Loosing the same that is said here to Peter is said to all the Apostles Matt. xviii 18. Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven And again Ioh. xx 23. Whose soever sins ye remit they are remitted unto them and whose soever sins ye retain they are retained And what a silly childish noise do they make with those words said to Peter unto thee will I give the keys of heaven for the whole sence of those words is fully contained in those Whose soever sins ye remit they are remitted unto them and whose soever sins ye retain they are retained For 't is sin that shuts us out of Heaven and when sin is remitted Heaven-Gate is again opened Whoever then hath power to remit and retain sin he hath the keys of Heaven to all intents and purposes Where is then I pray you S. Peter's preheminence over any other Apostle for the Church was built on all the Apostles as well as on Peter and they all had the keys of Heaven given unto them But now mark what goes before in Iohn xx 21. As my Father hath sent me even so send I you This cuts off all manner of pretence to the least precedency of power given to Peter before the rest of the Apostles for our Saviour here saith unto them all As my Father sent me even so send I you Even so in the self same manner And sure the Papists are not so desperate as to say St. Peter had a higher and more powerful Commission than Christ himself and as you see Christ here gives all the Apostles Commission equal with himself As my Father sent me even so send I you So that 't is impossible Peter could have a greater Is it not then a strange presumption for the Papists to boast of such a transcendent power and preheminence given to Peter above the rest of the Apostles as to make him Lord and Master over them which doubtless would have raised no small indignation in the rest of the Apostles We see when Iames and Iohn desired only the precedency before the rest no Lordship but only to sit the one on his right hand the other on his left they were greatly offended at it Wherefore to make Peter their Lord and Master must needs offend them far more yet we find not the least murmuring at it because they found no precedency at all given him And do not we see how St. Paul though a late born Apostle out of time took the boldness to resist him to the face when he walked not uprightly which you may be sure St. Paul would not have done had he taken St. Peter for Christ's High Priest Lord over all for St. Paul repented for having too severely reproved the High Priest of the Iews though he did it unwittingly and for his cruel injustice Certainly whoever reads the two first Chapters of S. Paul's Epistle to the Galatians if he be not much possest with S. Peter's preheminence before hand must needs see that S. Paul gives him no such thing but rather the contrary mark I pray you S. Paul's design there 't is to shew that he received not the knowledg of the Gospel nor the Commission to preach it from man but from Christ only And therefore as soon as Christ had revealed himself to him and sent him to preach Immediately I conferred not says he with flesh and blood neither went I up to Jerusalem to them that were Apostles before me but I went into Arabia and returned again unto Damascus Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to see Peter and abode with him fifteen days But other of the Apostles saw I none As if the seeing the other Apostles Iames and Iohn whom in the next Chapter he calls Pillars had carried more appearance of his receiving Commission from man than his seeing Peter and tarrying with him fifteen days Now had Peter been as the Papists would have it Head of the Church Lord over all the seeing of Peter Head of the Church and tarrying with him so long had signified far more towards his receiving Commission from man than had he seen all the other Apostles and tarried with them fifteen months for Peter being Head he and not the other Apostles was to give him Commission And then again when he names the great Pillars of the Church who seemed to be somewhat more than the rest he puts Iames in the first place But though they seemed to be somewhat yet whatever they were S. Paul tells us it maketh no matter to him he gave them not any subjection how not any subjection no not for an hour for they who seemed to be somewhat in conference added nothing to him but contrariwise mark I pray you contrary to all subjection they gave unto him yea and unto Barnabas also the right hand of fellowship far from any Lordship over Paul or over Barnabas either though he were none of the twelve for he and they were all fellows in preaching the Gospel dividing the work betwixt them Paul and Barnabas to preach unto the Heathen and they unto the Circumcision Is it not then most evident by all this that S. Peter was no Lord nor Head over the rest of the Apostles nor did he outlive all the rest and so become Head of the Church by survivancy S. Iohn that great and beloved Apostle outlived him long and 't is thought all the rest and then by survivancy he should be Head and consequently his Successor Head of the Church not S. Peter's Successor for S. Peter himself was not Head And then I pray you tell me when S. Peter was dead and S. Iohn remained Who was then Head of the Church Was S. Peter's Successor whoever he was Linus or Clemens was he Head and Lord over S. Iohn or S. Iohn over him Speak I beseech you No your modesty will not suffer you to say that your Pope Linus was Head and Lord over S. Iohn the beloved of our Lord. I dare venture my life on it Linus never assumed any such Lordship to himself for Eusebius tells us that when Polycarpus a Successor of S. Iohn came to Rome to treat with Anicetus a Successor of S. Peter about the time of celebrating the Feast of Easter which was then much disputed the Church of Asia holding it at one time and the Church of Rome at another Anicetus S. Peter's Successor did not assume any Lordship over Polycarpus nor require him to submit unto the Roman Custome No he was so far from it that he gave the honour to Polycarpus and the precedency to celebrate the blessed Sacrament of the Lords Supper in his own Church at Rome This was a mark of great honour and precedency for in those days the Chief did always celebrate If then your Church had no Headship over the Asian Church in the time of S. Iohn nor in the time of Polycarpus many years after I
the poor to the despised of the world to every creature ever so mean ever so contemptible be sure you preach it to them Thus much for the Gospel Then follow the Acts written to Theophilus one of the Laity And so the Epistles of the Apostles That to the Romans is directed all that are at Rome to all That to the Corinthians to all that call upon the name of the Lord Iesus to all in every place and so the rest And 't is observable that there is no mention made of the Clergy in any of his Epistles but in that one to the Philippians where he expresses the Bishops and Deacons and yet even there he puts them in the last place first to all the Saints that are at Philippi and then adds with the Bishops and Deacons so that this Epistle is primarily directed to all the Saints But perchance some ignorant people may stumble at the word Church in some of his Epistles as if those Epistles directed to the Church were intended to Church-men as we call them meaning thereby the Clergy the Ministers of the Church But Beloved this word in the Original Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 translated by us Church doth not at all signifie Church-men but the Laity assembled together which we properly call the congregation of the faithful and so in Scripture the Church of such a town the Church in such a house that is the faithful or the Saints of that town or in that house those that use there to assemble together for the worship of God But we use the word Church by corrupt custom promiscuously sometimes for the Congregation sometimes for the house wherein they meet sometimes for the body of Church-men and so we say the Canons of the Church that is the Canons composed by Church-men But 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Scripture is never so placed but only for the Congregation of the faithful This is more expresly declared Rev. ii 1. where the Bishop is called the Angel and the Congregation distinct from the Minister is called the Church The Angel of the Church that is the Bishop the Pastor or chief Minister of the Congregation And therefore St. Pauls Epistles directed to the Church of such a place is just the same as to the Congregation to the faithful or to the Saints of such a place which consisted of the Laity and not only of men but Women also and Children they were likewise to read the Scriptures And according to this he gives it as a great commendation to Timothy that of a Child he had learned the Scriptures And we know that this was the practice of the Primitive Christian Church many Ages For St. Hierome one of the four eminent Doctors and Fathers of the Church who lived 400 years after Christ in his Epistle to Laeta a Roman Matron sets down a method for her to teach her little Girl the Scriptures what books she should read first and what next first the book of Psalms then the Proverbs then Ecclesiastes and after other books named in the Old Testament he concludes Ad Evangelia transeat nunquam ea depositura de manibus Acta Apostolorum Epistolas tota cordis imbibat voluntate Let her then pass over to the Gospels and never let them go out of her hands And as for the Acts of the Apostles and the Epistles let her apply her heart to learn them with all diligence And St. Gregory another of the four eminent Doctors who was the last of them and lived 600 years after Christ and was Bishop of Rome who for his great sanctity and learning was called Gregory the Great he in his book of Morals written for the instruction of all gives this Rule Divinas Scripturas saepiùs lege imo nunquam de manibus tuis sacra lectio deponatur Read often the divine Scriptures yea rather let them never go out of your hands And in another place he tells us Dictis obscurioribus fortes exercet parvulis humili sermone blanditur There you will find obscure sayings to exercise strong men and lowly sayings for little ones Here you have the Doctrine and Practice of the Primitive Church for many Ages And yet the Romanists will most impudently affirm that we are the deserters of Antiquity and they only follow the practice of the Primitive Church But let us return to St. Paul who as I have shewed you directs his Epistles to the whole Congregation of the faithful And as St. Paul so St. Iames to the twelve Tribes who were the faithful So St. Peter the first Epist. to all the Elect the second to all the faithful So St. Iohn St. Iude all written to the faithful in general And I pray you observe what a strict charge St. Paul gives at the end of his Epistles to the Colossians and the Thessalonians I charge you by the Lord that this Epistle be read to all the Holy Brethren to all It were very superfluous to add more for this business But notwithstanding all this the Governours of the Roman Church shut up the Scripture from the people and with very great reason they teaching the people so many things clean contrary to Scripture The Scripture severely forbids the worship of images the Governours of the Roman Church teach the people to worship them The Scripture commands exact performance of all vows made unto God the Pope takes upon him to dispense with the most solemn vows that can be made even though the blessed Sacrament be received upon them The Scripture commands obedience to Kings and all that are in Authority the Pope dispenses with all obedience and oaths made unto their Kings and often commands them to rebel make war and murther them yea the Son to rebel against his own Father as the Son of Henry the fourth Emperour The Scripture forbids marrying with many near Relations the Pope dispenses with all The Scripture commands the Service of the Church to be in the known language of the people the Pope commands it to be in a language the people understands not at all The Scripture tells us God only can forgive sins the Pope says he also can and if you will give him largely he will forgive you largely The Scripture tells us there is but one Mediator between God and man the man Christ Iesus the Roman Church teaches there are thousands of Saints and Angels and pray unto them and the blessed Virgin much more than to Christ or God the Father ten Ave Mary's for one Pater Noster Good reason then have the Romanists to add unto these contradictions of Scripture and many more that grand iniquity of shutting up the Scripture from the people lest they should discover these contradictions They do wisely in their Generations But now that some Protestants who teach none of these things should think it fit to shut up Scripture from the people is wonderful and the reason they give for it is as bad as the thing because forsooth ignorant people
reading the Scripture it causes them to fall into very extravagant Opinions and Heresies How horrid a thing is it to affirm this Really it appears no less than blasphemy against the Holy Ghost whereof our Saviour pronounc'd that dreadful Sentence That it should never be forgiven neither in this world neither in the world to come For to say the reading of Scripture causes the people to fall into Heresie is the same in effect as to say the Holy Ghost is the Author of sin for I have most clearly proved unto you that the Scripture dictated by the Holy Ghost commands all to read the Scripture But I hope they intend no such matter as blasphemy but think they have some colour for what they say from 2 Pet. iii. 16. where St. Peter speaks of the unlearned and unstable wresting the Scriptures to their own destruction But I pray you mark how St. Peter joyns unstable with unlearned the want of stability is the main cause of their wresting the Scriptures For I shall shew you by and by that they who abound in learning yet wanting stability wrest the Scriptures as well I should say as ill as the unlearned But first I desire my pretending wise men to advise a little with St. Paul Rom. vii 10. where he tells us that the Commandment which was ordained unto life he found unto death did he therefore lay aside the Commandment God forbid the Commandment was Good and Holy how then came it to pass He tells us vers 8. that sin taking occasion by the Commandment wrought in him all manner of concupiscence And again vers 11. Sin taking occasion by the Commandment deceived him and by it slew him Thus Beloved you see 't was not the Commandment that wrought death in St. Paul but sin that is concupiscence the corruption of nature that was in him this caused all the evil And just so it is in our case 'T is not the Scripture which causes Heresies Schisms and Divisions amongst us God forbid we should say so but sin taking occasion by the Scripture works all these the corruption of mens natures blinds and deceives them the pride and wilfulness of their heart the conceit of their own holiness and godly understanding sets them forward in opposition to the common received Doctrine and to affect singularity and applause by teaching some new thing Then they tumble over the Scripture to find out Texts that carry some colour for it as they fondly conceive and having found such they presently blaze abroad their new Doctrine which the giddy unconstant people always fond of new things presently catch at and follow This puffs up the Teachers and sets them agog and makes them ready to suffer any thing in that behalf for this increases the reputation of their Sanctity as suffering imprisonment and the like for the truth and at length by large Contributions this comes to increase the wealth of their purse also and then there 's no reducing them to obedience and order Now as St. Paul saith 'T is not the Scripture which causeth all this but sin the Spiritual pride of their heart takes occasion by the Scripture to work in them Divisions and Heresies And though the Scripture were wholly shut up from them yet the same sin their Spiritual pride of heart would cause the same Divisions and Heresies Do not we see this daily happen to them who reject the Scripture and walk by their new inward lights which they pretend God infuses into them This makes it most manifest that all our Divisions as St. Paul saith proceed from sin that is in us And doth not St. Iames agree with St. Paul in this when he saith From whence come wars and fightings among you come they not hence even of your lusts that war in your members So from whence come these Divisions and Contentions come they not hence even of their lusts that war in their Members Now I beseech you to consider were it not as sensless as wicked to shut up the Scripture the word of life from the whole Congregation of the faithful because the sin and corruption of some turn it to their death But as Iob xi saith Vain man would be wise though a man be born like a wild asses colt Yea he would be wiser than God who well foresaw these Heresies and Divisions and forewarns us by St. Paul 1 Cor. xi 18 c. not only that they would come but also must come for the tryal of the Elect Our Saviour also tells us that he came not to bring peace on earth but a sword to set a man at variance against his Father and the Daughter against her Mother Matt. x. 34 c. And doth vain man think by his wisdom to frustrate the Divine Decree yea to stop our Saviours mouth from preaching the Gospel and say I beseech you Sir hold your peace you set men at variance even Father and Son Mother and Daughter one against another What think you Beloved were this wisdom or desperate sinful folly It is just the same or indeed far worse than to desire God to withdraw the Sun from shining on the earth because it causes evil weeds to grow up in evil ground Wherefore my Beloved I beseech you let us hearken to the true wisdom of God and not to the vain deceivable wisdom of man born as ignorant as the wild asses colt Yet he will be so wise as for the preventing of Errors and Divisions to shut up the Holy Scripture from the people which God hath commanded to be delivered to the people But I shall shew you yet farther the perverseness of these pretending wise men Is it not well known to all men verst in the writings of antiquity that the most dangerous spreading Heresies which infested the Church for several Ages and whereof some continue to this very day sprang not from the people but from learned eminent men Priests and Bishops Monks and Abbots and divers others famous for learning as the Arian the Nestorian the Eutychian the Pelagian the Macedonian the Manichean Heresies and several others which have mightily disturbed the Christian Church in all Nations East West North and South And then by the rule of our rare wise men the Scripture must be shut up from these also Bishops and Priests as well as people from all Seal it up and bury it in a Cave till the Resurrection of the dead and before that time all Religion may be dead and buried also and in the mean time we may take the Alcoran for our meditation or Ovid de Fastibus and so all become Turks or Heathens and the Kingdom of Satan set up instead of the Kingdom of Christ. Satan himself could not have found out a better exploit to do his work And really my beloved I must in all seriousness tell you that the Christian world was very far degenerated and declining into Heathenism by shutting up the Scriptures in later Ages before it pleased God in his great
burthen of his imposed Superstitions and zealously embrace them then perchance you may have leave as I said of your Confessor to read the Scriptures and then 't is no sin Your Confessor your Confounder thus insolently to usurp over your Christian Liberty You that are called to the glorious liberty of the Children of God and have heard God the Father speaking unto you in the Law God the Son speaking to you in the Gospel God the Holy Ghost speaking to you in the Apostles three Persons one Almighty God commanding you to read the Scriptures and teach them your Children must you now ask a silly blind worm of the Earth leave to read them Can you ever suffer your selves thus to be blindfolded fettered and enslaved under Popish Tyranny Thus to be deprived of the Gospel the Word of Life the Power of God unto Salvation No Beloved I hope you will never be so infatuated by deluding words nor so terrified with any threatning powers upon Earth or under the Earth as to quit this Heavenly Food of your Souls Man liveth not by bread only but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God Earthly Food entreth into the belly and so passeth out into the draught but this Heavenly Food the Word of God abideth for ever and shall nourish up our Souls unto Everlasting Life This ought to be our daily bread herein we should read and meditate day and night and say with David I have more delight in thy Commandments than in thousands of gold and silver For here we find a Heavenly Treasure for our Souls here we learn all things profitable for our Salvation this is the Book which teaches Priests that blessed work of gaining Souls unto Christ by sound Doctrine and godly Example which will make them shine in this World as Stars in the Firmament Let your Light so shine This is the Book that teaches Princes and all Magistrates their duty to God for the People to administer justice with uprightness to shew mercy with prudence to subdue the rebellious to protect the oppressed and this will make them feared loved and even adored as Gods upon Earth I said ye are Gods this Book will teach the People their duty and piety towards God their duty and loyalty to their Sovereign reverence to all in Authority love and peace with their fellow Subjects Here great ones learn humility rich men charity poor contentedness the oppressed patience the afflicted comfort it worketh all in all to Gods glory and our own eternal happiness Happy are the people that are in such a case yea blessed are the people who have the Lord for their God and his Holy Law for their instruction in all things as we have other Books may be helps to Devotion and give us some instruction for life but all come much short of this Holy Book When you would have a Tree thrive and bear fruit you dig about it you manure it with soil and water it all these are good helps yet all these without Sun-shine upon it effect little 't is the Sun that fetches up the sap causes it to budd blossom and bear fruit And so 't is that Sun of Righteousness who there speaks to us and sends the powerful raies of his grace upon our hearts 't is he that worketh in us and causeth us to bring forth fruit The Law of the Lord as David saith converteth the Soul it doth not only instruct the Soul as other Books but also converts the Soul gives life unto Souls dead in sin for 't is the word of life the power of God unto salvation And blessed be the infinite goodness and mercy of God who so freely imparts this Heavenly Blessing to us all Come come hither all ye that hunger and thirst ofter Righteousness come Clergy come Laity come Male and Female come Old and Young come Rich and Poor come and ye shall all be satisfied Come buy without money and without price for our God is a most gracious God he will not send any one away empty no but giveth liberally to all men And to this our most gracious God be ascribed as is most due all honour and praise majesty and glory now and for ever Amen The Second SERMON ON JOHN V. Ver. 39. Search the Scriptures for in them ye think ye have Eternal Life THE former part of this Text Search the Scriptures I have already treated of shewing you that this Command of our Saviour belongs to all conditions of men and women and that 't is not only lawful but pious also and profitable for all to read the Scriptures and to teach them their Children that from their very infancy they may suck in the sincere milk of the Word that they may grow thereby And this I proved unto you by the whole current of the Bible both Old and New Testament And therefore it is a strange presumption very foolish and very impious for vain man born ignorant as the wild Asses Colt to pretend to give reasons for shutting up the Scripture from the People God having so expresly and so often commanded all to read the Scriptures And consequently 't is a blasphemous speech to say that the peoples reading the Scripture causeth them to fall into schisms and heresies for it casts a reproach upon Gods Command making him the Author of Sin But now put the case that the peoples reading of Scripture were the real cause of their falling into Schisms and Errors which God forbid we should say in earnest but only let us suppose it and then consider whether or no it be not far worse with them that shut up the Scripture from the people than with us that let them read it For first none of our Sectaries that depend on Scripture fall into such damnable Errors as the Papists Idolatrous worship and dismembring the blessed Sacrament and some others Secondly we have but few in corners here and there run into Errors not one of a hundred or scarce of a thousand whereas their whole Church from the lowest to the very highest People Priests Bishops Archbishops Pope and all as it was with the Iews in their fits of Idolatry all run into the same Nay 't is worse with these than with the Iews for these have not recovered themselves out of their Errors many hundred years together but most obstinately persist in them notwithstanding the many learned Protestant Writers that have so palpably discovered them yet like Demetrius the the Silver-Smith with his Crafts-men so the Pope and his adherents animate one another saying their Craft will be in danger to be set at nought their Idol-Temples would be despised and their wealth and magnificence utterly destroyed And thus Beloved you see the miserable and desperate condition of these poor blinded and fettered Christians the Pope hath got them fast within his enchanted Chain and 't is his interest never to let them go and all this by shutting up the Scripture Lord have mercy upon them and
of God to confirm their Doctrine for we have no other assurance of the Doctrine delivered by the Apostles but the miracles which they wrought in confirmation of it Excuse me for herein you are foully mistaken we have our Saviours command given them to preach the Gospel to all the world and we have his promise made to them that he would send the Holy Ghost unto them to lead them into all truth which we are assured did descend upon them working miraculously in divers and sundry manners Wherefore to speak properly we say That we do not believe in the Apostles but we believe in God the Holy Ghost speaking to us by the Apostles And which is yet more our Saviour himself which was both God and man yet he doth not require us to believe in him as man but as God assuring us so Ioh. viii 28. I do nothing of my self but as my father hath taught me I speak these things And again xii 49. I have not spoken of my self but the father which sent me he gave me a commandment what I should say and what I should speak By which we are fully instructed that we are not to believe in any man living but only in God speaking to us by man and therefore we are not to give Divine Faith to the Doctrine of any man the greatest Saint that ever was unless we are as fully assured that he hath God the Holy Ghost speaking in him as we are that he spake to us by the Apostles And certainly we have no such assurance of any man since the Apostles no special command given by Christ to preach any new Gospel no promise of the Holy Ghost to lead them into all truth no visible descension of the Holy Ghost in after Ages no gift of tongues nor prophesie But it may be you think that at the end of St. Matthews Gospel where Christ sends the Apostles to preach and says Lo I am with you always even unto the end of the world this promise must be intended to the Apostles Successors also the Fathers of the Church that Christ would be with them unto the end of the world for the Apostles themselves were not to continue unto the end of the world but their Successors All this I grant that Christ will be with the Fathers of the Church the Successors of the Apostles to the end of the world who succeed the Apostles in their Doctrine as well as in Office Christ will bless them and prosper that Doctrine unto the end of the world Wherefore I pray you consider the whole context of that place Vers. 19 20. Go ye therefore and teach all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father of the Son and of the Holy Ghost teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you and lo I am with you always even unto the end of the world So long as you teach the things I have commanded you so long I am with you even to the end of the world The promise then of being with them to the end of the world is conditional viz. If they teach the things that Christ hath commanded either by himself or by his Apostles who were guided by his Spirit all which commands of Christ and his Apostles are delivered unto us in the Scriptures On this condition the promise was made in teaching the things commanded and not otherwise What is this to teaching of new Doctrine not commanded by Christ not contained in Scripture Not one tittle of promise made for that nor any commission given to teach new Doctrines but rather a curse for the person teaching any other Gospel than what was already preached be he man on earth or Angel from Heaven Gal. i. 8. Why because the Doctrine preacht by Christ and his Apostles was compleat for our Salvation And therefore we do not find that any one of the antient Holy Fathers doth pretend to any such infallible guidance of the Holy Ghost and thereby require submission and obedience to his Doctrine but rather declares quite contrary as I have newly mentioned unto you out of St. Austine one of the four principal Doctors of the Church who gives us a general rule Not to give any assured belief to any the most learned and most Holy Fathers farther than they can prove their Doctrine by Scriptures that is our compleat rule of faith Is it not then a strange disobedient wilful blind submission to their Doctrine expresly contrary to the rule of faith given by themselves And great reason had St. Austin to give us this rule when he had found as he expresses in another place that St. Cyprian a preceding Father of the Church most eminent for learning and sanctity who laid down his life for the faith this great Doctor Saint and Martyr taught and maintained an error even unto death which error of his was condemned afterwards by the whole Christian Church And not only St. Cyprian but all the great Bishops of Affrica joyned with him in this error And long before St. Cyprian Papias Bishop of Hierapolis whom that famous Bishop of Lyons Irenaeus affirms to have been a Disciple of St. Iohn the Evangelist and very probably he might be so for St. Iohn dyed in the hundred and second year of our Lord and Papias was then a Pastor of the Church He taught if not began as most antient Writers conceive the error of the Chiliasts That Christ should come again to reign here on earth a thousand years Irenaeus Bishop of Lyons mentioned before learnt this error of him and did propagate it farther till at length it infected most Writers of that Age. And this Irenaeus himself was the Disciple of St. Polycarpus and Polycarpus the Disciple of St. Iohn and therefore 't was no wonder that this error was taken up by many Doctors of the Church having two such famous men the Authors of it Yet this error was not long after rejected by the whole Christian Church Good reason then had St. Austin to give us that rule not to subscribe to any Doctrine of the Fathers but such as they proved by Holy Scriptures And it was a seasonable caution to future Ages against his own Doctrine for he himself taught the error that it was necessary to administer the Sacrament of the Lords Supper to Infants and this was an opinion generally believed in the Christian Church for many years though afterwards and to this day concluded a gross error And I beg leave to say this as true as free That whoever reads the Doctors and Fathers of the Church writings of the erroneous customs generally practised in their times but afterwards rejected by the whole Christian Church as well by the Papists as others shall find these Fathers as zealously maintaining by forced arguments and wrested Scriptures those their erroneous customs as the soundest truths God is my record I say not this out of any reproach to them whereof many have been great Champions for the fundamental truths and