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ID Title Author Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication) STC Words Pages
A30976 A few plain reasons why a Protestant of the Church of England should not turn Roman Catholick by a real Catholick of the Church of England. Barlow, Thomas, 1607-1691. 1688 (1688) Wing B831; ESTC R18233 36,351 51

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to the Jews at Berea they had and daily search'd the Scriptures whether those things which Paul preach'd were so The Apostle commends them for it and shews them the great benefit and blessing they gain'd by doing it They daily searched the Scriptures Therefore says he Many of them believed Their having and reading the Scriptures the Old Testament in their vulgar Tongue was a happy and powerful cause and means of their Believing the Gospel which S. Paul preach'd 4. S. John assures us that the Gospel was by him writ to that very end That we might believe and have eternal Life The Reading and Knowing of the Scriptures was the means God himself had appointed to bring us to true Faith and Salvation and therefore to forbid all reading or hearing the Scriptures in a vulgar and to the People intelligible Language is to contradict God and his Apostles and to deprive men of the great and effectual means of their Salvation 5. S. Peter writing to the dispersed Jews who by God's appointment had and read the Scriptures in their vulgar Tongue he admonisheth and requires them That as new-born babes they should desire the sincere milk of the word that they might grow thereby As the Mothers milk is a wholesom nourishment for young Children to preserve and promote a temporal life so in S. Peter's Judgment the Scriptures are a wholesom nourishment for young Christians to preserve and promote a Spiritual Life and therefore he exhorts them to desire the sincere milk of the word that they may grow thereby And farther as to take away Milk from new-born Children were evidently injust in it self and pernicious to the Children so to take away the Scriptures from young Children in Christ would be equally or rather more impious in him who should take them away and more pernicious to them from whom they are taken Because taking away the Mothers milk from Infants and young Children is only prejudicial to the Body and a temporal Life but to take away the Scriptures from young or any Christians is prejudicial to their Souls and Salvation 6. But altho' S. Peter exhorts the Jews to desire the sincere milk of the Word that is to read and understand it for the benefit of their Souls for he well knew that they had the Scriptures given by God himself in their vulgar Tongue and that there was none then who would hinder them to read them And tho' our Blessed Saviour commanded the Jews to search the Scriptures to bring them to the knowledge and belief that he was the true Messiah and so to eternal Life And altho' S. Paul commands the Colossians that his Epistle to them be read to the Brethren in Laodicea and that the Epistle from Laodicea be read to the Colossians Now tho' those Epistles were writ in Greek a vulgar and well known language to the Colossians and Laodiceans yet S. Paul commands that they be publickly read in both Churches But let Peter and Paul and our Blessed Saviour himself say what he will for diligently reading and searching the Scriptures in any vulgar and to the people known Tongue his pretended Vicar in contradiction to our Blessed Saviour and his Apostles does absolutely condemn all such Reading of Scripture as dangerous and to the people pernicious Lastly you may if you think it convenient and have an opportunity propose this case to your Popish Emissary who ever he be that endeavours to seduce your Parishioners from truth and the Church of England Suppose Sempronius a great and very rich man make his last Will and Testament and divide his estate amongst his Children and give many considerable Legacies to his Friends and Servants and in his Will particularly expresses what and to whom and upon what conditions his Legacies are bequeath'd now Sempronius dyes and some great man has got his Will into his hand and keeping and it being a Will in a Language not understood by the Legatees will neither let them have the Will nor a true and attested copy of it in a Language they understand So that they cannot be assur'd nor any way certainly know either who are by the Will Legatees or what the Legacies are or upon what conditions they are given save only as he who keeps the Will shall be pleased to signifie to them who if he be not an honest man may cheat and cousin them and they have no remedy to secure their right especially if he who keeps the Will be or pretend to be a supream Power from whom lyes no appeal to any superiour Judge who might examine the cause and do them justice In this case 't is most evident that he who keeps the Will is unjust in himself and injurious to the Legatees in keeping them from the knowledge of the Testators Will and so from the knowledg of what he has given them This being granted as of necessity it ought and must you may desire him as a like case to consider 1. That our Blessed Saviour even as Man and our Mediator was very great the Prince of Peace and head of his Church 2. That he liv'd and dy'd for his Church and in his Will left exceeding great Legacies to his Saints and Servants with the conditions he required of the Legatees to make them capable of those Legacies 3. That the Gospel was his last Will and Testament in which who are Legatees and upon what conditions their Legacies become due are particularly express'd 4. His Will was writ in a Language the People do not now understand and the Bishop of Rome having got it into his hand and pretending that he as Vicar of Christ is the sole Supream keeper of it does absolutely deny the People any copy of it in any vulgar Language by them understood and so deprives them of the knowledge of their Blessed Saviour's Will and Testament of the gracious Promises and great Legacies given in it and of the holy Precepts and conditions required of the People to give them a right to those Legacies So that in contradiction to our Blessed Saviour's express command they must neither search or read or have the Gospel in any vulgar Tongue by them understood upon pain of Excommunication They are not permitted to read the Gospel nor must they trust to their own eyes and understanding tho' given them by God for that purpose but they must believe the Church and the Pope or rather an ordinary Priest from him must tell them what Legacies are given and what Duties are requir'd by our Blessed Saviour in the Gospel Now in the former case if the keeping Sempronius his Will from the Legatees was evidently unjust and injurious to the Legatees much more will the detaining our Blessed Saviour's Will from his People the Salvation of whose Souls are so highly concern'd in it be unjust in the Pope and his party and not only injurious but pernicious to the People For in Sempronius his Will the Legacies were only