine End must be suitable to it that is Divine and Supernatural For who will say that Man of himself and by his own forces without the Aid and special Favour of God is able to make himself fit and proportionate to be associated to the Saints to the Angels to Christ to God in Eternal Glory Who will say that of himself he is able to cleanse his Soul from the stains and filth of Sin and to put upon her a Wedding Garment a Golden and Resplendent Vesture suitable to the Banquet and Banqueters of Heaven The special Operation then of Divine Grace must Purifie and Embellish the Soul of Man and Attire her in Holy and Divine Vertues that so she may be fit to be the Consort of God in the Fruition of his Eternal Glory And so Faith which is one of these Virtues and the very Ground and Foundation of the rest must be Divine and Supernatural and spring in Man from the help of God's Grace and be Adorned and Dignified by it that so there may be a fit proportion betwixt the Root and the Tree the Seed and the Fruit the Egg and the Brid a Christian Life and the Glory of Heaven Whosoever will deny this ground must not only forsake the Doctrine of the Holy Scriptures and go against the light of Reason but he must also fall into the Pelagian Heresie condemned by the Church of Christ Twelve Hundred years ago Which held That the Gospel of Christ being proposed by his Preachers men of themselves without any further help of Divine Grace are able to believe the same and do all therein required to Life Everlasting Which proud fancy of Pelagius St. Hierom St. Augustine and especially the Bishops of Rome by the invincible force of God's Word did crush confound and beat to the ground My third Ground is That as God cannot be the Author of a Lye of a false Doctrine of a false Faith of a false Religion That is of a Rligion and Doctrine of Faith that is mixed with falshood and is partly true and partly false So he neither doth neither can stir up and draw Men by his special Grace Aid and Operation to believe those Religions or Doctrines of Faith which are so mixed with Falshood This seems to be evident even by the light of Reason for as it is the proper work of the Devil to mix Religions and to pollute them with Falshood So it is his continual and studious endeavour to stir up and induce Men by proposing some pleasing and delectable thing or other to believe and embrace the same that so he may deprive them of Divine Faith which is the Gift of God and bring them assuredly to Everlasting Damnation Neither let any one be so simple as to imagine That the Devil is only the Author of those Religions which are wholly False For scarcely is there any Religion in the World that doth teach no Truth at all And therefore it is sufficient to prove a Religion to be the work of the Devil if there be any falshood in it at all at St. Paul doth seem to teach 1 Tim. 4.1 where foretelling the rising of the Manichean Heresie which long did pester the Chruch of God he calls the Doctrine thereof the Doctrine of Devils Notwithstanding that those Hereticks with some falshoods did teach many Truths even as all Hereticks do who nevertheless are the Instruments of the Devil to seduce and destroy Souls Wherefore whosoever do culpably Believe and follow Religions or Doctrines of Faith partly true partly false do never believe the same with Divine Faith which is the Gift of God though they esteem the Religion which they follow to be the best of all others yea to be the pure Light of the Gospel of Christ But their Faith is ever a meer Humane Credulity such as is the Faith of all Mis-believers which can never bring them to Eternal Happiness how laudably soever they live because without Divine Faith that is the Gift of God no Man can be saved according to the settled Ordination and Providence of God as I before have clearly shewed out of his Word Out of this Doctrine which is most true doth appear First The Reason of the Doctrine of of Christ deliverâ—d Matt. 7. where he declares That false Prophets that is false Expounders of the Word of God in
a Decree rather be assented to than the contrary Decree of the forementioned Synod called at London Now for a further Confirmation of This Doctrine I will here deliver Evident Testimonies of most Eminent Fathers and Doctors of the Church concerning it The Truth of the Eucharist and Real Presence of the Body and Blood of Christ in the Eucharist Confirmed by the Testimonies of the Fathers MAny of the Holy Fathers have taught That the Faithful partake of the Body and Blood of Christ in the Eucharist not with a mental mouth by Faith only as Calvin would have it but even with a Bodily Mouth in the way of a true and proper Eating So St. Augustin l. 2. contra Adversarium legis Prophetarum c. 9. We receive with a faithful heart and mouth Christ Jesus giving us his Flesh to eat and his Blood to drink and St. Leo Serm. 6. de jejunio mensis septimi where he Writes thus We ought so to communicate at the holy Table as that there be no doubt of the truth of Christ's Body for the same is taken with the Mouth which is believed with the Heart In like manner Calvin's Errour is Excluded by St. John Damascen for he tells us De Orthodoxa Fide l. c. 14. The Bread and Wine are no figures of the Body and Blood of Christ far be this from us to imagine but the very Body of Christ our blessed Lord himself testifying this is not a sign of my Body but my Body nor a sign of my Blood but my Blood The like hath Theophylact in S. Matth. 26. and St. Mark 14. where explaining the self-same Words of Christ he adds He shews that the Host which is offered upon the Altar is the very Body of our Lord and no Figure for he said not this is a Figure of my Body but my Body hence is it that the Holy Fathers Teach that by receiving the Eucharist Christ is truly incorporated with us and not by Faith only or Figuratively but united to us indeed so speak the Holy Fathers For thus says St. John Chrysostom Homil. 3. on St. Matth. He incorporates himself says he with us and not by Faith only but he makes us his Body verily and indeed So St. Cyril of Alexandria in St. John l. 10. c. 13. tells us We are not only united to Christ spiritually by a true Faith and sincere Charity but Christ also dwells in us Corporally by Communication of the Flesh of Christ and that Corporal Union of Christ with the Faithful therein by participation of the Eucharist he Illustrates by this Instance Like as says he if one blends one piece of melted Wax with another so as one lump seems to be made up of both the pieces even so by Communication of the Body and Blood of Christ he is in us and we in him for the corruptable Nature of a Body cannot otherwise pass over to Life and Incorruption unless a body of Natural Life be joyned with it St. Gregory Nyssen uses another instance in Orat. Catech. cap. 37. where he speaks thus In like manner as a little Leaven as the Apostle Testifies 2 Cor. 11. Leavens the whole Lump even so that Life giving Body passing into our Bodies Translates it self wholly into us and changes us as it renders ours like it and immortal in due time for it is necessary that our Nature so far as may be should admit so Efficatious a power into our Bodies where he also teaches us that it behoves us to believe that like as the forbidden Fruit was corporally eaten by Adam even so that the Body of Christ is taken of us corporally and received in the Belly so that it is not only mentally by Faith or Figuratively as Calvin would have it so as the wholsom Medicine be in us be no otherwise in us than the Destructive poyson which was bodily received to Repeal the same by a contray Action Read that whole Chapter then which nothing can be more clearly against the Errours of the Calvinists maintaining the Body and Blood of Christ to be taken by us Spiritually and not Corporally Last of all the Holy Fathers Teach that the Sacrament of the Eucharist for the sake of Christ's being there is to be Adored but Adored it ought not to be nay such Adoration would be Idolatry if Christ be not truly and really there contained for that Worship or Adoration that is called Latria is to be given to God alone whence it is plain that in the opinion of the Holy Fathers Christ is truly and really contained in the Sacrament of the Eucharist now that the Holy Fathers every where teach that the Sacraments of the Eucharist is to be Adored because of Christs being there appears plainly from St. Austin Epist 120. cap. 27. Where he tells us That the Faithful came to the Table they eat and Adored the same he maintains in his Comment 82. that place Psalm xcviii upon Worship his Foot-stool where the Foot-stool he explains by the Earth and the Earth by the Flesh of Christ Because says he he walked here in our Flesh and gave his very Flesh to be eaten by us for our Salvation and no man eats that Flesh unless he hath first Adored it It is discovered how such a Foot-stool of our Lord may be Adored and we shall not only not Sin in Adoring but we Sin in not Adoring and St. Ambrge de Spiritu Sancto l. 13. c. 11. upon the same words says thus By the Foot-stool is meant the Earth and by the Earth the Flesh of Christ which we daily Adore in the Mysteries Thus St. Ambrose The like hath St. Chrysostom in Epist ad Eph. homil 3. where he hath it thus Adore this and Eat And St. Cyril of Hierusalem Catech. 3. Mystagog hath these words Make thy approach to the Chalice of his Blood in the manner of Adoration This the Church has constanty held from the beginning and hold even to this day as appears from the General Council of Trent Sess 13. Cap. 5. where it requires the Worship of Latria to be given to the Sacrament according to the custom ever received in the Church Many more Testimonies of the Holy Fathers are yet behind which to produce were easy if there were no pains in Transcribing them and those already produced are sufficient for the truth of the Eucharist and for the Real Presence of the Body of Christ there Jo. 6. v. 54. Who Eates my Flesh and Drinks my Blood hath Eternal Life and I will raise him up at the last day And the Council of Nice calls the Eucharist Symbolum Resurrectionis a token of the Resurrection and St. Ignatius M. Epist 14. ad Epes termes it Pharmacum Immortalitatis A Medicine of Immortality Now if you ask the manner how it serves as an incorruptible food for a Glorious Resurrection I Answer The Species being altered by the heat of the Stomach the Body of Christ ceases to be here but his Deity remains after a special
Mary's they pull'd down this and set up Popery again in Queen Elizabeth's they decried this and set up not Zuinglianism but Protestancy in the midst of her Reign they polisht this and added some new perfections to it In King James and suceeding Kings times Protestancy was of a different stamp from that of Queen Elizabeth's Hear Dove in his Exhort to the English Recusants An. 1603. Page 31 Edward the VI. had his Liturgy which was very good but condemned it and brought in another Composed by Peter Martyr In Elizabeth ' s time that was condemned and another approved and in the middle of her Reign her Liturgy was also misliked and a new one introduced we are so wanton that nothing will content us but Novelties Dove does not commend this Doctrine for he calls that frequent exchange of Religion Wantonness and Love of Novelties It 's no great matter what he says of it my drift is but to convince you that this is the Doctrine and practice of the best Member of our Reformation even of England and if you be convinc'd it 's the Doctrine of Reformation you cannot deny but that it is good Doctrine through Dove calls it Wantonness Some of the Reformed says We are bound to have Faith in Jesus Christ the Son of God and the Saviour of the World. This is the substance of Christian Religion be an Arian be a Presbyterian a Socinian or what you please be also plung'd up to the ears in wickedness of Life and Manners so you have Faith in Jesus Christ Son of God and Redeemer of the World and live in Charity you will be a Member of the true Church and be saved Do not imagine this is any new Doctrine invented by me search the vulgar sort of our Reformed Brethren you shall get thousands of this Opinion in our Realm search the Books of our Learned Doctors you shall find it in them also Doctor Morton in his much applauded Book Dedicated to Queen Elizabeth for which he deserved a Bishoprick says The Arian Church is to be esteemed a true Church The Kindom of Esra pag. 9. because they hold the true substance of Chiristian Religion which is Faith in Jesus Christ Son of God and Redeemer of the World And again in the same place Sect. 4. whose Title is Hereticks are Members of the Church Therefore John Fox Dr. Field and Illiricus Acts mon. pag. 36. lib. 3. c. 5. g. Catal. testium p. 976. 978. say the Greek Church notwithstanding their error in denying the Procession of the Holy Ghost from the Son are holy Members of the true Church because they have Faith in Jesus Christ For what is the Doctrine of the Reformation but as we have said in our Principles Scripture as Interpreted by any Man of sound judgement in the Church and were not Doctor Morton Fox Field and Illiricus Men of sound judgement eminent for Learning and Godliness If therefore this be Scripture as Interpreted by them how can you deny it to be the Doctrine of the Reformation And what Jesus Christ are we obliged to believe in For Jesus Christ as believed by the Arrians Socinians Luther and Calvin is far different from Jesus Christ as commonly believed by the Protestants and Popish Church we believe in Jesus Christ the Son of God of one and the same substance and nature with the Father they believe in a Jesus Christ Son of God but of a distinct and different nature Pish That 's but a Nicety believe what you please and what you understand by Scripture to be true and have Charity Let us ask the Reformers what Rule of Faith we must observe Protestants will say that Scripture and Apostolical Tradition but Protestants say of Papists and Presbyterians and Anabaptists say of Protestants that many humane Inventions are obtruded upon us as Apostolical Traditions that we have no way to discern the one from the other and consequently Tradition as being an unknown thing unto us cannot be our Rule others will say that Scripture and the indubitable consequence of it is our Rule all will grant this but then enters the controversy if the consequences of Lutherans be such and if the consequences of Presbyterans be indubitable consequences out of Scripture and each Congregation will say that their peculiar Tenets are indubitable consequences out of Scripture and the rest must allow it to be of the Reformation Others will say that Scripture and the four first Councils with the Apostles and Athanasius's Creed are our Rule of Faith but most of the Assembly will no more admit the four first than the subsequent Councils nor Athanasius's Creed more than that of Trent nor will the Quakers Socinians and others value the Apostles Creed But there is none of all the Assembly who will not admit Scripture to be a sacred and full Rule of Faith because it 's replenished with divine Light and all Heavenly instruction necessary for our salvation And such as add as a part of our Rule of Faith the Apostles or Athanasius Creed or the four first general Councils will confess that all they contain is expressed in Gods written Word and are but a plainer or more distinct expression or declaration of the Contents of Scripture I have been often present at several discourses of Protestants with Papists and never could I hear a Protestant make Councils Tradition or any thing else the Test of their discourse but only Scripture not but that I could hear them say and pretend in their discourses that Apostolical Tradition and the four first Councils were for them against Popery but still their main strength and ultimate refuge was Scripture for whenever they harp upon that string of Tradition and Councils the Papists are visibly to hard for them and then they run to Scripture than which there is no plus ultra I have been also often at several discourses betwixt Protestants Presbyterians and our Brethren of other Congregations I have observed that the Protestant for to defend his Liturgy Rites and Ceremonies of the Church of England and her Episcopacy against the others could never defend himself by Scripture alone but plac'd his main strength in Tradition Primitive Councils and ancient Fathers all which the other rejected and reproached the Protestants with Popery For it 's certain Lutherans will not admit Scripture as Interpreted by Protestants but as Interpreted by themselves and so of each other Congregation Nor was it only Luther and Calvin spoke thus but all our blessed Reformers and why because our Rule of Faith is Scripture not as interpreted by the Church of England France will not admit it nor as Interpreted by the Quaker the Anabaptists and Independents will not hear it nor as interpreted by Luther Calvin rejects it nor as interpreted by Calvin Thorndike and Bramhall will not yield to it nor will Stillingfleet stand to their Interpretation nor others to that of Stillingfleet Finally our Rule of Faith is Scripture not as interpreted by
that Paganism having been banish'd out of our Land upon the false Information of our first Teachers that it was an Adoration of Devils or evil Spirits and wicked debaucht Men who by counterfeit Wonders and Cheats gained the peoples Adoration since that Dr. Stillingfleet Dr. Burnet and other Reformed Writers will make it out thar the Pagans Adored no Devils but One true Omnipotent Supream God blessed for ever more which they called Jupiter and the rest of the Gods as Inferiour Deities as Papists do their Saints and will prove that the Pagans were charged by the first D. Doctors of Christanity and by all our Ancestors with more than they are guilty of why should not Paganism be restored again to the Land and heard to speak for it self and Dr. Stillingfleet and his zealous companions be Licenc'd to plead for them and for holy Jupiter so foully mis-represented by Antiquity as to be believed an Arch-Devil whom Dr. Stillingfleet will prove to have been a true blessed God for evermore That Paganism was so unjustly banish'd from our Nation if what Dr. Stillingfleet says be true he is a learned Religious and diligent searcher into Scripture the Ancient D. Drs. and Fathers of the Church reading Scripture judged and taught that Jupiter was a Devil as well as the rest of the Gods which the Gentiles Adored Dr. Stillingfleet and other Reformed D. Doctors reading Scripture judge he was no Devil but the true God blessed for evermore any Child of the Reformation may believe either of both and put Jupiter into our Litanies as well as JESUS Christ and offer Sacrifice to him as formerly our Ancestors did for whatever any Man of sound judgement judges to be the Doctrine of Scripture may be safely believed and is the Doctrine of the Reformation Here follows the Sense of Scripture as Interpreted by the Church Councils and Fathers in lieu of those fond fancies which the Protestant Preachers have possest the people with as the belief of Catholicks faithfully reported from a true zeal and affection to my Country-men that they may not plead Ignorance before the Tribunal of the Almighty in so important a concern as their Salvation to the manifest hazard of their Souls Eternity THe Catholicks teaches Pennance Mortification of the Body subjection of the Flesh to the Spirit the sensitive part to the rational by Praying Fasting Obedience Humility Poverty To Crucifie the Flesh and the Lusts thereof Gal. 5.12 Pardoning Injuries loving one another Praying for Enemies doing good to those that Persecute us Forsake all and follow Christ Mat. 19.22 suffering Persecution for Conscience sake making Vows of Chastity And out of the same Chap. v. 27 28 29. By Vowing perpetual Chastity St. Mat. 19.12 leaving the World our friends and possessions to Consecrate our selves by Prayer and the service of God to keep Lent and fasting days to observe Religious Vows St. Mat. 15.15.25 to sell all we have and give it to the Poor Tobit 12. to take up our Cross and follow Christ Tobit 1. to leave Father Mother Isai 58. Brothers Sisters and Wife St. James 5. and all things for the love of God St. Matt. 18. in fine Galib Prov. 27. that there is no way to Heaven Eccles 5. but by the way of Pennance Fasting Rom. 15. and Prayer and such like Mortifications and Austerities of the Body St. Mark. 11. St. James 2. 26. to make Restution of ill-gotten good St. John 4.16.3 v. 14. James 5.20 and Reparation for any Violations of anothers good Name or Reputation 1 St. John 3.14 to feed the Hungry give drink to the Thirsty Cloath the Naked Redeem the Captives Harbour the Harbourless Visit the Sick Bury the Dead to Correct the Obdurate Instruct the Ignorant Reduce the Wavering Comfort the Sorrowful bear wrongs patiently forgive all Injuries and to pray for the Living and the Dead as also that God shuts the Gate of Heaven against the Impenitent and that there is no Salvation without Charity but that Charity it self covers a Multitude of Sins that Charity gives Spiritual Life to the Soul that in Charity we know we are Translated from Death to Life because we love the Brethren That the good Pastor giveth his life for his Sheep St. John 10.12 As That Faith without Charity is dead St. James 2.26 And that the highest act of Charity is to give our Life for Gods Honour and the Salvation of our Neighbour these ways are not pleasing to the people nor easie to Flesh and Blood without Gods Grace If Protestants and Reformers go to Heaven with more liberty and with greater ease and pleasure we must say broad is the way and many there be that find it But if there be no Salvation without following the above-cited Doctrines as the Catholick Church teaches the Catholick is much nearer that the Protestant to the strait way and narrow Gate that leads and opens to Eternal Life There are no Doctrines mentioned here but what are contained in the Catechisms of all Roman Catholicks and that which they teach all Children and which are very wide from those Doctrines that Protestant Preachers report of them about Dispensations with Allegiance Oaths and all other Tyes how solemnly sacred soever all which are no less commonly than untruly suggested for I shall demand of such by what Councils received by the Catholick Church such Dispensations have been allowed or from what Church Tradition such pernicious Tenents have been handed I desire of Protestants to produce one for if it be any point of Faith it must have taken rise either from the Authority of some Council received in the Church or of Universal Tradition since whatever obliges all Roman Catholicks must of necessity enter into their belief or practice at one of these two doors And if these Dispensations have been taught neither by Councils nor Traditions it remains that Protestants have been gull'd by their Pastors in receiving such for Catholick doctrines which are taught no where but in Protestant Books and Pulpits For had such Dispensations been the Doctrines or Practices of Papists what folly had it appeared in Protestant Magistrates to require Oaths of them who hold themselves under no obligation to them when they have taken them and what madness had it appeared in Papists to incur the Forfeiture heretofore of their lives and late of their liberty and fortunes rather then take such Oaths with which if they had advised with the Protestant Minister they might have dispensed at pleasure Country-men read your Chronicles peruse your Statutes and Records review many of your Ancient Customs and Observances look upon the Windows of the Churches reflect upon the Names and Dedications of the same Chruches of divers days of the year of divers of your Colledges upon the Crosses every where erected upon the Multitude of Monasteries Abbies and other Religious Houses which heretofore flourished in this Kingdom and then suffer you selves to doubt