of our Faith and all the most solid and necessary Points of Christian Religion but also in common Protestancy against the Idolatry Tyranny and foul Errors of the Church of Rome both Sides impugning the Adoration of the Bread Transubstantiation Sacrifice of the Mass Communion under One Kind Justification by Works Traditions not written Purgatory Worship of Images Infallibility of the Pope c. So that it would be much better for us to arm our selves with mutual and brotherly forbearance against the continual Conspiracies of Antichrist then to lay our Sides open to them through our unhappy Discords and Wars by which neither side can hope for Triumph Far more absurd it would be to upbraid the Protestants with their small Number or to infer their Damnation from that For much more numerous is the Number of Christians under the four Patriarchs in the East and the Great Duke of Muscovy and Russia then of those who in the West adhere to the See of Rome Without question the Number of the Orthodox was very small at what time as St. Jerom testifies The whole World groan'd and admir'd to see it self all Arian Scarcity makes things valuable we are not to adhere to a multitude in Evil nor is the broad Way to be trod but the narrow Path which leads to Life not pervious to many If we must be excluded from Salvation for the smallness of our Number By the same reason the Pharisees of old might have damn'd the Apostles and the Heathens the Christians In the mean time they who reproach us with our small Number and glory in their own Multitude when they come to view the face of Europe are compell'd to talk after another rate Bellarmin praefat in Tom. 1. Controver cannot restrain his fury Who is ignorant saith he of that same Lutheran Pest for Truth was a Plague to the Seat of Pestilence as Christ was the Death of Death and a Pest to Hell that sprung up not long since in Saxony and soon after over-ran almost all Germany then spreading to the North and East delug'd all Denmark Sweadland Norway Gothland Pannonia Hungary and then with equal rapidness shooting to the West and South poyson'd all England France and Scotland flourishing Kingdoms once and at last crossing the Alps extended it self even as far as Italy Nor are we to be condemn'd because we call our selves Reformed or Protestants rather then Catholics For we were first call'd Protestants in the public Dyet at Spire Anno Dom. 1529. because our Electors and Princes there protested against the Errors and Superstitions of the Romish Church plainly in the fame sense as in the old Old Version of the 2 Chron. 24. 19. they who after the Death of Jehoiada oppos'd themselves against Idolatry were mark'd out and differenc'd by the same Name but those Idolaters would by no means give ear to the Protesters So that there being no Satisfaction given to our Consciences upon that Protestation deservedly we deserted that Communion which we believ'd to be pernicious to our Salvation Nor are we therefore to be thought to have deserted the Church For as St. Chrysostom says very remarkably Hom. 46. in Mat. He does not separate from the Church who separates Corporeally but he who Spiritually relinquishes the fundamental Truths of the Church We have left them Locally They have forsaken us in Point of Faith We in departing from them have left the Foundation of the Walls They in forsaking us have forsak'n the Foundations of Scripture We are call'd Reformed not because we reform'd the Religion deliver'd us by Christ and the rest of his Apostles but because we cleans'd it from the Rust of Abuses and Corruptions which that holy Religion had contracted through length of time the Subtilty of Satan and the Vices of Men. And this Reformation the People the Princes and Magistrates and those not a few most earnestly and importunately long'd for all over Europe So that the Tridentine Fathers to satisfie the public Demands at least in outward shew were compell'd to add something of Reformation to every one of their Dogmatical Sessions However we do not renounce these Names of Catholic Protestants Reformed or Lutherans seeing that addition of Catholic belongs of right rather to Us then to you Romanists for that the Doctrin which we profess is the Sincere Orthodox and Catholic Doctrin of the Christian Church as the Apostles deliver'd it from the Beginning Reformed we are in reference to the rejecting Abuses and human Inventions but Catholics as we retain the fundamental Articles of the Christian Religion Nor can this Name suit with them from whom we have departed in any other respect then as they retain some fundamental Truths which as yet are common both to them and us but not in respect of their Additions and Traditions in which we dissent from them In vain do you glory against us of retaining this Name by Force For as Salvian of Marseilles says lib. 4. de Provid What is a holy Name without Merit but an Ornament in the Dirt All the particular Assemblies of Heretics says Lactantius lib. 4. Divin Institut cap. ult believe themselves to be the chiefest Christians and their Church to be the Catholic The very Turks would be called Musselmanni that is the Faithful or Catholic but it suffices us to be really Catholics Good leave therefore have you from us O Romanists to usurp this Name as we call the Saracens Mahumetans who nevertheless derive not their Original from Sarah as Sons of the Promise but from Agar the Egyptian Bond-woman Thus all the Prejudices and Foundations of your precipitate Judgment being repell'd and remov'd Venerable Mr. Prior you constitute at length the only Foundation of your Opinion upon this That in regard that Ours is a new Religion it is impossible we should gain Salvation by the Profession But those things which now are old were formerly new The Christian Religion is at this day New to the Chineses and Japanners nevertheless they ought not to reject it for that Reason For this very sake of Novelty the Heathens refus'd Christianity but in vain There is nothing more Ancient then Truth which beheld the true World in its Infancy But false Religion the Older it is so much is it the more Mischievous True it is the Reformation which we profess is New and newly done but the Rule of it which is comprehended in the Word of God is of great Antiquity according to which whatever was added of Human Invention is separated from the Orthodox and Catholic Doctrin to the end that true and refin'd Antiquity might be retain'd Hence the famous Peter Moulin a Frenchman in a large Treatise against Cardinal Perron has more then sufficiently demonstrated the Novelty of Popery and the Antiquity of the Reformed Religion Therefore our Religion cannot be call'd New since that alone propounds to us things to be believ'd which were believ'd by all Men and every where from the Time of the Apostles according
the Ephesians are commended because they hated the Nicolaitans On the other side the Pergamenians are reprov'd ver 15 16. because they gave them a Toleration Hence in the Ancient Church the Orthodox and Catholics always very sedulously deserted the Communion of Heretics Rome it self which now accuses us of Schism in the very Infancy of the Christian Religion departed from the Asiatic Churches upon a slight difference about Easter-day And it is long since that the Romanists broke the Bond of Unity with the whole East But it is not long since that the Commonwealth of Venice being Excommunicated by Paul V the Jesuites were seen openly to desert the whole Territory so that they rather chose to renounce their Temples their Altars and their Ordinary Worship then remain in the least Communion with the Venetian So that they are not simply to be blam'd who separate but they that separate unjustly and rashly Let us see then whether or no our Separation were just and necessary that we may free it from being Schismatical Certainly it cannot be said that we separated willingly and of our own accords but constrain'd and expell'd by all manner of violences In the very Bosom of the Roman Church we importunately desir'd a Reformation of Abuses which process of time had multiplied as well in Doctrin as in Disciplin and which the Grandees and People in the Churches of Germany France England and the Low Countries most earnestly long'd for both in the Head and Members But what was done They were not only not heard much less heard in so just a Petition but all severity was exercis'd against them with Temporal and Spiritual Arms Fire Sword and Halters were made use of to extirpate out of the World those whom Anathema's and the Thunder of Excommunication had expell'd from all Public Communion Thus Excommunicated Expell'd and lyable to dire Persecution what should we do It was not safe to redeem your Communion at the Price of our Consciences by subscribing to the Errors themselves and by receiving all those School-Assertions which we deem'd contrary to the Rules of Christian Doctrin as Articles of our Faith. Therefore it was necessary that another Worship should be set up that other Pulpits should be erected and that other Congregations should be assembled together which was every where done by the Authority of the Magistrate whose Duty it is to protect the Church and sedulously to take care for the Reformation of Doctrin and Disciplin therein if corrupted through the neglect of the Ordinary Pastors Becanus the Jesuite Analog Vet. Nov. Test c. 26. num 4. reck'ns up several Reformations made in the Jewish Church by Pious Kings such as were Asa Jehosaphat Josia Ezechia and Joas who most certainly had sufficient Authority to reform the Worship of God and to restore it to its Primitive Purity Therefore it cannot be deny'd but that those Christian Princes and Magistrates who in the times of our Fore-fathers put their helping Hands to the Reformation had a Right to labour the Institution of another Worship more Pure more Holy and more Plain then that from which they were forc'd to make a Separation because they had requir'd a Reformation of it Moreover tho' Rome had not forsaken us yet there was a necessity of forsaking her because she refused to reform her own Abuses and long contracted Corruptions We have in this particular a most express Command Apoc. 18. 4. Come out of her my people that you be not partakers of her crimes and receive not of her punishments Which Command is of so much the greater moment because the Jesuites themselves Ribera upon the 14. and 18. Apoc. and Viegas upon the 18. interpret that to be meant of Rome not the Ethnic but the Christian Rome and such as it is in Scripture foretold it shall be under Anti-Christ To us also says Viegas sect 1. in 18. Apoc. it seems that the same thing ought to be said with Aretas Primasius Ambrose Jerom and others observe what Testimonies he cites and how many that the Idolatry of it is here meant and that Rome shall depart from the Faith and so shall become the Habitation of Devils and of every unclean Spirit and every unclean Bird by reason of her execrable Enormities and Superstition of Idolatry which at that time shall rage far and near in the Roman City and Empire But you would say Mr. Prior if you had any Wit how comes it to pass that you have now more nice Consciences then your Fore-fathers had before the Reformation who dy'd in the Communion of the Roman Church and of whose Salvation you are unwilling to make any doubt I Answer first That the Consciences of others are no Rule to ours and that every Man ought to follow his own and not anothers Would you have me as you desire in your Letter that I should embrace the Roman Communion What if I should press you to embrace Ours wherein so many Men enjoy the Tranquility of their Consciences Secondly I say that our Fore-fathers might with safety to their Consciences persevere in the Roman Communion notwithstanding they abominated the Abuses and Corruptions of it because God had not shewn them a way to depart nor were the Abuses as yet so palpably intollerable because they had not as yet obtain'd the force of Law nor were establish'd under the Penalties of Excommunication But the Example of our Ancestors cannot be apply'd to us because that God set up the Standard of the Gospel in another place to Us. He call'd to Us to come out of Babel when the Opinions of the Scholastics were changed into Articles of Faith. So long as the time appointed for their Captivity lasted the Israelites might securely abide either in Egypt or Babel But it had bin a Crime for them to have remain'd there any longer when God call'd them forth to Liberty He would be very ridiculous indeed who having rich and fertile Pastures should neglect them and rather chuse to carry his Flock into noxious Grounds in hopes that his Sheep would let alone the hurtful Weeds and only feed upon the wholsom Herbs So were he deservedly to be derided who should prefer the noxious and dangerous Pastures of the Roman Church before the well Wooded Gardens of the Reformed Churches in hopes of discerning the poysonous Weeds from the wholsom Herbage as it is very probable our Ancestors did Lastly I add this farther That I do not here dispute Whether the Roman Communion may be retain'd without the loss of Eternal Salvation This Question belongs to another place But Whether we are Schismatics because we have deserted it Now I maintain the Negative because that Conscience alone summon'd us to the Separation without any other Consideration nay contrary to all other worldly Considerations which persuaded us to adhere to it Some there are who to convict us of Schism reproach the Calling of our Pastors but with an Argument too weak for the Proof of so great a Crime Formerly
first prov'd by most manifest Proofs that the Mark belongs to Him. And therefore formerly Councils were assembled as well Provincial as General for the Conviction of Heretics wherein it was lawful for the Offenders to defend themselves and the Cause was seriously examin'd by the Rule of Faith and the Documents of Sacred Scripture Neither did Passion prevail among Them but Truth and the Fear of God. But in respect of the Protestants no such thing was ever observ'd for against them they began preposterously with Execution The first Arguments of their Adversaries were Halters Fire and Sword according to the Dystich affixed to the Bed of Charles V at the Augustan Dyet in the Year 1530. Vtere jure tuo Caesar servosque Lutheri Ense Rota Ponto Funibus Igne neca Caesar use thy own Power and Luther's fry With Halters Swords Wheels Fire and Sea destroy Whence it came to pass that after a thousand sorts of Executions and numberless Martyrs consum'd by violent Deaths at length a Council was assembled but packt and consisting of none but the Capital Enemies of the Protestants not to hear them calmly and mildly nor to discuss their Cause with Charity and Meekness but to brandish and rattle o'er their Heads the Thunder os Anathema's Neither were they ever admitted or heard in this Council I mean that of Trent the History of which if read is sufficient to display the Justice of it Nay Rome it self was asham'd of this Council for she only publish'd the Canons and Decrees but diligently suppress'd the Acts which nevertheless were afterwards through the singular Providence of God brought to lightby Paul Sarpio a Venetian of the Order of the Servites under the Name of Pietro Soave Polano to the great astonishment and detestation of all Men whose Judgments were more sound and impartial In the Second place there is no Heresie where there is no stubborn Obstinacy nor wilful persisting in the Error This St. Austin teacheth us Epist 162. They who defend not their Opinion with any stubborn Animosity tho' false and perverse more especially if not brought forth by the boldness of their own Presumption but having receiv'd it from their Parents either seduc'd or fall'n into Error seek after the Truth with industrious Care ready to be corrected when they have found it are not to be numbred among Heretics Now the Reform'd are far from any such Stubbornness nothing retains them in their Religion except the force of Conscience through the evidence of Truth We daily offer those who accuse us of Heresie to forsake the Error if we are in any so they shew it to us with the Light of Truth For with that only Daughter of Heaven we are enamor'd e'en to death who alone can recover and assert our freedom If we discover any extraordinary Zeal and Fervor I wish it were more fervent in our Profession that is not to be imputed to any Spirit of Contradiction but to that most firm Persuasion of our Hearts through the Celestial Illumination of the Divine Word that we are in the way of Truth But yet a little farther Thirdly As a Cat has an enmity against a Bat and will eat it either because she takes it for a Mouse or a Bird so you Romanists prosecute us Protestants with an implacable Hatred and damn us to the Flames of Hell either as Heretics or if that Pretence fail as Schismatics For they who deal most gently by us can afford us no better then to lay to our Charge the Crime of Schism the Rending of the seamless Garment of Christ the Viper's Skin and the breach of the Churches Unity But as far as we are from Heresie so far likewise are we from Schism and of this Crime it will be as easie to clear our selves as of the former First therefore tho' the first Authors of the Reformation had overhastily deserted the Roman Communion which cannot be said in regard that they try'd all ways to preserve themselves in it with safety to their Consciences nevertheless they who were born after the Schism and prefer the Protestant Communion before the Roman because they find Satisfaction of Conscience in it which they have no prospect of in the other Communion cannot be accus'd of Schism nor can be censur'd to have lost the hopes of Salvation because they persevere in the Protestant Communion This perhaps Mr. Prior you look upon as a Paradox and yet it may be prov'd without any great difficulty Certain it is that formerly under Jeroboam ten entire Tribes a Schism happening deserted the Communion of the Church and Temple of Jerusalem of which God had said My Name shall abide there and having made choice of Dan and Bethel for the places of Public Worship joyn'd Idolatry to their Schism For the Calves at Dan and Bethel under which they ador'd God were most assuredly Idols Nevertheless it is a Question whether the Posterity of these Schismatics born in the time of the Schism it self and as it were carry'd away with the Torrent of it are to be excluded from Salvation so that they abstain'd from the Worship of Idols at that time The reason of the Doubt seems very great for that God long after the Schism still acknowledg'd the Ten Tribes for his People sent his Prophets to them and entrusted them with his Extraordinary Oracles If then it cannot be said of these Ten Tribes so notoriously Schismatical that there was nothing remaining of the Covenant of God and Light of Nature for them who were as it were swept away with the Torrent of Schism much less are the Modern Protestants to be excluded from Salvation and formally to be accounted Heretics tho' it should be granted that the first Authors of the Schism did sin against the Rules of Charity and overhastily broke the Bond of Unity especially seeing that the Divine Worship under the New Testament is not fixed to Rome and the Quirinal Mount as it was to Sinai and the Temple of Jerusalem But there is no necessity that we should over earnestly desire the Assistance of the Ten Tribes our Cause would be but in a desperate Condition should it stand in need of their Aid I must confess we did depart from the Church of Rome and that another Worship was set up in the West as to External Rites then was publicly receiv'd before the time of that departure But I deny that this departure so far as concerns our selves to be a Schism rather I averr on the other side that it was lawful and just and that they are to be accounted Schismatics who were the occasion of so necessary a departure that caus'd the Wound to Gangrene and shut the Gate against all Peace and Re-union of the Church For sometimes it may be convenient to desert some Societies that profess the Name of Christ if there be taught among them any other Gospel then what we have receiv'd from the Apostles This is a thing not to be question'd Hence Apoc. 2. 6.