asserting that Protestants cannot be saved do easily learn to practice this Lesson of the Pope and Council I come now to prove that your Pope and Councill and Faith are false and that others besides you may be in a state of Charity and Salvation For you confess your selves that he that is in a state of Charity is in a state of Salvation 1. If a man may know his own heart then there are others besides Papists that are in Charity and are godly men and so in a state of Salvation But a man may know his own heart therefore c. The Consequence of the Major is plain by inward experience to every godly honest man that knoweth himself If I can know my own heart I must needs say I love God and am not void of sincere Godliness and Honesty And that I may know my own heart I can tell also by experience For to know my own Knowledge and Will is an ordinary certain thing if not by intuition it self And if a man cannot know whether he believe and love God or not then no man can give thanks for it nor make Profession of it nay men cannot converse together if they cannot know their own minds And Bellarmine confesseth that we may have a moral Conjectural certainty that we have true Love and are justified And then I have a moral conjectural certainty at least that Popery is false because I have at least such a certainty that I am not ungodly or unjustified So that look what measure of knowledge or perswasion any Protestant hath that he is truly honest and justified that measure of knowledge must he needs have if he understand himself that Popery is a deceit So that from hence you may gather these four conclusions 1. That all that have any knowledge or perswasion that they are not ungodly unjustified persons themselves and void of the true Love of God are quite out of danger from turning Papists if they understand but what Popery is and if they do not they cannot turn to it but in part 2. That never any honest godly man did turn Papist in the world and this the Papists themselves will justifie For they say by a Pope and general Council that no man can be saved but a Papist and they generally hold that all that have Charity and are justified shall be saved if they so die So that if Popery be true then no man had Charity or true Godliness before he was a Papist and therefore never did one godly man or woman turn Papist And therefore let them take the honour of their wicked seduced Ones What glory is it to them that none ever turned to them but ungodly people 3. And it followeth that the Papists do not so much as desire or invite any godly man to turn to them If you understand their meaning they call you not to turn to them if you are not ungodly persons 4. And hence it follows that every one that turneth Papist doth thereby confess that he was a wicked man before and that he had not the least true love to God that he was not justified but a graceless wretch In a word all you that do but know or hope that you have any saving Grace have an Argument here against Popery which all the Jesuites in the world cannot confute For you know your own hearts better then they And they have no way to turn you to them but by perswading you that you are not what you are and that you know not what you know So that plainly this is your Argument I know or I have good perswasions that I am not utterly void of Charity or saving Grace therefore I know or have the same perswasions that Popery is false which determineth that none have Charity or saving Grace but Papists 2. But I proceed to a further proof of the Minor A man may have a very strong Conjecture that many others that are no Papists have saving Grace though he had no perswasion that he hath such Grace himself And consequently he must have as strong a conjecture that Popery is false What abundance of holy heavenly persons have we known of all ranks among us Such as have lived in dayly breathings after God spending no small part of their lives upon their knees and in the serious and reverent attendance upon God in holy worship meditating day and night upon his Law hating all known sin and delighting in holiness and longing for perfection and living in constant Temperance and Chastity abhorring the very appearance of evill and making conscience of an idle word or thought devoting their lives and labors and all they have to God giving all their Estates some of them to pious and charitable uses except what is necessary for their dayly bread even mean cloathing and food taming their bodies and bringing them into subjection and denying themselves and mortifying the flesh and contemning all the Honors or Riches of the world resolving to suffer death it self as many of their Brethren have done from the Papists rather then sin wilfully against God and their consciences in a word living to God and longing to be with him and manifesting these longings to the very death grieving more at any time if they have but lost the sense and perswasions of the love of God then if they had lost all the world and would give a thousand worlds if they had them for more of the Love of God in their souls and fuller assurance of his Love and Communion with him As far as words and groans and tears and the very drift of a mans life and the expending of all that he hath can help us to know another mans heart so far do we know all this by others that have lived among us And may we not conjecture and be strongly perswaded that these or some of these or some one of these was a holy justified person And now Reader if ever thou be tempted to be a Papist I will tell thee what a task thou hast Look on one side on the Lives of holy men among us such as was Mr. Dodd Mr. Paul Bayn Mr. William Fenner Mr. Arthur Hildersham Mr. Robert Bolton Mr. Greenham Mr. Hooker Dr. Sibbs Dr. Preston Dr. Stoughton Mr. Perkins with many hundreds more Besides blessed Bradford Glover Sanders Hooper and the rest that laid down their lives in the flames in testimony against Popery besides all the thousands that in other Nations have dyed by the Papists hands because they durst not sin against God and besides all the Learned holy Divines of other Nations and the millions of Godly Protestants there as also look upon all the godly that are now living men or women that live in most earnest seeking after God and serving him look on those about you enquire of others read the writings of holy Divines and then remember you cannot turn Papist till you have concluded that all these are damned and are utterly void of saving Grace and the Love
Albaspinaeus before cited saith he knows not whether ever any one was kept away in his age 5. The Protestants hold that men are not to be let alone in scandalous sin but admonished privately and then openly before the Church and if yet they Repent not and Reform not to be cast out and not to be absolved or re-admitted without a Publick Confession and Penitence answerable to the sin And this wicked people hate at the very heart and will not endure But the Papists have got a device to please them by Auricular secret Confession to a Priest where if he will but confess and sin and sin and confess again he may have a pardon of course without any open shame or true Reformation If we durst but imitate the Papists in this one particular we should do much to please the people that are now exasperated for I find that almost any of them will confess in secret that they have sinned that will not endure the open shame 6. The Protestants hold that every sin deserveth death and that every breach of the Law is such a sin though God will not inflict the Punishment on them that have a pardon But the Papists tell us of a multitude of sins that are but venial that is sins that deserve pardon and yet deserve not Hell and are indeed no sins but analogically so called And they make those to be such venial sins which Protestants account abominably gross as some lying some swearing in common talk some drunkenness some fornication and the like are with them but venial sins which are properly no sins And yet here also they are by the ears among themselves some saying that venial sins are properly sins and most denying it Yea all sins that are not deliberated on are with them but venial sins So that if they will but sufficiently brutifie themselves by suspending the exercise of reason and will swear curse murder without deliberation they are then free from sin and danger And how easie and pleasing is this to the ungodly Those are but Evangelical Counsails with the Papists that are the Precepts or Laws of Christ to the Protestants 7. The Protestants teach men that it is their duty to seek the understanding of the holy Scripture and to meditate in it day and night but the Papists do forbid the Common people to read it in a language which they understand and save them all that labour that Protestants put them on Nothing can win the people more then cherishing them thus in sloth and ignorance 8. The Protestants say that a man cannot be justified or saved without an actual faith in Christ or being the Infant of a believer Dedicated to Christ and that this faith must extend to all things that are Essential to Christianity But what the Papists say of the Justification and Salvation of Infidels if they believe in the Pope you heard in their own words in the last Detection A comfortable doctrine to the unbelieving world to whom God hath spoken no such Comfort We confess that those that never had the Gospel are under the Law of nature or works and that the penalty of this is such as God can in some cases dispense with or else we could not be saved by Christ and so that all Pagans are not under the Peremptory undispensable threatning of the Gospel against final Privative unbelievers But yet though God may pardon some of these he hath made them no promise that he will and therefore they can have no positive hope grounded on a promise nor can any man say that God will save any of them or that he will not it being certain that they are under the condemnation of the Law which God can dispense with in wayes of security to his Justice and Ends but uncertain whether he will or not and therefore is to be left among his unrevealed things The true believer is under a certain promise of salvation The unbeliever that hath had the Gospel or might have had it and would not is under the Gospel sentence of damnation which is certain and irreversible if he die in that Condition The negative unbeliever that never had or could have the Gospel is under the Condemning sentence of the Law of works or nature that is his sin Deserveth eternal death but this sentence is not peremptory and indispensable but yet it is such as God will not dispense with rashly but on terms that may secure his Ends and Justice This is the true mean between extreams in this weighty point 9. The Protestants say that all our best works are imperfect and the sin that adhereth to them deserves Gods wrath according to the Law of works though he pardon it by the Law of Grace and that when we have done all we are unprofitable servants and properly Merit nothing of God for the worth of our works or in Commutative Justice But the Papists take those very works to Merit heaven ex Condigno and for here they are by the ears again say some of them by the Proportion of the work and in Commutative Justice which the Protestants say deserve damnation for their sinful imperfections and therefore need a pardon through the blood of Christ Yea they take these works to be perfect and the man to be perfect and say that by such works as these they may Merit for others as well as for themselves And how easie and pleasing is this to proud corrupted Nature 10. The Protestants think that no Faith Justifieth but that which is accompanyed with unfeigned Love and Resolution for Obedience But the Papists make Faith that 's separated from Charity and joyned with Attrition to be sufficient for admission to the Sacrament which shall be instead of Love or Contrition and so shall put away all sin 11. The Protestants knowing that God is a Spirit and will be worshipped in Spirit and truth do teach people a spiritual way of worship which Carnal men are undisposed to and unacquainted with But the Papists do accommodate them by a multitude of Ceremonies Images and a Pompous histrionical kind of worship which is easie and pleasant to flesh and blood To have an Image before them and Copes and Ornaments and abundance of formalities and to drop so many Beads and be saved for saying over so many Ave Maries or such like words what an easie kind of Religion is this and how agreeable to flesh and blood How much easier is it to say over their offices then to Love God above all and desire after Communion with him in the spirit and to delight in him and to pray in Faith and heavenly fervour 12. Protestants tell men of Hell-fire as the remediless punishment of those sins which Papists say deserve but a Purgatory and they have hopes of coming out of Purgatory but there 's none of coming out of Hell 13. Protestants tell them of no hope of ease or pardon of sin after this life if it be not pardoned here But Papists tell
did Reject the chief of the Popish errors as we do Besides many particular points named in my Safe Religion they Rejected with us the Popes Catholick Monarchy the pretended Infallibility of the Pope or his Councils the new form of the Papall Catholick Church as Headed by him with other such points which are the very fundamentall controversies between us and the Papists So that besides that the Papists themselves profess our Religion the major part of the Catholick Church did profess it with the Rejection of the Papacy and Papall Church and so you may as easily see where our Religion was before Luther as where the Catholick Church or most of Christians were before Luther 3. And beside both these our Religion was professed with a yet greater Rejection of Romish corruptions by thousands and many thousands that lived in the Western Church it self and under the Popes nose and opposed him in many of his ill endeavours against the Church and truth together with them that gave him the hearing and were glad to be quiet and gave way to his tyranny but never consented to it Concerning these we have abundant evidence though abundance more we might have had if the power and subtilty of the Papall faction had not had the handling of them 1. We have abundance of Histories that tell us of the bloody wars and contentions that the Emperours both of East and West have had with the Pope to hinder his tyranny and that they were forced by his power to submit to him contrary to their former free professions 2. And we have abundance of Treatises then written against him both for the Emperours and Princes and against his doctrine and tyranny some store of them Goldastus hath gathered And intimations of more you have in their own expurgatory Indices 3. And we have the histories and professions of the Albigenses Waldenses Bohemians and others that were very numerous and if Raynerius say true they affirmed about the year one thousand one hundred that they had coutinued since the Apostles and no other Originall of them is proved 4. Particular evidence unanswerable is given in by Bishop Usher de Succes statu Eccl. and Answer to the Jesuites and the Ancient Religion of Ireland and in Dr. Field and Morneyes Mysterie of Iniquity and of the Church and Illyricus and many others 5. Even Generall Popish Councils have contended and born witness against the Popes superiority over a Councill 6. And in that and other points whole Countreyes of their own are not yet brought over to the Pope 7. They have still among themselves Dominicans Jansenists c. that are reproached by the Jesuites as siding with Calvin in many Controversies as Catharinus and many more in others Most points of ours which we oppose to Popery being maintained by some or other of them 8. But the fullest evidence is the certain history or knowledge of of the case of the common people and Clergy among them who are partly ignorant of the main matters in Controversies between us as we see by experience of multitudes for one to this day and are generally kept under the fear of fire and sword and torments so that the truth of the Case is this the Roman Bishops were aspiring by degrees to be Arch-bishops and so to be Patriarchs and so to have the first seat and vote and to be called the Chief Bishops or Patriarchs and at last they made another thing of their office and claimed about six hundred years or more after Christ to be universal Monarchs or Governours of all the Church But though this claim was soon laid it was comparatively but few even in the West that made it any Article of their faith but multitudes sided with the Princes that would have kept the Pope lower and the most of the People medled not with the matter but yielded to necessity and gave place to violence except such as the Albigenses Bohemians Wicklefists and the rest that more openly opposed So that no man could judge of the multitude clearly which side they were on being forced by fire and sword and having not the freedom to profess their minds So that in summ our Religion was at first with the Apostles and the Apostolick Church and for divers hundred years after it was with the universal Christian Church And since Romes usurpation it was even with the Romanists though abused and with the greater part of the Catholick Church that renounced Popery then and so do now and also with the opposers of the Pope in the West under his own nose You see now what Succession we plead and where our Church and Religion still was If any deny that we are of the same Church and Religion with the Greeks Abassines and most of the Christian world yea all that is truly Christian I easily prove it 1. They that are Christians joyned to Christ the Head are all of the same Church and Religion for none else are Christians or united to Christ but the Church which is his Body But the sincere Greeks Abassines c. and we are Christians united to Christ the Head therefore we are all of one and the same Church and Religion 2. They that believe the same holy Scripture and differ in no essential part of the Christian faith are of the same Church and Religion but so do both we and all true Christians therefore we are all of one Church and Religion 3. They that are truly regenerate and Justified hating all known sin longing to be perfect Loving God above all and seeking first his Kingdom and Righteousness and accounting all things but as dung in comparison of Christ these are all of the true Catholick Church and the true Christian Religion but such are all that are sincere both of the Greeks Abassines c. and the Reformed Churches as we prove 1. To others by our Profession and Practice by which only they are capable of judging of us 2. To ourselves infallibly against all the Enemies of our salvation in Hell or Earth by the knowledge and acquaintance with our own hearts and the experience of the work of God upon them All the Jesuites in the world cannot perswade me that I love not God and hate not sin and prefer not the Love of Christ before all the world when I feel and know that I do till they can prove that they know my heart better then I do 4. If Christ Consent to it and we Consent to it then we are all that are sincere in their profession of the true Catholick Church and Religion for if he consent and we consent who is there that is able to break the match But Christ consenteth and we consent as we prove by parts 1. His consent is expressed in his Gospel that whoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life and whoever will may drink of the water of life freely 2. And our consent we openly professed at Baptisme and have frequently renewed and our own
Religion as if they were so many Articles of our Faith or at least were the common doctrines of our Churches They will not give us leave to do so by them when yet we have much more reason for it For 1. They teach the People that they are bound to believe as their Teachers bid them and they reproach us for confessing that we are not in all points of Doctrine infallible And yet we still confess this fallibility and say in plain terms that we know but in part 2. Divers of their particular Doctors that we use to cite are such as the Pope hath Canonized for Saints and they tell us that in Canonizing he is infallible And therefore an Infallibly Canonized Saint must not be supposed to err in a point of faith 3. They boast so much of Unity and Concent among themselves that we may the better cite particular Doctors And yet we think our selves bound to stand to their own Law in this and to charge nothing on them as the faith of their Church but what their Church doth own and therefore while they refuse to stand to particular Doctors we will not urge them to it for its good reason that all men should be the Professors of their own belief But what reason is there then that we may not have the same measure from them which they expect We profess to take no man nor Council of men for the Lords of our faith but for the Helpers of our faith They tell us that they know not where to find our Religion We tell them it is entirely in the written word of God and that we know no other Infallible Rule because we know no other Divine Revelation supposing what in Nature is revealed They tell us that All Hereticks do pretend to Scripture and therefore this cannot be the Test of our Religion I answer that so all cavillers and defrauders and extortioners may pretend to the Law of the Land to undo poor men by quirks of wit or tire them with vexatious suits And yet it follows not that we must seek another Rule of Right and take the Law for insufficient And what if Hereticks pretend to Tradition to General Councils and the Decretals of the Popes as you know how frequently they do Will you yield therefore that these are an infufficient Rule or Test of your own Religion Open your eyes and judge as you would be judged But I will come to some of the particular Opinions which they charge us with And because I know not a more weighty renowned Champion of their cause then Cardinal Richleiu then Bishop of Lucion I shall take notice of his twelve great errors which he so vehemently chargeth on the Reformed Churches as contrary to the Scripture And sure I shall do much to make clean our Churches if I fully wipe off all the pretended blots of errour that so wise a man could charge upon them In his Defens contra script 4. Ministr Charenton cap. 2. pag. 12. c. he begins his enumeration thus 1. The Scripture saith Jam. 2. that a man is not Justified by Faith only but you say that he is Justified by Faith alone and by Faith only which is found in no place of Scripture and do you not then resist the Scriptures Answ 1. We believe both the words of Paul and James that a man is Justified by Faith without the Deeds of the Law and saved through Faith not of works lest any man should boast Rom. 3. 28. Ephes 2. 8 9. and also that a man is Justified by works and not by Faith only Jam. 2 Did not this Learned man know that we believe all the Bible why then should he charge us with denying that which we retain and publickly read in our Churches as the word of God Did he think that we set so much by Luthers or any mans writings as by the Bible 2. But if he can prove that we understand not these words aright he should have evinced it better then by the use of the words Faith alone For our Churches by Faith alone do profess openly to mean no more then Paul doth by Faith without works And can they find fault with Paul 3. Indeed we are not all agreed upon the fittest Notion of the interest of Faith and works in our Justification but our difference is more in words and notions then matter of which see my Disput of Justification 4. And. why do you not quarrel with your own Cardinal Contarenus de Justif and others of your own that joyn with us in the doctrine of Justification His second Accusation is The Scripture saith that we can Love God with all the heart you say that no man can Love God with all the heart which is no where read in Scripture and yet do you not resist the Scriptures Answ 1. Unprofitable Confusion we distinguish between Loving God with all the Heart as it signifieth the sincerity and predominant degree of Love and so every true Christian hath it and as it signifieth some extraordinary degree above this meer sincerity and so some eminent stronger Christians have it and as it signifieth the highest Degree which is our duty and which excludeth all sinful imperfection And thus we say that no man actually doth Love God perfectly in this life nor do we think he speaks like a Christian that dare say Lord I Love thee so much that I will not be beholden to thee to forgive the imperfection of my Love or to help me against any sinful imperfection of it Your own Followers whom you admire as the highest Lovers of God do oft lament the imperfections of their Love as M. de Renty for instance in his Life But now if the question be only of the posse and not the act we say that the Potentia naturalis is in all and the Potentia Moralis which is the Habit is in the sanctified but this Moral Power is not perfect it self that is of the highest degree and without any sinful imperfection though yet it hath the perfection of sincerity and in some the perfection of an eminent degree And will not this content you His third Accusation is The Scripture saith that the Eucharist is the Body and Blood of Christ with the adjunction of those words that signifie a true Body and Blood you say that it is not Christs Body and Blood but only a figure sign and testimony which the Scripture no where saith Answ 1. The Scripture saith not that it is his Body and Blood substantially or by Transubstantiation And we say not as you feign that it is not his Body and Blood but a figure c. For we say that it is his Body and Blood Sacramentally and Representatively as he that personateth a King on some just account is called a King and as in actions of Investiture and Delivery the delivering of a Key is the delivering of the House and the delivery of a twig and turf is the delivery of the Land and the deliverer
may say Take this is my House this is my Land which I deliver thee If you be among many Images in a room you will not blame him that saith This is Peter and this is Paul and this is the Virgin Mary 2. The Scripture often calls it Bread after the Consecration which you condemn us for therefore we are taught to call it so 3. The Scripture saith 1 Cor. 10. 4. That Rock was Christ and he saith I am the door John 10. 7. I am the true Vine John 15. 1. David saith I am a worm and no man Psal 22. 6. we believe all this But must we be therefore reproached if we say that David was a man that the Rock was Christ typically that he was a Vine and Door Metaphorically only And yet these are as plain as This is my Body and This is my Blood His fourth Accusation is The Scripture saith that Baptism saveth us and that we are cleansed and regenerate by the washing of water On the contrary you say that Baptism doth neither save us nor regenerate us but is only to us a symbol of salvation ablution and regeneration which is no where said in Scripture Answ A childish contest about words we say that two things go to our full possession of our state of Regeneration Justification and Cleansing One is our fundamental Right which the Promise of the Gospel gives us upon our Heart consent or Covenant with God the other is our Solemn Investiture in regard of the former we are Christians and Regenerate and Justified before Baptism In regard of the later we are made Christians regenerate justified saved by Baptism This we commonly hold and so never denyed what you falsly say we deny As a man is made a King by his Coronation that yet in a sort was one before or as Marriage makes them Husband and Wife by publick solemnization that were fundamentally so before by Private Covenant or as possession is given by a Key a twig and a turf as I said of that which a man had right to before so are we solemnly invested with those benefits by baptism which we had a fundamental Title to before Do not your own writers confess this of a man that is Baptized many years after he had Faith and Charity Do you think Cornelius and the rest that had the Holy Ghost before Baptism Act. 10. had not Justification before Do you think that Constantine the great was unpardoned unregenerate and no Christian till he was Baptized Or rather would you make quarrels against your own Confessions His fifth Accusation is Scripture saith that Priests do forgive sin on the contrary you say that they do not remit them but only testifie that they are remitted which the Scriptures no where say Answ As if Testification could not be a Remission We say that whose sins the Pastors of the Church remit they are remitted Do you not know that these very words were used to every Presbyter in our Ordination here in England We say 1. That Pastors do as Gods Embassadors proclaim his General Conditional Pardon unto all 2. That they are Gods Ministers to make a particular Application and delivery of pardon in Baptism on supposition that the Baptized be qualified for pardon 3. That they are as his Ministers to make the same Application by Declaration and Delivery in the Absolution of the Penitent on supposition that their penitence be sincere 4. And as Church Governours they may on good considerations sometimes remit some humbling disgraceful acts that were imposed on the penitent for the testification of his repentance and the satisfaction of the Church And are not these four concessions enough Or are you minded to pick quarrels that your selves and others may have fewel for the rancour and uncharitableness of your minds But indeed we do not think that any man can primarily as the chief Agent forgive sins but God must be the first pardoner Nor that any man can pardon the sins of the dead and abate or shorten the pains of the soul in a fire called Purgatory Here we leave you And verily if the Pope have power to remit but the very temporal punishment he is a cruel wretch that will not forgive men even good men the torments of the Gout and the Stone and an hundred diseases nay that will not remit them to himself no nor the pains of death when he is so loath to die But I forgot that the Pope hath no body to forgive him because none above him He that connot remit the punishments which we see and feel how shall we believe him without any Divine Testimony that he can remit a penalty that he never saw nor felt nor no man else that can be proved His sixth Accusation is Scripture saith If a Virgin marry she sinneth not but you say that the just sin in all works which Scripture mentions not Answ 1. Do you believe in your Conscience that the Scripture meaneth that a Virgin sinneth not at all in any circumstance or defect in the manner or Concomitants of her Marriage Then I pray tell your Nuns so that if they marry they sin not Tell Priests so that if they marry they sin not Your own reason can expect no other sense in the words but that Marriage as such is no sin to the Virgin And this we grant But yet if you think that in this or in any other work you see God as apprehensively and believe as strongly and restrain every wandring thought as exactly and Love God as much as you are bound to do by the very Law of Nature it self so that you are perfectly blameless and need not be beholden to the blood of Christ to the Mercy of God to the Spirit of Grace either for the forgiveness of these failings or the cure of them you shew then a proud Pharisaical spirit unacquainted with it self and with the Gospel Do you go on and say Lord I thank thee that I am not as other men and I will rather say Lord be mercifull to me a sinner and which shall be rather justified Christ hath told us The streams cannot be perfectly sinless till the fountain be so and Who can say I have made my heart clean I am pure from my sin Prov. 20. 9. For there is not a just man upon earth that doth good and sinneth not Eccl. 7. 20. Christ telleth us that the fruit will be like the Tree the actions like the heart and therefore an imperfect Heart will have imperfect duties If you dare say there is no remnant of sin in your hearts you have so much of it that hindereth you from seeing it Humility and self-knowledge would soon end this controversie We say not that all our works are sins that is either materially forbidden or done in wickedness and from vicious predominant habits But that the same works which Materially are good are tainted with our sinfull imperfections having not in them that measure of knowledge faith love c. as
division nor discontent Lay the Churches peace upon no new humane Impositions if you would have it hold Peruse Rom. 14. and the other Text last cited 1 Cor. 6. 12. 11. The Churches Peace or Unity must not be laid on any bare words of mans devising It 's not a work for Councils or Prelates to form the Christian doctrine in new methods and terms and then to force others to subscribe or use those very terms If the same men that refuse this be willing to subscribe to the whole Scripture or to a Confession in Scripture terms you may force him to no more Object But Hereticks will subscribe to Scripture Answ 1. They must wrest it then or wrest their Consciences And by either or both these shifts they may also subscribe to any of your Confessions 2. If his Heresie be latent in his mind you know it not nor can call him an Heretick nor doth it hurt the Church If it he published or preached to others let civil Governors question him for corporal punishment and let the Associate Pastors question him to his Reformation or Rejection You will have a better ground to reject him for delivering falsehood in his own words then for not subscribing to Truth in your words when he subscribed the same Truth in Gods Words There is no Unity to be expected if you will so far depart from the Scripture sufficiency as to make any more for sense or phrase of absolute necessity to our peace By phrase or terms I mean either the same numerically as in the Original or equipollent as in translations And I say not that it 's necessary to the unity of the Church that every word in Scripture Original or Translations be subscribed to for some may doubt of the corruption of a word or Book But that no more is necessary If all Scripture be not of that degree of Necessity much less humane additions Isa 8. 20. 1 Tim. 3. 17. 2 Tim. 1. 13. 1 Cor. 9. 5. 1 Tim. 6. 20. Act. 20. 32. 12. The Churches Unity Peace must not be laid upon all Divine Truths as not on lesser darker points which neither the being nor well-being of Christianity is concerned in so much as to rest upon them Phil. 3. 15 16. Rom. 14. 15 17 20. Heb. 5. 11 12 13 14. 1 Cor. 7. 19. Gal. 5. 6. 6. 15. Col. 3. 11. 13. We ought to love and esteem as Christians and members of the Catholick Church all those that profess to believe the Essentials of Christianity and to be sanctified by the Spirit of God and lead a holy upright life so they make a credible profession not evidently contradicted by words or deeds though these persons may differ from us in many lower points of Doctrine Worship or Government 1 Cor. 1. 2. Eph. 6. 24. Gal. 6. 15 16. Phil. 3. 16. Rom. 15. 1 2. 14. 1 2. 1 Cor. 8. 9. 14. We ought so to manage the Worship of God in our particular solemn Assemblies that no sober peaceable Christian may be repulsed or forced from our local Communion through differences in things of indifferent nature Heb. 8. 5. Mat. 15. 9. Rom. 14. 13. 14 1. 2 Cor. 11. 3. Joh. 4. 23 24. 15. If any Churches differ from us in Ceremonies or smaller things or if any particular Christians differ so that they cannot in conscience hold local Communion with us in the same Assemblies for Worship E. G. if we sit at the Lords Supper and they dare not take it without kneeling if we sing a version of the Psalms which they scrup'e to joyn in If we permit none to joyn that will not conform in disputable things in such cases though it be first our duty to do our best to remove all offences yet if that cannot be done we may and ought in several Assemblies to take each other for Brethren and of the same Catholick Church so be it we all hold the same essentials of Faith and Godliness and walk accordingly and especially if we also hold those weighty superstructures that the welfare of the Church is most concerned in Though here were few or no instances of this case in the days of the Apostles when divisions were not so great as now yet the general rules in the fore-cited Texts do prove it 16. Ecclesiastical Ministerial Government by whomsoever exercised must not degenerate into a secular coercive Government nor may we use carnal weapons nor meddle by force with mens bodies or estates nor yet can we oblige the Magistrate to do it meerly to execute our censures or without sufficient Evidence to prove it his duty nor can we oblige the people against the Word of God clave errante so that neither Bishop nor Council hath any such power as is properly decisively Judicial obliging to execution be the sentence right or wrong But our people must know that though we be their Guides or Rulers yet are we but Ministers and that they have a higher power to regard and must not obey us against the Lord but in and for him The Power of Pastors therefore is not like Magistrates or absolute Judges as is said before but like a Physitian in his Hospital or in an infected City among his Patients and like a Reader of any Science to voluntary Scholars in his School and as an Embassador to them to whom he is sent So that our Governing being but by the Word and on the Conscience is of the same nature with our Directing 1 Pet. 5. 3. Luke 22. 25 26. 3 Joh. 9. 10. 1 Cor. 4. 1 2. 17. Magistrates are Governors of the Church even as a Church and of Christians as Christians though not Absolutely nor in the same respects by the same means to the same neerest Ends as Pastors Magistrates must force us to our duty and punish us if we be wicked or negligent even as Pastors and cast us out of our Benefices and deny us encouragements if we be insufficient so that ad hoc the Magistrate is the only Judge what is sound doctrine and what heresie what Ministers are sufficient or insufficient culpable or not I say ad hoc so far as to Judge who shall have publick Liberty and Countenance and who shall be punished restrained and discountenanced Thus far the Mastrate is Judge in Religion besides that Judgement of Choice which every private man hath And therefore the Princes of the Christian world should hold some correspondencies like General Councils among themselves by their agents for carrying on the work of Christ and much of the unity and prosperity of Christians lyeth on their hands Isa 49. 23. Psal 2. 12. Rom. 13. 1 2 3 4. 1 King 2. 27 35. 2 King 18. 4. 2 King 23. 8 20. 2 Chron. 14. 3 5. Josh 1. 8. 1 Tim. 2. 2. 18. Yet are the Pastors of the Church in their places Rulers or Guides of Princes and Magistrates that is we Guide them by Doctrine and Church discipline as they Rule us
by force The Pastors are the Judges of Heresie and Vice ad hoc thus far so as to judge who shall be Denounced by themselves unmeet for the Churches Communion and Judges of sound Doctrine so far as to resolve what is by themselves to be taught to the people and Judges of that Magistrate so far as to determine whether he be a fit subject for their Administrations and Communion For every man is to judge when he is to act and execute in these cases and therefore when the Question is Who is to be tolerated or forcibly restrained the Magistrate is the only Judge and the Minister but a teacher But the Question is whom should I admit or not admit to my Communion and whom should I perswade and require the Church to avoid or to receive Here the Pastors are the Judges And when the Question is Whether the Pastor go according to Gods Word or not here the people have Judicium Discretionis and cannot be forced though they ought to obey where they see not sufficient reason to the contrary Mat. 28. 18 19. Heb. 13. 17. 1 Thes 5. 12. 1 Cor. 4. 1. Luk. 12. 42 44. 1 Sam. 28. 18. Dan. 9. 8 10. Joh. 20. 23. 2 Chron. 36. 14 15 16. 19. The honor and power of the Pastors is for their work And so great is that work that as to fleshly accommodations it layeth us under abundance more trouble then the power and honor affordeth us relief from All true Pastors therefore should be so far from striving for Power Greatness and Rule and extent of their Diocess as matters of advantage that they should still look on their Power but as Power to thresh or plough or sow or reap a Power to give alms to all the poor in the Town to visit all the sick to cure mad men that will abuse me c. such a Power to labor and suffer in doing good And thus he that will be the Greatest but think of no other kind of greatness but a power to become the servant of all If men had these true apprehensions of the Episcopal office they would be no more forward in contending for power and large Diocesses then now they are in contending who shall Instruct most of the ignorant or go to the poor ungodly families to further their reformation or intreat beseech exhort most of the obstinate from man to man or who should relieve the most of the poor of all the Countrey about And if this be it they contend for they may Rule without a Commission from the Prince Who will hinder them that hath any fear of God 1 Cor. 4. 9 10 11 12 13 16. Act. 20. 18. to the end 2 Cor. 1. 24. Mark 10. 44. 1 Thes 2 9. Luk. 10. 2. 20. No man is called by God to more work then he can possibly do nor should desire and undertake more And therefore if Prelates and Councils and Popes would but conscionably bethink them of the work what it is and how to be done of what weight and how strict will be the account and then consider how they can do it our differences would quickly be at end For though godly men would put off no service they can do yet when they lookt on the undertaking of these Impossibles they would tremble to think on it All conscionable men are sensible of their weakness and the weight of the work and say who is sufficient for these things And I dare say the strongest of them all would feel the weight of the burden of one Parish and be readyer to beg and seek about for help then to contend for a a larger Diocess unless as the meer necessity of the Church for want of laborers might call them to labor in other parts Duty supposeth Authority and Authority supposeth ability and opportunity even natural ability and mental qualifications Psal 131. 1 2. 2 Cor. 2. 16. BY this much you may see what Unity may be expected in the Church on earth 1. A unity of internal Faith and Love and Spirit among all real Christians 2. A Unity of Profession all professing the same Belief that is of the word of God in General and of the Creed and Essentials of Religion in particular and as many more of the particular truths as they can reach 3. A Unity of Professors in local communion in the same Assemblies in Gods publick Worship in the Word Prayer Praises Sacraments c. Where they cohabite or have opportunity for such communion 4. Among those that are out of our reach or being neer us yet differing in some smaller things where a difference is tolerable we may yet in word writing and deed own each other as Brethren and combine for the promoting of the common good and the commonly received truths and duties So that we have in these four the unity of the spirit in the bond of Peace One Body the Catholick Church comprehending all properly called Christians One Spirit The sanctifying Spirit of Christ One Hope of our calling One Promise or Gospel and One Heaven and End One Lord even Christ the only Head of the Church One Faith Both objective in Scripture and the Creed and subjective specifical which is our Reception of Scripture doctrine and of Christ with his benefits One Baptism entring all one and the same Covenant with Christ to be his and take him for our Lord and Saviour renouncing the world the flesh and devil and signifying this by external washing in the name of that Father Son and Holy Ghost One God and Father Our Creator Preserver our End and Happiness Ephes 4. 3 4 5. And is all this Nothing to you that seemed so much to Paul that unless you have also an Earthly Universal Head and an Unity in Ceremonies wherein all must be of your mind and conform to you as if you were Gods you will revile at our divisions and run to Rome for further Unity HAving laid down those Grounds or Principles on which the Unity and Peace of the Church must be built there appears not any great need of adding any more for the reducing these to practice if these were but received the way of practice would be obvious But briefly I shall lay down these few Propositions implyed in those exprest before 1. Let every man profess his belief of the Holy Scriptures in General and in particular of all that Scripture hath exprest to be of Necessity to Salvation by denouncing death to them that have it not And let them also Profess to consent that God be their God and Christ their Saviour and the Holy Ghost their Sanctifier and that they renounce the flesh the world and Devil resolving to live a holy life And let this be by a credible way of Professing And all that do thus let us esteem love and use them as Christians till they some way plainly disown this Profession 2. Let every such Baptized Professor owning also the Ministry Church and Worship Ordinances plainly required
in Scripture be a member of some particular Church where he may worship God in the Communion of Saints 3. Let those that make not the foresaid Christian Profession be excluded the number of Christians and those that own not the Fundamentals of communion the Church Ministry Word Prayer Praise Sacrament of Communion be taken as unmeet for actual communion with us though yet we censure them not to be no Christians 4. Let those that are obstinate and impenitent in any Errors contrary to the said Profession and Ordinances or in actual gross sin or discovering an ungodly heart be rejected by the Church after due admonition and patience 5 Let all the Pastors Associate and hold constant correspondency according to their neerness and opportunity for helping and strengthening each other and unanimous carrying on the work of Christ 6. Let these Associations have standing Presidents where the peace of the Church requireth it 7 Let no particular Pastors set up any thing in Gods publick Worship which is not Necessary and may tend to make divisions by driving tender Consciences from his communion 8. Let Associations forbear making Laws to others and imposing as Governours and let them make Agreements for certain Duty and not Laws that pretend to make new duties and let them Agree on nothing unnecessary 9. Let them study Holiness as much as Peace and keep clean themselves and their societies as far as they can and look at labour and suffering and not at any other honour and power but what is for duty and let them look abroad and help the dark parts within their reach and lay out themselves freely and industriously for God and have the chief regard to the most publick good 10. Let him that is justly cast out of one Church be received by none into communion till he be reconciled and if they suspect that he is unjustly cast out let him not be received till the Church that cast him out be heard and the injury or his Repentance manifest 11. Let those that cannot hold local communion because of some smaller practical difference as gestures words c. and yet agree in the foresaid Profession and Fundamentals of Communion yet own each other professedly as Brethren and maintain Love and communion in other respects 12. Let all differing Christians consult and agree how to hold their differences so as may least prejudice the common truths which all receive and as may least hinder the salvation of the ungodly or offend the weak 13. Let none judge or defame each other till they are heard and see they have sufficient cause by certain proof And then admonish them and bring the cause to the Association before they proceed further 14. Let the correspondency of Pastors extend as far as there is Capacity Opportunity and need We cannot correspond with the Antipodes nor much with the Ethiopians nor such remote parts there is seldom opportunity and seldom necessity of actual correspondence with forreign Nations But yet when publick occasions require it the publickest cases being the weightiest we should by Delegates or Messengers from several Associations perform our duties in all such correspondencies whether in Councils or otherwise 15. If any members of our Churches travail into other parts they should take Certificates or Communicatory Letters that they may be admitted to the communion of the Churches where they travail or abide 16. The chief consultations for General Peace and effectual promoting the healing of the Churches and the propagation of the Gospel into the unbelieving parts of the world should be done by Christian Princes by their Agents and though Ministers are fit to be partly their Agents in such consultations yet not meerly as Pastors but as fit men employed by their Princes He that lives to see but this much reduced to practise will see a better unity and peace in the Church then ever was or will be attained by an earthly Head and Judge of the Universal Church whether Pope or Council or then the Agreement of the five Patriarks and the later Primates and Metropolitans will procure Let us be content with one Head and one Heart and center there but though the fingers and toes be more we can well bear it Take up with the Holy Scriptures as the sufficient Rule Let the Profession of that be the mark of a believer and all such believers be taken to be as they are the Catholick Church and no faction Schismatically and presumptuously confine it to themselves Let this Intellectual Unity of faith be seconded with a cordial Unity of Holy Love to Christ and his Members that so our Unity may begin at the Head and Heart and not perversly at the fingers and toes of smaller matters or at the hair and nails of Ceremonies and indifferent Modes Let this be manifested in Professions of Love and publick ownings of the Catholick Brotherhood and of Christians as Christians and by publick disclaiming all selfishness and partiality and private Interests and all reproachfull words and writings and by actual communion as far as we can Let the Worship of God be performed in such holy simplicity that none may be driven from the sacred Assemblies and let the people be suffered to go the same way to heaven as Peter and Paul did go themselves and lead their hearers in Let us not be ambitious of Church Union or Communion with those that ought to be cast out of the Church and whom we are in Scripture commanded to avoid but let the three attributes of Holy Catholick and Apostolical be still affixed to the Church and be practically considered and those considerations issued in The Communion of Saints And then we shall have so much Unity and Peace as may honour the Christian Religion and strengthen us in the way to our Perfect Peace which is not to be expected in this dark diseased imperfect world This is the way and none but this But is there any hope that while men are as they are such healing Truths should be received and obeyed Yes by here and there a man who shall have the Peace of their peaceable Affections and Endeavours but not by the most either of the people or the Pastors let the evidence of the truth be never so clear Who can expect any great success of such Proposals that knows the world till the time come when Light shall go forth with an absolute resolution to prevail God is one and all that Deny themselves and center in him must needs be One But self is as various and numerous as Persons are And this self is the Heart of the Natural man and the Center of all the unsanctified And every self is a grain of Sand that 's hardly made coherent with another The Darkest mind is self-conceited and the poorest child or beggar is self-affected and high and low Princes and people have self-interests which draw them several waves And in the sanctified this self is mortified but in part and is the first living and