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A26998 The Protestant religion truely stated and justified by the late Reverend Mr. Richard Baxter ; prepared for the press some time before his death ; whereunto is added, by way of preface, some account of the learned author, by Mr. Danel Williams and Mr. Matthew Sylvester. Baxter, Richard, 1615-1691.; Williams, Daniel, 1643?-1716.; Sylvester, Matthew, 1636 or 7-1708. 1692 (1692) Wing B1359; ESTC R1422 79,512 227

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lead them into all Truth and keep them from doing that Work Erroneously which they were commissioned to do Tho' not to make them absolutely free from Sin or Errour in all other things And therefore the Scripture written by them is free from Errour by Virtue of the special promise and Spirit 3. That all true Christians really regenerate are free from all Errour inconsistent with true saving Faith and Title to Salvation 4. That therefore the Church as it signifieth only the said regenerate true Christians hath no Damning Errour or none but what is pardoned as consistent with saving Faith and Holiness 5. That the Universal Visible Church is the whole Company of men on Earth that profess true saving Faith and are by Covenant Vow Baptized into this Profession And that all this true Visible Church professeth no Errour inconsistent with their Profession of the foresaid saving Faith Because the profession of saving Faith is essential to visible Christianity and to the visible Church For mark that I say not that they profess no Errour inconsistent with sincere Faith in themselves subjectively nor yet that as to objective Faith may not by unseen consequence overthrow it For there is such a concatenation of Divine revealed Truths that it is a doubtful case whether any one Errour which all men have do not by remote Consequence subvert the very Foundations But no true Visible Church or Christian so professeth any one Errour as not to profess the essential points of Faith and Godliness tho' they may think falsely that both are true Therefore Protestants teach that unseen Consequences are not to be so charged on those that see them not and hold fast the injured Truth as if it were a known or direct denyal of the Truth 6. But every Church and every man being imperfect both in knowledge Faith and Holiness have all some Errour For to be objectively de fide is to be of Divine Revelation And all the Scripture is Divine Revelation And if the question be Whether any Pope Council or Church understand all the Scripture without any Errour judge by Commentators and common Experience And now what saith the Deceiver against all this 1. He citeth Isa 59.21 God hath promised to preserve his Word in the Church Ergo the Church cannot Err A forged Consequence no more followeth but that the true Church shall not lose or forsake Gods Word For then it would cease to be the Church But 1. Not that the best Churches understand all that Word without any Errour 2. Nor that any particular Church visible may not apostatize or turn Hereticks or corrupt Gods Word and forbid men to use it in a known Tongue as the Papists do Next he citeth Joh. 14.16 As if all the Church had the same promise of the Spirit of Infallibility as the Apostles had If so then 1. Papists are none of the true Church because they have many Errours 2. And if the major part be the Church rather than a minor Sect then all other Christians that are against Popery are free from Errour for they are twice or thrice as many as the Papists 3. And when the far greater part were Arrians they were free from Errour Yea the Council of Sirmium to which Pope Liberius professed full consent Or did Christ break his promise to all these 4. If the Pope or all his Prelates have as full a promise of the Spirit as the Apostles then they may write us a new Bible and Word of God as they did No wonder then if the Canons and Decretals be as much Gods Word as the Bible But why then do they not confirm their Canons by Miracles as the Apostles did And why did so many Popes contradict each other Had both Stephanus Formosus Nicholas and the foresaid Johns that denyed the Life to come c. the same Gift as the Apostles Surely we may well say to them as St. James Shew me thy Faith by thy Works They did shew it by most odious Simony Gluttony Drunkenness Lying with Maids and Wives even at the Apostolick Doors Murdering Christs Members by Thousands Silencing faithful Preachers Deposing Emperours Commanding Perjury and Rebellion even to Sons against their own Fathers Forbidding all Church Worship of God to whole Kingdoms for many years when a King will not obey the Pope By such Works they shew their Faith O the power of Satan and the horrid pravity of man when such things are not only Justified but trusted to for Justification and made consistent with a Church that never Erred Indeed these Errours crept in by Degrees which maketh it difficult to Expositors of Scripture Prophesie to know just the year when the mischief became so ripe as to prove Rome to be Babylon Apostate to Pagano-Christianity and the Pope to be Antichrist But if I see a man Raging mad in Bedlam I will not make it an Article of my Faith that he is Sanae mentis because I know not just when his amentia deliratio or Melancholly became a Mania or Furor The Deceiver also citeth Mat. 18.17 viz. Because men must hear the Church where a Sinner dwelleth that calleth him to Repentance after due Proof and Admonition therefore the Pope and his Prelates cannot Err. An Argument liker a Derision than a serious Proof Did not the Pope then Err when Bishops and Councils have in vain called him to Repent Doth not the Church Err then most damnably that commandeth Murder Treason and most heynous Sin and is the Leader of the Impenitent Must we take such then as Heathens and Publicans But as the man thinketh so the Bell tinketh Do but Fancy that by the Church is meant only the Pope and his Clergy and that all is such Sin which the Pope calleth so tho' God command us and then all such Texts will seem to them to say what they would have them say The man also citeth Eph. 5.27 viz. Christ will present his Regenerate Church perfect and spotless in Judgment What then Ergo the Visible Church on Earth hath no Errour or Spot And Ergo the Pope and his Clergy are this Visible perfect Church And why not as well Constantinople Alexandria Antioch or Jerusalem the Mother Church Which part is it that is the whole or indefectible What is profaining Gods Word if this be not If any should be forbidden the Scripture it is these prophaning Priests The Eighth accused Point That the Church hath been hidden and Invisible Ans We do not think that the Pope and his Clergy-Church have been hidden and invisible Their Wars even in Italy and Rome for many Ages made them Visible Yea and palpable too The Kings and Emperours that they Fought against or Deposed knew them above 100000 Waldenses and Albigenses felt them to the Death Quae Regio in terris talis non plena laboris Whether this man knew not the Protestants Judgment herein or whether he would not have his Reader know it I cannot tell but I shall tell you what it
sins And St. Paul saith 1 Cor. 11.23 I have received of the Lord that which I delivered to you That the Lord Jesus the Night in which he was betrayed took Bread c. Vers 25. After the same manner also he took the Cup when he had Supped saying This Cup is the New-Testament in my blood This do ye as oft as you drink it in remembrance of me For as often as ye eat this Bread and drink this Cup ye do shew the Lord's Death 'till he come Wherefore whosoever shall eat this Bread and drink this Cup of the Lord unworthily shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord But let a man examine himself and so let him eat of that bread and drink of that Cup. These words do so plainly say it is bread after the Consecration and do so plainly require all to drink of the Cup as well as to eat of the Bread that the Infallible Clergy are fain to accuse the Light of Darkness the Text of deceitful Obscurity till the Pope and his Prelates have expounded it by giving it the Lye Just like the Knave in Ignoramus's Play that Proclaimed the man to be Mad from whom he intended to extort Money that is for binding and abusing him What is it to proclaim Christ and Paul to be Fools that could not speak Sense if this be not But the Doctors have also contradictions to charge on Christ even that else-where he saith He that eateth his Flesh shall live for ever Ans 1. That is He that trusteth in a Sacrificed Christ as the means of his Salvation as bread is the means of natural Life He that would not understand cannot understand the plainest Words But doth Christ say that any man eateth his flesh that drinketh not his blood Or that he shall have Life that doth the one without the other 2. And seeing they take every Rogue that eateth their Wafer to eat Christs Flesh do they not here falsly say that all such shall have Eternal Life O happy miserable Church that hath Eternal Life how wicked soever for eating the Wafer and calling it Christs Flesh And all this that Faith may not be thought to be meant by eating 3. But seeing it must needs be eating by the Teeth or by Flesh eating that is meant they have found out a crafty literal way Christ saith that he loveth and cherisheth his Church as his own Flesh and we are Members of his body of his flesh and of his bones And so they that Murdered a Million of the Albigenses c. and Massacred 40000 in France and 200000 in Ireland and Burnt them in England Germany the Low Countries and Tormented and Killed them in Bohemia and many other Lands did learn the literal way of eating Christs Flesh And who doubts but the Devil tells them that they shall thereby obtain everlasting Life But why then are they against drinking his blood when actually they draw it out by streams Perhaps by Burning his Bones as they did Buce●s Phagius Wickliffes and 1000 more they think that their Teeth scape the trouble of gnawing them and thus they feed on Christs body flesh and bones For their Masters beat Witches if they bring him not account at every Meeting of some mischief that they have done 3. And what but flat opposition to Christ should move these men to forbid one half of his Sacrament which he calls the New-Testament in his blood One would wonder what should be their Motive It is no matter of Pleasure Profit or Honour This very Deceiver had more wit than to pretend Antiquity for it or any one ancient Doctor of the Church They dare not deny save to Ignorants and Fools that it is a Novelty contrary to unquestioned Consent and Practice of all Christs Church for above a thousand years or near at least It is undenyably against Christs Institution and Command against his Apostles Doctrine and Scripture Practice against all the Judgment and Practice of the ancient Church against the Nature and Integrity of the Sacrament against the Concord of the Church that will never Unite against all these against the Sense and Comfort of Believers What then doth over-rule so many men to Tear the Church to Murder so many Bohemians as they did c. for such a thing as this is Reader I will tell thee all that I know The Devil is in constant War against Christ and his Kingdom and the Souls of men As he thought he could have triumphed in making Job curse God to his Face so he would fain shew that he can make Christs own pretended Ministers oppose and despise the plainest of his Commands and defie his Word and him to his Face To this he gets by the baits of Worldly Wealth Honour and Dominion a sort of Fleshly Worldly men to be Bishops whose very hearts are against the Laws of Christ And puffing up these men by degrees he tells them how they must be Great and arrogate Power equal to Christs Apostles and so domineer over the Souls of men and all this on pretence of honouring Christ And having gotten a Generation of gross ignorant debauched Villains into the Papal elevated Seat and the Ruling Church Power when some poor Woman once or twice shed some of the Wine or a Priest chanced to spill it their prophane Holiness decreed that they should drink the Wine no more save the Clergy but should eat Christs Blood which they said was in his Flesh and a while they dipt the Wafer in Wine and then pretended Infallibility being their vain Glory they must not change lest they should seem to be fallible and should Repent for Repenting undoes Satans Kingdom The One and Fortieth accused Point That there is not in the Church a true and proper Sacrifice and that the Mass is not a Sacrifice Ans True and proper if the words are intelligible are put against false and equivocal or figurative And what man can tell us which Sence of the word Sacrifice must be taken for the only proper Sence when with Heathens and Christians the word is used in so many Sences and there are so many sorts of Sacrifices This man would not tell you whether it be the Thing or the Name that he controverteth that would be to come into the Light If it be the thing we never doubted but divers things are and must be in the Church which are called Sacrifices some in Scripture and some by Papists And some things by them called Sacrifices are in their Church which God is against If it be the Name that is the question we know that in a General Sence it may be given to many things of different Species and equivocally yet to more but which Sence to call proper among so many let quibling Grammarians tell him We strive no further about Names than tendeth to preserve the due Judgment of things Sometime a Sacrifice signifieth a second thing offered to God by way of worship Sometime more strictly somewhat supposed