THE LETTER Writ by the last Assembly General OF THE Clergy of France TO THE PROTESTANTS, Inviting them to return to their Communion. TOGETHER With the Methods proposed by them for their Conviction. Translated into English, and Examined By GILBERT BURNET, D. D.

LONDON, Printed for Richard Chiswell at the Rose and Crown in S. Paul's Church-yard. M DC LXXXIII.

THE PREFACE.

THE fate of most that An­swer any particular Book or Treatise, is such, that, one may be justly discou­raged from undertaking it: For be­sides the great trouble the Answerer is put to, in following his Author in all his Digressions, and perhaps Imperti­nences, and the small game he is often engaged in, about some ill-sounding ex­pression, or some misunderstood period; the issue of the whole business in mat­ters of Controversies, comes at best to this, That it may be confest his Adver­sary has been too unwary in some asser­tions, [Page] or unconcluding in some of his Arguments: But still men retain their old perswasions: And if one whom they had set up for their Champion, should happen to be baffled, they will only say that they mistook their man; and be being made quit the Stage, another is set in his room. So that at most their engagement proves to be of the nature of a single Combate, in the issue of which only two Individu­als, and not two Parties are concerned. But when a whole Body speaks in one Voice, here the undertaking of a single person, in opposition to them, may be thought indeed too hardy and bold; but yet the debate becomes of more con­sequence, at least to the one side, be­cause the Credit of those against whom he writes, is so well established, that a satisfactory Answer to what they offer as the strength of their cause, must needs have great effect on these who examine those matters Critically, and judge of them Impartially.

[Page]The World hath been filled with the noise of the Conversions lately made in France; but it has been generally given out that the violences of Mon­sieur de Marilliac and the Souldiers, and the Payments dispensed by Mon­sieur Pellisson, have been the most prevailing Arguments hitherto made use of. That Great King has indeed in­terposed in this matter, with a Zeal, that if it were well directed, might well become one who reckons these to be his most esteemed Titles, that he is the Most Christian King, and the Eldest Son of the Church. But amidst all this noise of Conversions, we have heard more of the Temporal than Spiritual Sword; and except in the violences and out-rages of some of the Clergy, we have not heard much of any share they have had in this matter. It is true, the Celebrated Explication of their Faith, written some years ago by the then Bishop of Condom, now of Mea [...]x, has made [Page] a great shew, and most of the Conver­sions are esteemed the effects of that Book: And the eminent Vertues of the Author, joined with that great gentle­ness, by which he insinuates himself much into the Hearts of all those that come near him, have perhaps really wrought much on some, whose Con­sciences were by other motives, dispo­sed to be very easily perswaded. Soft words and good periods, have also had some weight with superficial Enquirers. But that Explication of his, which may be well called a good Plea, ma­naged with much Skill and great Elo­quence for a bad cause, has been so often, and so judiciously answered, that I am confident such as have considered these Answers, are no more in danger of being blinded with that dust, which he has so ingeniously raised: For it must be confessed, That his Book de­serves all the commendations that can be given it, for every thing ex­cept the sincerity of it, which (I am [Page] sorry to say it) is not of a piece with the other excellent qualities of that great Prelate.

But now we have before us a work of much more importance, in which we may reasonably conclude the strength of the Roman cause is to be found: Since it is the unanimous voice of the most learned and soundest part of that Communion: For while the Spani­ards have chiefly amused themselves mith the Metaphysical subtilties of School-Divinity, and when the Italians have added to that, the study of the Ca­non Law, as the best way for prefer­m [...]nt; the French have now for above an Age been set on a more solid and generous pursuit of t [...]ue Learning: They have laboured in the publishing of the Fathers Works, with great dili­gence, and more sincerity than could be expected in any other part of that Church; where the watchful Eyes of Inquisitors might have prevented that Fidelity which they have observed in [Page] publishing those Records of Antiqui­ty: So that the state of the for­mer Ages of the Church is better understood there than in any other Nation of that Communion. Nor has the Secular Clergy, or Laity, only laboured with great faithfulness in those enquiries, such as Albaspine, De Marca, Godeau, Launnoy, Huetius, Rigaltius, Valesius and Balusius; to name no more; but even that Order, which is not so much ad­mired over the World for great scru­pulosity of Conscience, has produced there several great Men, that are ne­ver to be named but with Honour, such as Fronto Ducaeus, and Peta­vius; but above all, Sirmondus, through whose Writings there runs such a tincture of Candour and Probity, that in matters of fact, Protestants are generally more enclined to acquiesce in his authority, than those of his own perswasion are; which made them afraid at Rome to give him free access to [Page] their Manuscripts. Nor is the Learn­ing of the Gallican Church that for which they are chiefly to be esteemed: It must also be acknowledged, that from the study of the Ancient Fa­thers many of them seem to have derived a great measure of their Spirit, which has engaged diverse among them to set forward as great a Reformation as the Constitution of their Church can admit of. They have endeavoured not only to disco­ver the corruptions in Morality and Casuistical Divinity, and many o­ther abuses in the Government of the Church, but have also infused in their Clergy a greater Reverence for the Scriptures, a deeper sense of the Pastoral Care, and a higher value for Holy Orders, than had appeared among them for divers Ages before. Some of their Bishops have set their Clergy great Examples: and a disposition of Reforming mens Lives, and of resto­ring the Government of the Church ac­cording [Page] to the Primitive Rules, hath been such, that even those who are better Reformed, both as to their Doctrine and Worship, must yet acknowledge that there are many things among them highly Imitable, and by which they are a great reproach to others, who have not studied to copy after these patterns they have set them. The World will be for ever bound to Honour the Names of Godeau, Paschall, Arnauld, and the Author of the Essays of Mora­lity; and those thoughts which they have set on foot are so just and true, that though their excellent Bishops are now almost all gone off the Stage, and are not succeeded by men of their own tempers, yet it is to be hoped, that these seeds so sown do still grow where they find a soil disposed for them. For though such Notions are not very grateful to some whose Interests biass them another way, or to others whose ill lives make them look on all Books of a severe Piety, and that design a [Page] strict Discipline, as so many Satyrs writ against themselves; yet to such as are not prepossessed nor corrupted, nothing does so easily enter, and continue so fixed as those Maximes which they in­fuse; particularly those of the necessity of a Vocation of the Holy Ghost before one enters into Holy Orders, and a strict application to the care of Souls, after one has engaged in them.

Truth and Goodness are in their Na­tures so Congenial, that there is no way so certain to lead men to the knowledge of the Truth, as to form their minds inwardly to such a sense of Piety and Goodness, as may make them fit receptacles of Truth. Thus did the Heathen Philosophers begin at the purging their Auditors minds, by their cleansing Doctrines before they commu­nicated to them their sublimer Pre­cepts. Among the Jews, the Sons of the Prophets were long prepared in a course of Mortification and Devotion, that so they might become capable of [Page] Divine illapses▪ and our Saviour be­gan his Instructions with the correct­ing the ill Morals of his Followers and Hearers; and did not communicate the higher Mysteries of his Doctrine to them till they were well prepared for it; since, as he said himself, the way to know his Doctrine, whether it was of God or not, was to do his will, which makes the sense of the Soul be­come as exact in judging of its object, as a sound state of Health makes the Organs of our Bodily Senses fit to re­present their objects distinctly to us. And therefore that Church that has ad­vanced so far in the reforming the Mo­rals of the People, and the Conduct of the Clergy, may be very justly esteemed the best, as well as the most learned part of the Roman Commu­nion: Though it is not to be denied, but the Iealousie that those men of bet­ter Notions have fallen under, what by the Interest the Jesuites have gained both at Court and in the Sorbonne, [Page] what by the willingness that is in the greatest part of Men, particularly of corrupt Ecclesiasticks, to love looser Principles, and what by the odious names of Innovators, of Men enclined to He­resie, Schism or Faction, is such, that as on the one hand they are lookt at with an ill Eye, as a sort of men that are neither good Subjects to the King nor to the Pope; So they on the other hand, to free themselves from these imputati­ons, have perhaps departed too much from these sincere principles which they had at first laid down, and have beta­ken themselves to some Arts and Po­licies that do not become men so enlight­ned as they are. But I will not en­large more on this, because I honour them so much, and have learned so much from them, that I will rather bewail, than insult over their failings. But though they themselves are thus suspected, yet such is the force of Truth, and the Evidence of those Maximes which they hold, and the [Page] World is so possessed with them, that even their greatest Enemies are forced to yield to them, rather perhaps be­cause they dare not scandalize the World, by keeping up abuses, of which all people are convinced, than out of any inward affection they bear to a severe or Primitive Discipline. By this means it is that there is now no­thing more common in all the parts of France, than to talk of a Re­formation of abuses, even in those places where the Prelates Example is perhaps one of the most conspicuous of all the Abuses.

To what has been said this may be added, That their Glorious and Con­quering Monarch being now possessed with this Maxime, That he will have but one Religion in his Domini­ons, every one there looks on the re­ducing many of those they call He­reticks, as a sure way to obtain his favour, and so to attain to great Dignities in the Church. It is cer­tain, [Page] the most refined Wits there are now set on work to bring out the strength of their cause with the great­est advantage that is possible. Therefore the Assembly General of their Clergy be­ing called together, (and being so much the more engaged to shew their Zeal against Heresie, that they might co­ver themselves from the Reproaches of some that are more bigotted, for their compliance with the King in the matter of the Regale,) hath now made an Address to all the Calvinists of France, inviting them to return to their Communion; to which they have added Directions to those that shall labour in these Conversions; which they call Me­thods, by which their minds are in general to be wrought upon, with­out entring into the detail of these Arguments, by which the Controver­sies have been hitherto managed. I confess, when I read these first, I [Page] was astonished at most things in them, and could have almost thought that a Veron or a Maimbourg had pub­lished their Visions in the name of that August Body; but I know the Press there is so regulated, and the Constitution of that Kingdom is such, that so gross an abuse could not be put upon the World. Besides, when I had over and over again laid all these methods together, I found that indeed all the strength of their Cause lay divided among them: So that if there is no extraordinary force in them, it is because the Cause can bear nothing that is more solid or more convin­cing. I doubt not but the Letter, and these Methods will be examined in France, with that clearness and exactness that may be expected from the many extraordinary Pens that are there. But I being earnestly de­sired to write somewhat concerning it, have adventured on it, I have [Page] first begun at home, and since here we have the concurring voice of so great and so learned a Church con­cerning the methods of converting Protestants, I hope it will be no un­acceptable thing to this Nation to put these in English, together with such Reflections on them as may be more easily apprehended by every Reader that has but a due measure of Ap­plication and Iudgement, though [...]e has not amused himself much with deep studies of Divinity. I shall hold in the general and to the Rational part as they do, without going further in any particular Enquiry, than shall seem in some sort neces­sary.

I ought to make great Apologies for so hardy an Enterprize, but I cannot do that without giving the Reasons that determined me to it, which is not at present conveni­ent. Therefore I must only in gene­ral [Page] beg the Readers Charity, and that he will not impute this attempt to any forwardness of mine, or to any extravagant opinion I may have of my self, as if I were fit to en­ter the Lists with such great per­sons, to whom I pay all that Reve­rend esteem which becomes both to their Characters and Qualities, and to whom I know better what is due, than to presume to say any thing in contradiction to them, if I were not led to it by that which I owe to Truth, and to the God of Truth: After I have examined both their Letter, and the Methods added to it, I will venture further, and offer on the other hand such Consi­derations as are just and lawful pre­judices against that Communion, and are such as ought, at least, to put all men in doubt that things are not right among them, and to dispose them to believe that matters in Con­troversie [Page] between them and us ought to be examined more exactly and impartially, and that upon a gene­ral view, the prejudices lie much stronger in our favours, than a­gainst us.

The Letter writ by the Assembly of the Cler­gy, to the Calvinists in France. The Arch-Bishops, Bishops, and the whole Gallican Clergy, assembled at Pa­ris by the Kings authority, wish to their Brethren of the Calvinist Sect, Amendment, and a return to the Church, and an Agree­ment with it.

Brethren,

THE whole Church of Christ does now of a great while groan, and your Mother being filled with holy and sincere tender­ness for you, does with regret see you rent from her Belly, her Breasts, and her Bosome, by a voluntary Separa­tion, [Page] and continue still to stray in the Desart.

For how can a Mother forget the Children of her Womb, or the Church be unmindful of her love to you that are still her Children, though you have forgot your duty to her? The Infection of Errour, and the violence of the Cal­vinistical Separation having drawn you away from the Catholick Truth, and the purity of the Ancient Faith, and separated you from the head of the Christian Unity. From hence is it, Brethren, that she groans and complains most grievously, but yet most loving­ly, that her bowels are torn: She seeks for her Sons that are lost, she calls as a Partridge, as a Hen she would gather them together, as an Eagle she provokes them to fly; and being again in the pangs of travel, she de­sires to bear you a second time, ye lit­tle Children, that so Christ may be again formed in you, according to Truth, in the way of the Catholick Church.

Therefore we the whole Gallican Clergy, whom the Holy Ghost has set to govern that Church in which you were born, and who by an uninter­rupted Inheritance hold the same Faith, as well as the same Chairs, which [Page 3] those Holy Bishops held, who first brought the Christian Religion into France, do now call on you, and as the Embassadors of Christ, we ask you, as if God did beseech you by us, Why have you made Separation from us?

For indeed, whether you will or not, such are your circumstances, that you are our Brethren, whom all our Common Father did long ago receive into the adoption of Children, and whom our common Mother, the Church, did like­wise receive into the hope of our Eternal Inheritance. And even he himself who first bewitched you, that you should not obey the Truth of the Gospel, the Standard-bearer of your profession, did at first live amongst us as a Brother, in all things of the same mind with us. Were we not all of the same houshold? Did we not all eat of the same Spiri­tual meat? And did not he perform among us the mutual Offices of Bro­therly Charity? See if you can find any excuse either to your Father, your Mother, or your Brethren, to take off the Infamy of so wicked, so sudden, and so rash a flight; of this dividing of Christ, the renting the Sacraments of Christ, an impious War against the members of Christ, the accusing the [Page] Spouse of Christ, and the denial of the Promises of Christ? Excuse and wash off these things if you can: But since you cannot do it, then confess that you are fallen under that charge of the Pro­phet, An evil Son calls himself righteous, but he cannot wash off his departure.

Wherefore then, Brethren, have you not continued in the root with the whole World? Why did you break the Vows and the Wishes of the Faithful, with the Altars on which they were offered? Why did you intercept the course of Prayer from the Altars, from whence was the ascent to God? Why did you then with Sacrilegious hands endea­vour to remove the Ladder that came down to those Stones, that so Prayers might not be made to God after the customary manner. Other Sectaries hitherto have indeed attempted that, not that they might overthrow the Al­tar of Christ, but that they might raise up their own Altar, such as it was, against the Altar of Christ. But you, as if you had de­signed to destroy the Christian Sacrifice, have dared to commit a crime unheard of before these times. You have de­stroyed the Altars of the Lord of Hosts, in which the Sparrow (Christ) had cho­sen to himself an House, and the Tur­tle [Page 5] (the Church) a Nest, where she might lay her young.

It was this Schismatical fury that brought forth these things, and allhat has followed since, either of Wars against the Church, or of Errours against the Ancient Doctrine: Nor would we have those things ascribed so much to your Inclinations as to the nature of Schism. But this is that up­on which we expostulate with you in particular, and which we ask of you without ceasing, Why have you made the Schism? And unless you answer this, how well soever you may speak or write of other things, it is all to no purpose.

We do not doubt, but in answer to this, you will make use of that old and common defence of all Schismaticks, and that you who upon trial, know that it is not possible to shake the Do­ctrines believed by us, will begin to inveigh against the Morals of our men, as if holier persons, who love severer Laws, could not hold it creditable for their reputation, or safe to their Con­sciences, to live with such men. These are the things forsooth, Brethren, for which the Unity of Christ is rent by you, the Inheritance of your Brethren is blasphemed, and the Vertue and [Page 6] Truth of the Sacraments of the Church are despised: Consider how far you have departed from the Gospel in this.

These things that you object were less considerable both for number and weight, or perhaps unknown, and may be not at all true. But if they had been true, and acknowledged, and worse than they were, yet those Tares ought to have been spared by Christians, for the sake of the Wheat: for the vices of the bad are to be endured, because of the mixture of the good. Moses en­dured thousands that murmured against God. Samuel endured both Eli's Sons and his own, that acted perversly Christ himself, our Lord, endured Iu­d [...]s that was his Accuser, and a Thief, and also his Betrayer. The Apostles en­dured false Brethren, and false Apostle [...] that opposed them and their Doctrine▪ And S. Paul, who did not seek his ow [...] things, but the things of Jesus Christ conversed with great patience among those that sought their own things, an [...] not the things of Iesus Christ. But you▪ dear Brethren, not only have not endu­red the Church, your Mother, and th [...] Spouse of Christ, but have rent, torn and violated her Unity: And that yo [...] might thus rend, tear and violate he [...] ▪ [Page 7] you have charged the blemishes of pri­vate persons on her, whom Christ has cleansed with the washing of Water through the Word of Life, that he might present her glorious to himself, without either spot or wrinkle, or any such thing.

What remains then, Brethren, but that for your sakes we follow that ad­vice of the Holy Ghosts, Blessed are the Peace-makers, for they shall be called the Sons of God. And that by the Bowels of Mercy, which you have hitherto torn; by the Womb of the Church, your Mother, which you have burst; by the Charity of Brethren, which you have so oft violated; by the Sacraments of God, which you have despised; by the Altars of God, which you have broken; and by every thing, Sacred or Divine, that is worshipped either in Heaven or Earth; we exhort you with the Hearts of Brethren to amend, to return, and to be reconciled. And what indeed remains, but that you, forgetting the Schism, and remembring your Mothers Breasts, should again come home, where there are so many hired Servants that have bread enough, while you cannot gather up crumbs for satisfying in any sort your Spiritual [Page 8] hunger, being in a dry and untrodden Desart. Why then do you delay or with­stand this? Are you ashamed to be reckoned Children with those, among whom the eldest Son Lewis is daily erect­ing new Trophies to the Church his best Mother: Who, by reason of your wilfulness, is in this only not entirely happy, that although he is daily de­creeing many things both religiously and piously for maintaining Christiani­ty, yet he sees some of his own Sub­jects, who have of their own accord, forsaken the Religion of their Country, and have betaken themselves to foreign rites, being Apostates from Religion, and deserters of the Ancient Warfare, to continue still in their Errour. And this Most Christian King did lately in our hearing say, That he did so earnest­ly desire to see all those broken and scat­tered parcels brought back to the Unity of the Church, that he would esteem it his Glory to compass it with the shed­ding of his own Royal blood, and even with the loss of that Invincible Arm, by which he has so happily made an end of so many Wars. Will you then, Brethr [...]n, envy that Palm of Victory to this most August Prince, and your King that has subdued so many and such [Page] mighty Enemies, that has taken so ma­ny strong Towns, and has conquer'd such great Provinces, and is eminent in his Triumphs of all sorts, and yet would prefer this Victory to all the rest?

But, Brethren, while we thus call up­on you, and exhort you to the Counsels of Peace, do not you say, Seek us not, for this is the language of Iniquity, by which we are divided, and not of Cha­rity, by which we are Christians. Re­member that the Spirit of Truth and Peace has commanded us by the Pro­phet not to cease to say to those who deny that they are our Brethren, You are our Brethren.

What time can offer it self more fitly for calling you back to the Roman Com­munion than this, in which Pope In­nocent governs the Roman Church; whose life and manners being formed according to the ancient and severe dis­cipline, present a perfect pattern of Holi­ness to the Christian World: So that it will be both for your Honour as well as for your Happiness, and a mark of great Vertue in you, to joyn your selves to him who is such an eminent cherisher of all Vertue.

[Page 10]Therefore as for you that need a Physi­cian, that are the members of Christ, and noble ones too, bought with the same price, but are torn from the Head and Body of the Church, through the wick­ed fraud of all our common Enemy, we pray you by the Eternal God suffer your selves to be healed, receive this admonition, and this humble Prayer of ours: For such is our gentleness and compassion towards you, that we can confidently use the lowest expressions possible. And do you in a Brotherly manner take hold of this occasion, that we offer you with such brotherly love, that so at last, through the grace of our God, the night of stupifying Er­rour being dissipated, the Light of Di­vine Truth may shine daily more and more; suffer nor the weak and ignorant part of the Christian flock to perish, because of some Jealousies that you have rashly taken up against our Faith▪ Do you think it unseemly to discover your Disease to the Physician? Give place both to Repentance and Physick▪ and address your selves humbly to God, and esteem this to be that which is chiefly, and only honourable in Chri­stians.

[Page 11]But if you will with obstinate minds refuse to do this while we thus exhort you, if you will not be overcome by Prayers, nor bended by Charity, nor wrought on by Admonitions to a Re­conciliation, the Angels of Peace will weep bitterly; but yet for all that we will not leave you to your selves, though that were but just to be done to persons so excessively obstinate; we will not give over our seeking for the Sheep of Christ among the Hedges and Thorns; and when we have done all by which your minds ought to have been reconciled to us, at last our Peace, which is so earnestly and sincerely of­fered to you, when it is rejected by you, shall return to us: Nor will God any longer require your Souls at our hands. And as this your last errour will be worse than your former, so your last end will be worse than any thing you have formerly felt. But Brethren, we hope better things, and things which accompany salvation.

  • Francis Arch-bishop of Paris, Presi­dent.
  • Charles Maurice Arch-bishop and Duke of Rheims.
  • Charles Arch-bishop of Ambrun.
  • [Page 12] Iames Arch-bishop and Duke of Cam­bray.
  • Hyacinth Arch-bishop of Alby.
  • Mi. Phelipeaux Arch-bishop of Bourges.
  • Iames Nicholas Colbert Arch-bishop of Carthage, Coadjutor of Rouen.
  • Lewis of Bourlemont Arch-bishop of Bourdeaux.
  • Gilbert Bishop of Tournay.
  • Nicholas Bishop of Riez.
  • Daniel Bishop and Earl of Valence and Die.
  • Gabriel Bishop of Autun.
  • William Bishop of Bazas.
  • Gabriel Bishop of Auranches.
  • Iames Bishop of Meaux.
  • Sebastian Bishop of St. Malo.
  • L. M. Ar. de Simiane Bishop and Duke of Langres.
  • Fr. Leo Bishop of Glandeves.
  • Lucas Bishop of Frioul.
  • I. B. M. Colbert Bishop and Duke of Mountauban.
  • Charles Bishop of Montpellier.
  • Francis Bishop of Mande.
  • Charles Bishop of La Vaur.
  • Andrew Bishop of Auxerre.
  • Francis Bishop of Troyes.
  • Lewis Bishop and Earl of Chalons.
  • Francis Bishop of Triguier.
  • Peter Bishop of Bellay.
  • [Page 13] Gabriel Bishop of Conserans.
  • Lewis Bishop of Alet.
  • Humbert Bishop of Tulle ▪
  • I. B. D' Estampes Bishop of Marseilles.
  • Fr. de Camps designed Coadjutor of Glandeves.
  • De St. George designed Bishop of M [...]s­con.
  • Paul Phil. de Lusignan.
  • Lud. d' Espinay de St. Luc,
  • C. Leny de Coadelets.
  • La Faye.
  • Cocquelin.
  • Lambert.
  • P. de Bermund.
  • A. H. de Fleury.
  • De Viens.
  • F. Feu.
  • A. de Maupiou.
  • Le Franc de la Grange.
  • De Senaux.
  • Parra Dean of Bellay.
  • De Boshe.
  • M. de Ratabon.
  • Clement de Pouudeux.
  • Bigot.
  • De Gourgues.
  • De Villeneuve de Vence.
  • I. F. de l' Escure.
  • Peter le Roy.
  • A. de Soupets.
  • [Page 14] A. Argoud Dean of Vienna.
  • Gerbais.
  • De Bausset.
  • G. Bochart de Champigny.
  • Courcier.
  • Cheron.
  • A. Faure.
  • F. Maucroix.
  • De la Borcy.
  • De Francqueville.
  • Armand Bazin de Besons, Agent-Ge­neral of the Clergy of France.
  • I. Desmaretz Agent-General of the Clergy of France.

REMARKS On the former LETTER.

THE tender expressions with which this Letter begins, give the World some hopes that the Gallican Clergy have bowels of Compassion, for those they call their Brethren and Little Children, though the figures of a Partridge or an Eagle are too forced to flow from affecti­ons much moved. But the severities now exercised in mos [...] parts of France look like Esau's hands, while the Cler­gy speak with Iacob's voice.

The many terrible Edicts that come out daily against those of that perswa­sion, and the much greater severity with which they are executed, do not very well agree with this melting lan­guage. Perhaps some may think those Edicts are Civil things, and that the [Page 16] Intendants or other Officers who exe­cute them, being of the Laity, there­fore the Clergy are no way concerned in it. But if the blame of this is taken off from them, it must be laid some­where else. It is notoriously known that the King himself is not at all of a bloody disposition, but is merciful and gentle: So that for all the hard mea­sure that many of those who are forced to fly hither for refuge, feel, yet they do acknowledge that they owe it to the Kings tenderness to his people, and aversion from Cruelty, that it is not worse with them; and that they are not massacred and destroyed to be the effect of his Clemency and Protection. And of this he has lately given the World a double assurance, both in the Letters he sent to the Bishops of France, and in those he sent with them to the Deputies in the several Provinces, Printed toge­ther with this Letter of the Clergy. In the first are these words, Recommending to you above all things the managing the Spirits of those of that Religion with Gen­tleness; and to use no other force but that of Reason, for the bringing them again to the knowledge of the Truth, without doing any thing against the Edicts and Declara­tions, by the vertue of which the exercise [Page 17] of that Religion is tolerated within my Kingdom. This is a little varied in the second Letter thus, I recommend to you above all to manage the Spirits of those of that Religion with gentleness, and to hin­der the doing of any thing that may be an Invasion on that which is granted them by the Edicts and Declarations made in their favours.

We will not have so criminal a thought of so glorious a Prince, as to suspect his sincerity in this: and therefore when it [...]is as visible as the day, that those Edicts are broken almost in every branch of them, we must conclude that either the King is not well informed of the nature of those Edicts, or is not acquainted with the violation of them: And since no King, how great soever, can see but with other mens Eyes, and that it is not to be imagined that a Prince so employed, as he is, can have read and examined the Edicts granted by his Ancestors in favour of that Religion, it must be concluded, that those who have procured the pas­sing those late Edicts that contradict the former, have either flatly imposed on him, by making him believe they were not contrary to them, or have found out some slight Equivocation in the [Page 18] words of the former Edicts, upon which that Great King has been induced to pass those Edicts, which have come out of late so frequently against them. In this whole matter no political con­sideration is so much as pretended, the Interests of State lie clearly against it. The design is well enough understood. A Zeal for extirpating Heresie, and the advancement of the Kings Glory is all that we hear given out for warranting those severities, which lie so heavy on such great numbers of the best Subjects that France has.

The Interest that some of that Assem­bly, the President in particular, has in the management of the affairs that con­cern the Spirituality, and the high Pa­negyricks which that body both offer to the King, and give of him for his proceedings in that affair, shew that as some of them set them on, so the rest approve of them: So that upon the whole matter, all the hard usage the poor Protestants meet with, lies at their door.

It is hard to perswade the World that they can have such Bowels, while they thus tear those they call their Lit­tle Children with their Paws: Suppose their Children were mistaken, and in [Page 19] Errours, yet they should be Fathers still, and not starve them to death, be­cause they cannot either change their thoughts, or become so impious as to joyn in a Worship which they think is not only Superstitious but Idola­trous. Mens opinions are not in their own power, their understandings are necessary Agents, and are determined by the evidence of things set before them: Our wills can indeed engage our understandings to make enquiries with more application: they can also biass us with some partiality, for that in which we find our Interests; they can likewise command our actions, so that we may disguise and dissemble our opinions: But their dominion goes no further. It is not to be doubted but a small part of that hard usage which those oppressed French-men have met with, has more than determined them to enquire narrowly into those opinions, which were infused in them by their education: And has wrought so effe­ctually on them, as to make them wish they could be of another mind; but after all, if they see nothing but force to work on them, and manifestly dis­cern the weakness of those Reasons that [Page 20] are offered for their Conviction, what remains but that either they must do violence to themselves, and so joyn in that monstrous Idolatry of a worshipping as a God, that which they believe to be on­ly a piece of Bread; or that they must still groan under those miseries to which they see themselves condemned; which must needs possess them with such an opinion of the Cruelty of those that call themselves their Fathers, that all the tender expressions they read in this Letter cannot root it out: For Deeds are much surer evidences of mens affections than Words. The Ti­tle of a Father agrees ill with the Rage of an Enemy.

The Members of this Assembly pre­tend they go in the traces of those who first brought the Christian Religion in­to France; and that they hold the same Faith, as well as they possess the same Chairs. It were to be wished, that they were also acted with the same Spirit of meekness and gentleness to­wards those who differ from them, and that they had the same aversion to Cru­elty that we find among the Ancients. I shall not here alledge what Tertullian and Cyprian have said in general against [Page 21] Cruelty on the account of Religion, nor what Lactantius has more copiously en­larged on. But since they mention those that first established the Christi­an Religion in France, I shall offer to them what the first of the Gallican Bi­shops (who had an occasion given him to write of such matters, Hilary of Poictiers) said against the Arians, who were persecuting the Orthodox under Constantius; though their greatest seve­rities were not equal to those that the Protestants are now made to suffer. It will be unreasonable to alledge that what Hilary said against that Persecu­tion cannot quadrate with the present case, the one being done by an Hereti­cal Emperour, and the other by a Most Christian King. I shall avoid the making any odious comparison in this matter; but this must be acknowledg­ed, that it is to beg the question to say, the one persecuted to advance an errour, whereas the other does it to suppress errour; and it will appear that he wrote not sincerely, if he did not con­demn that way of proceeding in what cause soever it were employed: For he plainly says, the Bishops would have opposed such methods even to ad­vance [Page 22] Truth. Ad Const. Permittat le­nitas tua po­pulis ut quos voluerint, quos pu [...]ave­rint, quos elegerint, audiant do­centes, & di­vina myste­riorum solen­nia concele­brent & pro inco [...]umita [...]e & beatitudine tua offeran [...] preces. Non quisquam perversus aut invidus ma­ligna loqua­tur. Nulla quide [...] sus­picio eri [...] non modo Sedi [...]i­onis, sed nec asperae mur­murationis.—Deus cognitionem sui docuit po­tius quam exegit, & operatio­num coele­stium admi­ratione prae­cep [...]is suis concilians au­ [...]hori [...]a [...]em, coactam con­fitendi se as­pernatus est, voluntatem. Si ad fidem ve­ram istiusmo­di vis adhibe­retur, Episco­palis Doctri­na obviam pergere [...], di­cer [...]que, De­us universita­tis est, obse­quio non eg [...]t necessario, non requirit coactam confessionem. Non fallendus est sed promerendus; nostr [...] potius non sua causa venerandus est. Non possum nisi volentem recipere, nisi orantem audire, nisi profitentem signare. — At vero quid istud quod Sacerdotes timere Deum vinculis coguntur, poenis jubentur; Sacerdotes Carceribus continentur, plebs in custodiam catenati ordinis disponitur? Hilary addressed him­self to Constantius, that he would slacken his severities, and ‘Suffer the people to hear those Preach, and celebrate the Holy mysteries, and pray for his safety and success, whom they liked best, and esteemed most, and had made choice of; then he promises that all things would be quiet, and that not only there would be no Sedition, but not so much as any murmuring.’ And as a reason for enforcing this, he says a little after; ‘God has taught, but not imposed on us the knowledge of himself, and conciliated authority to his Commands by the Miracles that were wrought; but he despises that Confession that flows from a compelled mind. If such force were used to draw men to the true Faith, the Episcopal Doctrine would inter­pose and say The Earth is the Lords, and he needs not an enforced Obedi­ence, nor does he require a constrain­ed Confession. He is not to be de­ceived, but his favour is to be desired, and he is to be worshipped for our caus [...], not for his own. I could not receive any but such as were willing, nor hear such as did not entreat me, [Page 23] nor confirm such as did not profess (the Faith.) To this he adds, "But what is this that Priests are forced by Chains to fear God, and com­manded by the terrour of punish­ments? That Priests are kept in Pri­sons, and the people are delivered over to the Jaylors?’ And upon this he runs out more largely than is necessa­ry to transcribe.

But let us also hear how he addresses himself to those Bishops that were the chief Procurers and Instruments of all the sufferings of the Orthodox: And indeed, what he says to them does serve as so apposite an Answer to a great part of this Letter, that I hope it will not be irksome to translate a large quo­tation out of it.Idem contra A [...]ian [...]s in prin [...]i [...]i [...]. Sp [...]ciosum quid [...]m no­men est pa­cis, & pulchra est opinio unitatis; sed quis ambigat eam solam ec­clesiae atque Eva [...]gelio­rum unicam pacem esse, quae Christi est? Quam ad Apostolos post passionis [...]uae gloriam est locutus, quam ad man­dati sui aeter­ni pignus abi­turus com­mendavit. Hanc nos, fra­tres dilectissi­mi, ut amissam quaerere & turbatam componere & repertam t [...] ­nere curavi­mus. Sed hujus ipsius fieri nos v [...]l participes [...]el authores n [...]c temporis no­stri pecca [...]a meruerunt, nec imminen­tis Antichris [...]i pr [...] vii▪ mi­nistrique sunt passi: Qui pace su [...], id est Impietatis suae uni [...]ate se j [...]ctant▪ agen­ [...]es se non ut Christi E­piscopos sed [...] [...]ntichristi Sacerdotes. Ac ne male­dicis verbo­rum in eos uti convitiis ar­guamur, cau­ [...]am perditi­onis publicae ne cuiquam [...]gnorata sit, non tacemus▪ Antichristos plures etiam Apostolo Jo­anne praedi­cante cogno­vimus. Quis­quis enim Christum qualis ab A­postolis est praedicatus, negavit, Anti­christus es [...]. nominis An­tichristi pro­prietas est. Christo esse contrarium. Hoc nunc sub opinione fal­sae pietatis efficitur, ho [...] sub specie praedicationis Evangelicae laboratur, ut dominus Je­sus Christus dum praedi­cari creditur denegetur. Ac [...]primum mis [...]reri licet rostrae aetatis laborem, & praesentium temporum stul [...]as opin [...] ­ones conge­miscere, qui­bus patroci­nari Deo hu­mana cre­duntur, & ad tuendam Christi Eccle­siam ambiti­one seculari laboratur. Oro vos Episcopi qui hoc vos esse creditis, quibusnam suffragiis ad praedicandum Evangelium Apostoli usi sunt? Quibus adjuti pote­statibus Chri­stum praedi­caverunt, gentesque fere omnes ex Idolis ad De­um transtule­runt? Anne aliquam sibi assumebant è Palatio digni­tatem, hym­num Deo in carcere inter catenas & post flagella can­tantes? Edi­ctisque Regiis Paulus cum in theatro spectaculum ipse es [...]et Christo Ec­clesiam congregabat? Nerone se credo aut Vespasiano aut Decio pa­trocinantibus t [...]ebatur, quorum in nos odiis confessio divinae predica­tionis eff [...]oruit? Illi manu atque opere se alentes, intra coenacula secre­taque coeuntes, vicos & castella gentesque fere omnes terra ac mari con­tra Senatus consulta & Regum Edicta peragrantes. Claves credo regni Coelorum non habebant? Aut non manifesta tum Dei virtus contra odia humana porrexit, cum tanto magis Chris [...]us praedicaretur, quanto magis praedicari inhiberetur? At nunc, proh dolor! Divinam fidem suf­fragia terrena commendant, inopsque virtutis suae Christus, dum am­bitio nomini suo conciliatur, arguitur. Terret exiliis & carceribus Ec­clesia, credique sibi cogit, quae exiliis & carceribus est credita: pendet à dignatione communicantium, quae persequentium est consecrata ter­rori. Fugat Sacerdotes quae fugatis est Sacerdotibus propagata: diligi se gloriatur à mundo, quae Christi esse non potuit nisi eam mundus odisset. Haec de comparatione traditae nobis ollm Ecclesiae, nunc quam deper­ditae, res ipsa quae in oculis omnium est atque ore, clamavit. ‘The name of Peace (saith he) is specious, and the opinion of Unity is beautiful: But it is past all doubt, that that Peace only which is the Peace of Christ is the Peace of the Church and the Gospels: We have desired to recover that same [Page 24] Peace that is now lost, of which he spake to his Apostles after his glori­ous sufferings, and which he being to leave them, recommended to them as a pledge of his Eternal Laws. And we have desired to compose the disorders now made in it, and having again recovered it, we have also desi­red to maintain it. But so prevalen [...] have the sins of this age been, and the sore-runners and Ministers of Anti­christ that is approaching, have been so active, that we could neither procure this Peace, nor partake of it: While those who boast of the Unity of their Peace, that is, of their impiety, behave themselves not like the Bishops of Christ, but like the Priests of Antichrist. But that we may not be blamed for using reproachful words, we will not conceal the cause of this common ruine, that so none may be ignorant of it. We know from what S. Iohn the Apo­stle has delivered, that there are ma­ny Antichrists, and whosoever denies Christ, as he was preached by the Apostles, is an Antichrist. It is the property of Antichrist, marked by the very name, to be contrary to Christ. Now by the opinion of a mi­staken Piety, and under the pretence [Page 25] of preaching the Gospel, this is effect­ed or endeavoured, that the Lord Je­sus Christ while he seems to be Preached, is denied. In the first place, we must pity the labour of this age, and lament the foolish opinions of those times, in which God is thought to be protected by Men, and by Secular ambition the Church of Christ is laboured to be defended. I pray you, O you Bishops, who be­lieve your selves to be such, what were the assistances which the Apo­stles made use of in preaching the Gospel? By what Earthly powers were they supported when they preached Christ, and converted al­most all Nations from Idols to God? Did they derive any authority from the Palace, when they were singing Hymns to God, in Prison, in Chains, and after they were whip­ped? Did Paul gather a Church to Christ by vertue of Royal Edicts, when he himself was exposed as a spectacle on a Theatre? Did he se­cure himself by the protection of a Nero, a Vespasian or a Decius, by whose hatred of us the Confession of that Divine Preaching did flourish? They maint [...]ining themselves by their own [Page 26] handy-work, and assembling in upper rooms and secret places, went over all Countries, both Villages and strong places, through Sea and Land, not­withstanding the Decrees of Senates and Royal Edicts against them. And I suppose it will not be denied, that they had the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven. Did not the Divine power exert it self manifestly against the ha­tred of men, when Christ was preach­ed so much the more as the preaching of him was prohibited? But now, alas, humane aids are employed to recommend our Divine Faith, and Christ is accused as having lost his former power, while his name is promoted by ambition. The Church now terrifies others by banishments and imprisonments: She depends on the favour of her Communicants, who was consecrated by the terrour of her Persecutors. She banishes Priests who was propagated by the banishment of her own Priests: and now boasts that she is beloved of the World, who yet could never have been Christs, if the World had not hated her. The present state of affairs, which is in all mens Eyes and Dis­courses, gives us this parallel of the [Page 27] condition of the Church, as it was anciently conveyed down to us, and as it is now ruined in our days.’

There needs no application of these words to the present purpose, they ex­press the Plea of those persecuted men so fully, that it may be well concluded that the Spirit that acted in Hilary, is not the same with that which now inspires the Reverend Prelates of that Church. To this I might add the known History of the Priscillianists that fell out not long after.Sulp. Sev. l. 2. Sacr. Hist. & Dial. 2. de vi­ta Martini. I shall not pre­sume to make a parallel between any of the Gallican Church, and Ithacius, who persecuted them; of whom the Historian gives this Character, That he was a vain, sumptuous, sensual ▪ and im­pudent [Page 28] man, and that he grew to that pitch in vice, that he suspected all men that led strict lives, as if they had been inclined to Heresie. And it is also to be hoped, that none will be so uncha­ritable as to compare the Priscillianists with those they now call Hereticks in France; whether we consider their opi­nions, that were a revival of the bla­sphemies of the Gnosticks, or their mo­rals, that were brutal and obscene, even by Priscillian's own confession. Now Ithacius prosecuted those in the Emperours Courts, and went on in the pursuit, though the great Apostle of that age, Martin, warned him often to give it over. In conclusion, when Itha­cius had set it on so far that a Sentence was sure to pass against them, he then withdrew from it: Sentence was given, and some of them were put to death, up­on which some Bishops excommunica­ted Ithacius, yet S. Martin was wrought on to communicate with him very much against his mind; being threatned by the Emperour Maximus that if he would not do it, Troops should be or­dered to march into Spain, to destroy the rest of them. This prevailed on that good man to joyn in Communion with those that had acted so contrary [Page 29] to the mercifulness of their Religion, and to the sacredness of their Chara­cter.

But no Arts could work on S. Martin to approve of what they had done. The effects of this were remarkable, for when S. Martin went home, if we will believe Sulpitius, an Angel ap­peared to him, and reproved him se­verely for what he had done; upon which he with many tears, lamented much the sin he had committed by his communicating with those men, and would never after that communicate with any of that party: And during the sixteen years that he survived that, Sulpitius who lived with him, tells us that he never went to any Synod, and that there was a great withdrawing of those Influences and Graces, for which he had been so eminent formerly.

And thus if S. Martin's example and practice is of any authority, the Cru­elty of that Church that has engaged all the Princes of Europe, as much as was in their power, to do what Maxi­mus then did, and the present practices of the Bishops about the Court, might justifie a Separation from them. But we do not proceed upon such disputable grounds.

[Page 30]To this I shall only [...]dd the a [...]thority of another Father, who t [...]o [...]gh he was none of the Gallican Bishops, [...] since he is more read and esteemed in that Church than any other of all the [...]a­thers, it is to be hoped that his autho­rity may be somewhat considered. It is S. Austin. He was once against all sorts of severity in matters of Religion, and delivered his mind so pathetically and elega [...]tly on that subject, that I presume the Reader will not be ill plea­sed to hear his own words, writing against the Manicheans, whose impie­ties are too well known to be enlarged on; so as to shew that even in the ac­count which the Church of Rome makes of things, they cannot pretend that the Protestants are as bad as they were. He begins his Book against them with an earnest Prayer to God that he would give him a calm and serene mind, so that he might study their conversion▪ and not seek their ruine; to which pur­pose he applies those words of S. Paul to Timothy, the Servant of the Lord must not strive, but be meek towards all men, apt to teach, patient, in meekness instru­cting them that oppose themselves: To which he adds these words,Illi in vos sae­viant qui nes­ciunt quo cum labore verum in­veniatur, & quam difficile caveantur er­rores. Illi i [...] vos saeviant qui nesciunt quam rarum & arduum si [...] carnalia phan­ [...]asmata piae mentis fere­ [...]itate supe­rare. Illi in vos saeviant qui nesciunt cum quanta difficultate sa [...]ietur ocu­lus interioris hominis ut possit intueri solem suum. Illi in v [...]s sae­viant-qui nes­ciunt quibus suspiriis & ge­mitibus fiat ut ex quantulacunque parte possit intelligi Deus. Postremo, illi in v [...]s saeviant qui nullo tali errore decepti sunt, quali vos deceptos vident. Contra Epist. Fund. cap. 1, & 2. ‘Let them exercise Cruelty upon you, who do [Page 31] not know with what difficulty truth is found out, and how hardly er­rours are avoided: Let them exercise Cruelty upon you, who do not know how rare and hard a thing it is to overmaster carnal imaginations with the serenity of a pious mind. Let them exercise Cruelty upon you, who do not know with what difficulty the eye of the inward man is healed, that so it may behold its Sun. Let them exercise Cruelty upon you, who do not know with what groans and sighs we attain the smallest measure of the knowledge of God. And in the last place, let them exercise Cruelty upon you, who were never them­selves deceived with any errour like that with which you are now de­ceived▪’

It is true, it may be pretended, that he became afterwards of another mind, but that will not serve to excuse the severities now on foot, the case being so very different. The Donatists in his time very generally fierce and cruel, one sort of them, the Circumcellionists, acted like [Page 32] mad men: They did lie in wait for S. Austin's life; they fell upon several Bishops with great barbarity, putting out the eyes of some, and cudgelling others till they left them as dead. Up­on this, the Bishops of Africk were forced to desire the Emperours prote­ction, and that the Laws made against Hereticks might be executed upon the Donatists, Ep. 48. & ep. [...]0. and yet even in this S. Austin was at first averse. It is true, he after­wards in his Writings against the Dona­tists justified those severities of fining and banishing,Lib. 3. cont. [...]e­til. c. 47. & 50. but he expresses both in his own name, and in the name of all those Churches, great dislike not only of all Capital proceedings, but of all rigour;Ep. 60, 127, 158, 160. and when the Governours and Magistrates were carrying things too far, he interposed often and [...]ith great earnestness to moderate their severity: and wrote to them, that if they went on with such rigour, the Bishops would rather bear with all the violences of the Donatists, than seek to them for redress; and whole Synods of Bishops concur­red with him in making the like Ad­dresses in their favours; And though there were excesses committed in some few instances, yet we may easily conclude how gentle they were, [Page 33] upon the whole matter, from this that he says that the Fines imposed by Law had never been exacted,Lib. cont. Don and that they were so far from turning the Donatists out of their own Churches, that they still kept possession of several Churches which they had violently invaded,Lib. 1. cont. Parm. cap. 7 and wrested out of the hands of the Bishops. It is plain then, since he justified those severities only as a necessary restraint on the rage to the Donatists, and a just protection of the Bishops, that this has no relation to the hardships the Prote­stants now suffer, it not being pretend­ed that they have drawn it upon them­selves by any tumultuary or irregular proceedings of theirs.

So much seemed necessary to shew how different the Spirit of the present Clergy o [...] France is from that which animated the Church in the former and best ages.

The Reverend Prelates say in their Letter, That they hold the same Faith with their Predecessors. If this were true in all points, it were indeed very hard to write an Apology for those that have separated from them: I shall not en­gage in a long discussion of the senti­ments of the Ancient Bishops of the Gallican Church; yet that the Reader [Page 34] may not be too much wrought on by the confidence and plausibleness of this expression [...], I shall only give a taste of the Faith of the first of all the Gallican Clergy, whose works are yet preser­ved, and that is Irenaeus: I shall instance it in two particulars, the one is the hinge upon which all our other Controver­sies turn; that is, whether the Scriptures or Oral Tradition is to be appealed to, for determining matters of Controver­sie: The other is the most material point in difference among us, concern­ing the presence of Christ in the Sa­crament,Contra Haeres. lib. 3. cap. 1, 2, 3, 4, & 5. whether in it we really re­ceive the substance of Bread and Wine, or only the Accidents. As to the first, he directly appeals to the Scriptures, which he says were the Pillar [...]nd ground of Truth; and adds, that the Valentini­ans did appeal to Oral Tradition, from which he [...]urns to that Tradition that was come from the Apostles; on which he insists very copiously, and puts all the authority of Tradition in this, That it was derived from the Apostles: And therefore says that if the Apostles had delivered nothing in Writing, we must then have followed the Order of Tra­dition: And after he has shewed that the Tradition to which the Valentinians [Page 35] pretended was really against them, and that the Orthodox had it derived down from the Apostles on their side, he re­turns to that upon which he had set up the strength of his cause, to prove the truth from the Scriptures. Now the Scriptures being the foundation on which the Protestants build, and Oral Tradition, together with the authority of the Church, being that on which the Church of Rome builds, it will be easie to every one that considers those Chapters referred to in Irenaeus, to ga­ther upon which of those he grounded his belief.

As for the other particular, he plain­ly calls the Sacrament that Bread over which thanks have been given; and says, [...]ib. 4. cap. 34. & lib. [...]. cap. [...]. our flesh is nourished by the body and blood of Christ; and concludes that our flesh by the Sacrament has an assurance of its Resurrection and Incorruptibility. More particularly he says, Our blood is encrea­sed by the blood of Christ, and that he en­creases our body by that bread which he has confirmed to be his body, and that by these the substance of our body is encreased; and from thence he argues, that our bodies re­ceive an encrease not by any internal or in­visible way, but in the natural way of nou­rishment; and so concludes, that our [Page 36] bodies being nourished by the Eucharist, shall therefore rise again. Every one that considers the force of these words, must conclude that he believed our bodies received in the Sacrament a real sub­stance which nourished them, and not bare Accidents. If then upon this essay it appears, that the first Writer of all Gallican Bishops does agree with the Protestants, both in that which is the foundation upon which they build their whole cause, and also in that particular opinion which is believed to be of the greatest importance, then the Reader has no reason to believe that the present Bishops of France hold the same Faith which their Predecessors taught who first preached the Christian Religion in that Kingdom.

But now I come to answer the main Question, which is indeed the whole substance of the Letter, Why have they made the Schism? If such a Letter with such a demand in it, had come from the Abassin or Armenian Churches, or per­haps from the Greek Churches, whose distance from us is such, and the op­pressions they groan under are so ex­treme, that they have little heart and few opportunities to enquire into the affairs or opinions of others, it could [Page 37] not have been thought strange; but to hear it from these: among whom those live, who have so often both in Writings and Discourses answered this question so copiously, is really some­what unaccountable: Yet this is not all, but it is added, That the Protestants, upon trial finding they could not shake their Doctrine, have charged them only for their ill lives, as if that were the ground of the Separation. This it must be con­fessed, had better become the affected Eloquence of a Maimbourg, than the sincerity of so many eminent men; of whom the mildest censure that can be past in this particular is, That some aspiring Priest being appointed to pen this Letter, that was better accustomed to the figures of a clamorous Rhetorick, than the strict measures of Truth, gave it this turn, hoping to recommend him­self by it, and that the Bishops signed it in haste, without considering it well. Who of all the Protestants have made that Experiment, and found that the Faith of the Church of Rome was not to be attackt, and that she can only be accused for the ill lives of some in her Communion? If this were all we had to object, we do not deny but that all that the Fathers retorted on the Schis­maticks, [Page 38] particularly the Donatists, did very justly fall on us; and that we could neither answer it to God, to the World, nor our own Consciences, if we had separated from their Church on no other account: And this is indeed so weak a Plea, that the Penner of the Letter shewed his skill at least, if he was wanting in his sincerity, to set up a pretence which he knew he could easily overthrow, though the reasons he brings to overthrow it, are not all pertinent nor convincing: But this in conclusion, is so managed as to draw an occasion from it to complement the present Pope, some way to make an amends for their taking part with their King against him. All that is to be said on this Head is, That Protestants are not so unjust as to deny the Pope that now reigns, his due praises; of whose vertue and strictness of life they hear such accounts, that they heartily wish all the Assembly of the Clergy, from the President, down to the Secretaries would imitate that excellent Pattern that he sets them. A Zeal for convert­ing Hereticks does not very well be­come those whose course of life has not been so exemplary, that this can be imputed to an inward sense of Religi­on, [Page 39] and to the motives of Divine Cha­rity. But in this point of the corrupti­on of mens lives, we may add two things more material: The one is if a Church teaches ill Morals, or at least connives at such Casuistical Doctrines as must certainly root out all the prin­ciples of moral vertue and common goodness out of the minds of men, then their ill Morals may be improved to be a good argument for a Separation from them. How much the Casuistical Doctrine of those who are the Chief Confessors in that Communion has been corrupted of late, we may learn from what has been published by many among themselves, particularly by their late Address to the present Pope, and by the Articles condemned both by Pope Alexander the Seventh, and by the Pope that now reigns. But yet how faint those censures are, every one that has read them, must needs observe. This is not all: The dissolving of Oaths and Vows, the dispensing with many of the Laws of God, the authorizing Subjects to shake off their Princes yoke, if he does not extirpate Heresie and Hereticks, the butcheries of those they call Hereticks, and that after Faith given to the contrary; ha­ving [Page 40] been for some Ages the publick practices of the Court of Rome; in which several General Councils have al­so concurred with them, are things both of such a nature, and have been so openly avowed as well as practised in that Church, that this argument from the corruption of their Morals, may be well fastened on their whole Church. If likewise many opinions are received among them, which do naturally tend to slacken the strictness of holiness, and give the World more mild Ideas of sin, and make the way to the favour of God accessible even without a real Refor­mation, then there will be more weight in this argument than may at first view appear. The belief of the Sacraments conferring Grace, ex opere operato, the Vertue of Indulgences, the Priestly Ab­solution, the Communication of Me­rits, the Vertue supposed to be in some Pilgrimages, in Images and Priviledged Altars, in Fraternities, and many con­secrated things, together with the af­ter-game of Purgatory, and of Re­demption out of it by Masses; these with many more devices, are such con­trivances for enervating the true force of Religion, and have such effects on the lives of men, who generally are [Page 41] too easie to hearken to any thing that may make them hope well, while they live ill▪ that when we complain of a great dissolution of mens Morals that live under the influences of that Re­ligion, this charge is not personal, but falls on their Church in com­mon.

In the next place, that vast cor­ruption of Ecclesiastical Discipline, and of all the Primitive Rules, occasi­oned chiefly by the exorbitant power the Popes have assumed, of dispensing with all Laws, the gross sale of such Graces at Rome, the Intrigues in the Creation of the Popes themselves, the universal neglect of the Pastoral care among the superiour Orders of the Cler­gy, do give men just and deep prejudices against a Church so corrupt in her ru­ling Members, and do raise great dislike of that extent of Authority which the Bishops of Rome have assumed, that have cut all the Banks, and let in such an inundation of ill practices on the World. And if once in an Age or two a Pope of another temper, of better Morals, and greater strictness arises, we are notwithstanding that, to judge of things not upon rare and single in­stances, but upon their more ordinary [Page 42] and natural effects. Thus laying all these things together, it will appear that our exceptions to that Church up­on the account of their Morals, is not so slight as the Penner of that Letter has represented it; and that his Instances for living among ill men have no relati­on to this matter.

But this is the weakest Plea we have for our Separation, and as strong soever as it may be in it self, we build upon so­lider foundations.

In order to the opening this, I shall premise a little of the true end and de­sign of Religion, which is to beget in us so deep a sense of the Divine nature and perfections a [...] may most effectually engage us to become truly Holy. There are two Inclinations in the nature of men, that dispose him to corrupt the Ideas of God; the one is an Inclination to cloath him in some outward figure, and present him to our senses in such a manner, that we may hope by flatte­ries or submissions, by pompous or cruel services to appease him: And the other is a desire to reconcile our noti­ons of Religion to our vicious habits and appetites, that so we may some way pacifie our Consciences in the midst of our lusts and passions: And thus the [Page 43] true notion of Idolatry is the represent­ing of God to us so as that we may hope to gain his favour by other methods than our being inwardly pure and holy: And the immorality of this consists not only in the indecency of such represen­tations, and their unsuitableness to the Divine nature, but likewise in this, that our notions of God which ought to be the seeds of Vertue and true Godli­ness, by which our natures are to be reformed, are no more effectual that way, but turn only to a Pageantry, and spend themselves in dressing up our worship, so as we think will better agree with one that is like our selves: Now we find the chief design of the Go­spel was to root this out of the World, and to give us the highest and per­fectest Ideas of the purity and goodness of the Divine nature, that might raise in us that inward probity of Soul, com­p [...]ehended in the general name of Cha­rity or Love, which is the proper Cha­racter of the Christian Spirit: We have also the Divine Holiness so presented to us, that we can never hope to attain the favour of God here, or Eternal happiness hereafter, but by becoming inwardly and universally holy. Now our main charge against the Church [Page 44] of Rome is, That this which is the great design of the Christian Religion is re­versed among them, and that chiefly in four things.

1. In proposing visible objects to the adorations of the people, against not only the current of the whole Scriptures, but the true Idea and right notion of God; and this not only by Precept in the Images of our Saviour and the Saints, but by a general tolerance in the Images of the blessed Trinity it self. Thus the senses having somewhat set before them on which they may work, do naturally corrupt the mind, and convert Religi­on, which is an inward and spiritual work, into an outward gross homage to these objects.

2. In setting up the Intercession of Saints, as if either God had not a capa­city of attending to the whole Govern­ment of the World, or were not so merciful or good, but that as Princes are wrought on by the interposition of their Courtiers, so he needed to have such importunities to induce him to be favourable to us: The very Plea com­monly used for this from the resem­blance of Earthly Courts, is the greatest debasing of the Divine Nature that is possible: And when the Addresses made [Page] to these Saints in the publick Offices of the Church, are the very same that we make to God or our Saviour, That they would pardon our sins, give u [...] [...]race, assist us at all times, and open the King­dome of Heaven to us; and when after those things have been complained of for above an Age, and that upon a ge­neral review of their Offices, they are still continued among them, we must conclude that the honour due to the Creator is offered to the Creature. I need not bring Instances of these, they are so well known.

3. In [...]The many Consecrations that are used among [...]hem of Images, Crosses, Ha­bits, Water, Salt, Oyl, Candles, Bells, Vessels▪ Agnus Dei's, and Grains; with a vast deal more, by which those things are so consecrated, as to have a vertue in them for driving away Devils, for being▪ a security both to Soul and Body, and a remedy against all Temporal and Spi­ritual evils. This way of Incantati­ons was one of the grossest pieces of Heathenism, and is now by them brought into the Christian Religion: And the opinion, that upon these Con­secrations a Vertue is conveyed to those things, is infused into the people by their authorized offices: In which if [Page 46] in any thing it is not to be believed that the Church lies and deceives her Children: This is plainly to consider God as the Heathens did their Idols, and to fetch down Divine Vertues by charms, as they did. And

4. Their worshipping with Divine Honour, that which by all the Indica­tions that we can have of things, we know is no other than what it appears to be, even Bread and Wine in its sub­stance and nature: Thus Divine Ado­ration is offered to those Elements, contrary to the universal practice of the Christian Church for 1200 years; and this passes among them as the most im­portant piece of their Worship, which has almost swallowed up all the rest. Thus the true Ideas of God, and the chief design of the Christian Religion is overthrown in that Communion; and what can we think of a Church that in the most important of her Of­fices, adds this Prayer to the absolution of Sinners, The passion of our Lord Iesus Christ, the merits of the blessed Virgin, and all the Saints, and whatever good thou hast done, and whatever evil thou hast suffered be to thee for the pardon of sin, the increase of Grace, and the reward of eternal life; where we see clearly [Page 47] what things they joyn in the same breath, and in order to the same ends with the passion of Christ. When they have cleansed their Churches of these objects of Idolatry and Super­stition, and their Offices of those Im­pious Addresses to Saints, and that in­finite number of Enchantments, then they may upon some more advantage ask, Why have we made the Schism? It is because they have corrupted the Doctrine of Christ and the Gospel; and if those things upon which the Se­paration subsists were removed, it could no more subsist than Accidents can do without a Subject.

The next thing upon which we ground our Separation is, That not on­ly the Church of Rome would hearken to no Addresses nor Remonstrances that were made to her for reforming those abuses, but that by Anathema's and the highest censures possible, all are obliged to believe as she believes in those very particulars, and are bound to joyn in a Worship in which those things which we condemn, are made indispen­sable parts of our publick Devotions: So that we must either mock God, by concurring in a Worship which we believe Impious and Superstitious, or [Page 48] we must separate from them. None can be admitted to Benefices of Cure or preferment, without swear [...]ng most of these Opinions which we think are false: Nor can any Eminent Heretick be received among them, without swearing that he in all things receives the Doctrines of the Church of Rome, and that he thinks all that do not re­ceive them worthy of an Anathema. If the Errours of the Church of Rome had been only speculative opinions, or things of less moment, we could have better born with them, or if they had only held to their own customes with­out imposing them on us, we could have held in several things a sisterly Communion with them, as we do with the Greek Churches; but when they have not only brought in and obsti­nately maintained those corruptions, but have so Tyrannically imposed them on the World, it is somewhat strange to see men make such grimaces, and an appearance of seriousness, while they ask this question, of which they know so well how to have resolved them­selves.

One thing is likewise to be considered, that in the examination of the corrupti­o [...]s of that Communion, it is not suffici­ent [Page 49] to say somewhat to sweeten every one of them in particular, but it is the complication of all together that we chiefly insist on, since by all these set toge­ther we have another view of them, than by every one of them taken asunder.

This then is our answer to the que­stion so often repeated: We have not made the Schism from the Church of Christ, as it was setled by the Apostles, and continued for many ages after them, but they have departed from that, and have refused to return to it. On the contrary, they have condemned and cursed us for doing it: Upon this, all that they obj [...]ct against the first Re­formers, as having been once of their Communion, falls to the ground: For if these things which we object to them are true, then since no man is bound to continue in Errours, because he▪ was bred up in them, this is no just preju­dice against those men. All the flourishes raised upon this ground are but slight things, and favour more of a monastick and affectate Eloquence, than of the weight and solidity of so renowned a Body. What is said of pulling down the Altars, and of that elegant figure of Christs being the Sparrow, and the Churches being the Turtle, that loved [Page 50] to make their Nests in them, is really very hard to be answered; not for the strength that is in it, but for another reason, that in Reverence to that As­sembly I shall not name. The Sacrifice of the death of Christ we acknowledge, as that only by which we come to God, and in a general sense of that term, the commemoration of it may be also called a Sacrifice, and the Communion Table an Altar, and such we still retain: and for any thing further, either of Altar or Sacrifice, till they give a better au­thority for it, than a fanciful allusion [...]o an ill-understood Verse of a [...]salm, we shall not be much concerned in it.

If Wars and Confusions have follow­ed in some places upon the reforming those abuses, they were the effects of the Rage and Cruelty of those Church­men, that seemed never like to be sati­ated with the blood of those that had departed from them. And if the speci­ous pretence of Edicts, Princes of the Blood, the preserving the House of Bourbon, the defending France from Fo­reigners, joyning with that natural ap­petite that is in all men to preserve themselves, engaged some in Wars un­der the minority of their Kings, it is [Page 51] nothing but what is natural to man: and these who condemn it most, yet ought to pity those whom their Prede­cessors, in whose steps they now go, con­strained to do all that they did. And the Rebellions in England and Ireland, in King Henry the Eighth, Edward the Sixth, and Queen Elizabeth's time, when no Persecutions provoked them to them, and no Laws gave them any colour for them, are a much stronger prejudice against their Church, chiefly since these were set on by the Autho­rity and Agents of Rome, so that they may well give over the pursuing this matter any further. As for the argu­ment set before them from the Greatness and Glory of their King, and his Zeal to have all again re-united into one Body, how powerful soever it may be to work upon their fears, and to touch them in their Secular concerns, it cannot be considered as an argument to work on their reasons. They expressed their Zeal for their King in his greatest ex­tremity, while he was under age; and after all the heavy returns that they have met with since that time, they have continued in an Invincible Loyalty and submission in all things, except in the matters of their God: If the He­roick [Page 52] greatness, Glorious success, and the more inherent qualities of a Prince­ly mind, are good Arguments to work on Subjects, they were as strong in the times of a Trajan, a Decius, or a Dio­clesian, to perswade the Christians to turn Heathens: But it is very proba­ble this is the strongest of all those mo­tives that have produced so many Con­versions of late, while men, either to make their Court, or to live easie, are induced to make shipwrack of the Faith, and of a good Conscience. And I shall not add, that it seems those who are so often making use of this Argument, feel the mighty force it has on them­selves, and so imagine it should pre­vail as much on others, as they find it does on their own Consciences, or rather on their Ambition and Cove­tousness.

I will prosecute the matter of this Letter no further, and therefore shall not shew in how many places the Se­cretary that penned it has discover­ed how much he is a Novice in such matters, and what great advantages he gives to those who would sift all the expressions, the figures, and the periods in it. But the Respect I pay to those that subscribe it, as well as the [Page 53] importance and gravity of the subject stop me: So from the reviewing this Letter, I go next to consider the Me­thods laid down by the Assembly for carrying on those Conversions.

A MEMORIAL, Containing diverse Methods, of which very great use may be made for the Conversion of those who pro­fess the pretended Reformed Reli­gion.

The first Method Is that which Cardinal Richelieu used for reducing, either in the way of Disput [...] or Conference, those of the P. R. R. and to perswade them in an amicable man­ner to re-unite themselves to the Church.

THis Method is to attack them by [...] Decree of a Synod of theirs tha [...] met at Charenton, 1631. by which the [...] received to their Communion those of th [...] Ausbourg Confession, who hold the Rea [...] Presence of the Body of Iesus Christ in [Page 55] the Eucharist, together with diverse other Articles that are very different from the Confession of Faith of those that are the P. Reformed. Vpon which the Minister Dailee in his Apology says, That if the Church of Rome had no other errour be­sides that, they had not had a sufficient rea­son for their separating from her.

It is certain, that none of all the other points of our Belief that are controverted, are either of greater importance, or hard­er to be believed than this which has been ever esteemed even by themselves one of the chief grounds of their Separation, and is that by which the people are most amu­sed. As for that which the Minister Dailee says for eluding the force of this Objection, That the Lutherans do not adore Iesus Christ in the Sacrament: It is altogether un­reasonable,Cal. lib. de ve­ra participati­one co [...]poris. Christi in coe­na. since Calvin himself reproves the Lutherans for that, and is forced to acknow­ledge that adoration is a necessary consequence of the real Presence. What is more strange (says he) than to put Jesus Christ in the Bread, and not to adore him? and if he is in the Bread, then he ought to be adored under the Bread.

Thus since, according to the Calvinists in the same Synod, one does not overthrow the grounds of Salvation by the belief of the Real Presence, and the other points of [Page 56] their Confession concerning which they di­spute, that Cardinal thought he could con­vince them of their errour, in separating faom the Communion of the Church of Rome, in which, according to their own Maximes, one could be saved.

It was by the like reasoning that the African Fathers convinced the Donatists, called the Primianists, that they had unjustly separated themselves from the Catholick Church, because it received Cecilian i [...]to its Communion, since they had made a de­cree of Vnion with the Maximianists, whom they had formerly condemned. It was in the Council of Carthage, held under Anastasius, that the Fathers used this against those Hereticks, and in the Fourth Canon they set this before them, Ubi eis divi­nitus demon­stratur si attendere veli [...]t, tam inique il­los ab Eccle­siae unitate praecisos, quam inique clamant Ma­ximianistas à se Schisma fe­cisse. Concil. Carth. sub A­nast. Can. 4. That they might see if they would but open their eyes a little to the Divine Light, that they had as unjustly [...]ut themselves off from the unity of the Church; as the Maximia­nists according to what they said, had se­parated themselves from their Commu­nion,

Remarks.

IF Cardinal Richelieu had not [...]een an abler States-man, than as it appears by this argument, he was a Divine, the Princes of Europe would not have such cause as they have at present, to dread the growth of the French Mo­narchy, of which he laid the best and strongest foundations. It is a common Maxime, That no man can excel but in one thing; so since his strength lay in the Politicks, no wonder he had no great Ta­lent for Divinity: But if this at first view seemed to him to have somewhat in it to amuse weak minds, especially when it surprized them with its novelty; yet it is a little unexpected to find it taken up by so great a Body, and set in the front of their Methods for making Pro­selytes, after the weakness of it has been so evidently discovered.

1. Great difference is to be made be­tween a speculation that lies in the mind, and is a mans particular opini­on, and that which discovers it self in the most solemn acts of Worship; for the former, unless it is such as subverts the foundations of Religion, we can well bear with it: These are errours [Page 58] in which the person that holds them is only concerned, whereas the other errors become more fruitful, they corrupt the Worship, they give scandal, and infect others. Therefore we will without scruple own, that whether a man be­lieve Consubstantiation or Transubstan­tiation, so long as that lies in his brain as a notion, we may conclude him a very ill Philosopher, and a worse Di­vine, for holding it; but still we will receive him to our Communion, that being a solemn stipulation of the New Covenant made with God through Christ: And therefore since such a per­son acts nothing contrary to that Co­venant, we ought to admit him to it: But Idolatry being contrary to the Laws upon which that Covenant is grounded, we cannot receive an Ido­later, though we do admit such as are in errours, that produce no other effect but mistaken apprehensions and judge­ments. It is unreasonable to say that if the Presence is acknowledged, Ado­ration ought to follow; for we will ex­communicate none for a consequence, were it never so well deduced, so long as they hold not that consequence: And if Calvin argued as he did from that absurdity, it was not that he thought [Page 59] they ought to adore, because they be­lieved Consubstantiation; but rather to let them see how unreasonable it was to believe it, since they did not adore it; and yet it must be confessed the argument is not unanswerable: For it may be said, that as Princes when [...]ey are in any place Incognito, even though they are known, yet their being Incog­nito shews that they will not have that respect paid them which is otherwise due to them: So that Christ being present in an invisible manner is not to be ado­red. I shall not determine whether the Argument or the Answer is strong­er, yet this must be confessed, that up­on so dubious a consequence, it were a very unreasonable Cruelty to deny the holding Communion with those that believed such a presence, though we refuse to communicate with those that joyn Adoration to it.

2. There is a great difference to be made between the receiving men that hold erroneous Tenets, to our [...]om­munion that we believe is pure and undefiled, and the joyning our selves to a Communion in which we must profess those very errours which we condemn; and by solemn acts of Wor­ship must testifie before God and the [Page 60] World that we believe that which inwardly and in our Consciences we think false. The former is only a tolerating or conniving at the errours of others, without any sort of approbation of them; whereas the other is the ful­lest and most publick contradiction to our Consciences that is possible.

3. As long as any Errours do not strike against the foundations of the Christian Religion, we own that we will bear with them, at least not oblige others, especially the Laity, in whom there is not that danger of spreading them to renounce them, before we ad­mit them to the Sacraments: But the case of the Church of Rome is very dif­ferent, among whom this opinion is but one of very many opinions, that we think reverse the whole nature and de­sign of Christianity, of which some short hints were given in the Remarks upon the Letter of the Assembly Ge­neral.

4. It is a very ill Inference to con­clude, because that we think a man can be saved that believes the Corporal Presence, therefore we have done amiss to separate from their Communion. We may think men may be saved though they are in some errours, that in us [Page 61] were damnable, after the illumination we have had; especially if we should profess that we believe them when we do not believe them, and therefore if we cannot continue in their Communi­on without professing that we believe those Errours, they were to blame for imposing them on us, and not we for separating from them, when they had imposed them.

5. That which the African Fathers objected to the Donatists was very per­tinently urged against them, who grounded their Separation only upon this, That there were some corrupt members in the Communion of the Church: And this was very justly cast back on them, upon their receiving the Maximianists, whom they had for­merly condemned as Schismaticks, to their Communion. But it has no re­lation to us who have not separated from their Church upon any such per­sonal account: Therefore since the chief grounds of our Separation are the corru­ptions in their Worship, and our being obliged to bear a share in those corrupti­ons, it is clear that our receiving to our Communion those who have not cor­rupted their Worship, and come to joyn with us, has no relation to that dispute b [...] ­tween [Page 62] the African Fathers and the Do­natists.

6. There is one thing in the Method which we freely confess to be true, That there is none of the controverted points that are harder to be believed than this of the Real Presence. It is no wonder it should be so, since it has the strongest Evidences both of Sense and Reason against it: But if it is so hard to be believed, it is very severe to prose­cute those who cannot bring themselves to believe it, in so extreme a manner as that Church has done and still does. Upon the whole matter, this Method is so weak in all the parts of it, that its being set first, gives no great hopes of any thing extraordinary to follow.

The Second Method

IS to lay this before them, that accord­ing to the light of Nature, and their own Confession, in the matters of our Sal­vation, which is the one thing that is needful, we ought always to chuse the surer side: Now it is certain, that ac­cording to that Decree of the Synod of Charenton, it is indifferent to them whether one believes the Real Presence, or whether they believe it not; and we hold it necessary to believe it, therefore it is the surer side to believe it: and if they could but disengage themselves a little from their prejudices, they would follow this way. The same may be said of all the other points in dispute. Me­stresat the Minister, in his Treatise of the Church, says that things necessary to Salvation are only those that are so ex­pressly set down in the Scriptures, that no doubt can be made of them. Such as are the Articles of the Apostles Creed. If there is any thing that is obscure (says he) then I assert it is not necessary, and therefore one may be a very good Christian without it, and may have both Faith, Hope and Charity.

[Page 64]It is evident that the points in dispute which they maintain against us are not so clearly expressed in the Scripture, that one cannot doubt concerning them: Since we maintain on good grounds, that they are not there: So that according to their own Doctrine, one can disbelieve them, without endangering his Salvation. But we say that it is necessary, under the pain of damnation, to believe the contrary opinion, and therefore if they will take the surest side, they ought to submit to us.

Remarks.

1. IT is something odd to see so great a Body use this Logick, That be­cause we think an errour is not dam­nable, and such as obliges us to excom­municate all that hold it, therefore we think it indifferent to believe it or not. We judge it an errour, and while we think it so, it were a lie for us to say that we did believe it, and this, espe­cially in such publick Acts of Wor­ship of God, which are grossly Ido­latrous, by their own Confession, while we hold this persuasion, is so far from being a thing indifferent, that we know nothing more damnable▪ For this were to lie every day to God [Page 65] and the World, and to commit Idolatry in a manner more absurd, than the most barbarous Nations have been guilty of, which is to worship that as a God which we do believe is only a piece of Bread.

2. In this very Article it is plain that our Opinion is the surer side: For as to the Spiritual efficacy of the Sacrament and due preparation for it, which is all that we hold concerning it, by their own Confession there can be no sin in that: whereas if their opi­nion is false, they are guilty of a most horrid Idolatry. So there is no danger in any thing we do, whereas there may be great danger on their side; all the danger that is possible to be on our side, is, that we do not adore Christ if he is present, which may be thought to be want of Re­verence: But that cannot be reasonably urged, since we at the same time adore him, believing him to be in Heaven; and if this objection against us had any force, then the Primitive Church for twelve hundred years must have been in a state of damnation, for none of them adored the Consecrated Ele­ments, nor has the Greek Church ever done it.

3. It is clear this general Maxime of taking the surer sid [...] is against them. [Page 66] There is no sin in not worshipping Images, whereas there may be a sin in doing it. They confess it is not ne­cessary to invocate the Saints, and we believe it is sinful. They do not hold that it is necessary to say Masses for re­deeming Souls out of Purgatory, and we believe that it is an impious profa­nation of the Sacrament. They do not hold it is necessary to take away the Cup in the Sacrament, we think it Sacrile­gious. They do not think those Con­secrations, by which Divine Vertues are derived into such a variety of things to be necessary, we look on them as gross Superstitions. They do not think the Worship in an unknown tongue necessary, whereas we think it a dis­grace to Religion. So in all these, and many more particulars, it is clear that we are of the surer side.

4. We own that Maxime, That nothing is necessary to Salvation but what is plainly set down in the Scri­ptures; but this is not to be carried so far, as that it should be impossible by sophistry, or the equivocal use of words, to fasten some other sense to such passages in Scripture; for then nothing can be said to be plain in any Book whatsoever: But we under­stand [Page 67] this of the genuine meaning of the Scriptures, such as a plain well-disposed man will find out, if his mind is not strongly prepossessed or biassed with false and wrong mea­sures.

5. The Confidence with which any party proposes their opinions, cannot be a true Standart to judge of them; otherwise the Receipts of Mountebanks will be always preferred to those pre­scribed by good Physicians; and in­deed the modesty of one side and the confidence of the other, ought rather to give us a biass for the one against the other, especially if it is visible that Interest is very prevalent in the confi­dent party.

The Third Method

IS to confer amicably with them, and to shew them our Articles in the Scri­ptures and Tradition, as the Fathers of tbe first Ages understood both the one and the other, without engaging in reasonings, or the drawing out of Consequences by Syllo­gisms, as Cardinal Bellarmin, and Perron, and Gretser, and the other Writers of Con­troversie have done; which ordinarily be­get endless disputes. It was in this man­ner that the General Councils did proceed, and thus did S. Austin prove Original sin against Julian: To this end (says he) Ut senrentiis Episcoporum qui Scripturas [...]acras ingenti g [...]oria tracta­verunt, tua, ju­liane, machi­namenta sub­vertam. Lib. 2. contr. Iul. c. 1. O Julian, that I may overthrow thy Engines and Artifices by the opinions of those Bishops who have interpreted the Scri­pture with so much glory. After which he cites the passages of the Scripture, as they were understood by S. Ambrose, S. Cyprian, S. Gregory Nazianzene, and others.

Remarks.

1. WE do not deny but amicable Conferences, in which mat­ters are proposed without the wran­glings of Dispute, are the likeliest ways to convince people: And when­ever they shew us their doctrines di­rectly in the Scripture and Tradition, we will be very unreasonable if we do not yield upon that Evidence. When they give us good authori­ties from Scripture and Tradition for the Worship of Images and Saints, for adoring the Host, for dividing the Sacrament, for redeeming Souls out of Purgatory, for denying the people the free use of the Scriptures, for obliging them to worship God in a Tongue not understood by them, we will confess our selves very obstinate men if we re­sist such Conviction.

2. The shewing barely some pas­sages, without considering the whole scope of them, with the sense in which such words were used, in such ages, and by such Fathers will certainly misguide us, therefore all these must be also taken in for making this Enquiry ex­actly. Allowances also must be made [Page 70] for the heats of Eloquence in Ser­mons or warm Discourses, since one passage strictly and philosophically ex­pressed is stronger than a hundred, in which the heat of Zeal and the Figures of Rhetorick transport the Writer. And thus if the Fathers disputing against those who said that the Humane Nature of Christ was swallowed up by his Divine Nature, urge this to prove that the Humane Nature did still subsist, that in the Sacrament after the Consecration, in which there is an Union between the E­lements and the Body and Blood of Christ, they do still retain their proper nature and substance; such expressions used on such a design le [...]d us more in­fallibly to know what they thought in this matter, than any thing that they said with design only to beget Reve­rence and Devotion can do.

3. The Ancient Councils were not so sollicitous as this Paper would insi­nuate, to prove a Tradition from the Fathers of the first Ages. They took great care to prove the truth, which they decreed, by many arguments from Scripture; but for the Tradition, they thought it enough to shew that they did innovate in nothing, and that [Page 71] some Fathers before them had taught what they decreed. We have not the acts of the two first General Councils, but we may very probably gather upon what grounds those at Nice proceeded, by what S. Athanasius wrote as an Apology for their Symbol,Lib. de decret. Conc. Nic. in particular for the word Consubstantial, which he proves by many consequences drawn from Scripture, but for the Tra­dition of it he only cites four Fathers, and none of those were very ancient: They are Theognistus, Denis of Alexan­dria, Denis of Rome, and Origen; and yet both that Ath. Epist. de Senten. Dion. Alex. Father, Lib. de Syn. Hilary, and Epist. 41. S. Basil acknowledge that Denis of Alexandria wavered much in that mat­ter; and it is well known what advan­tages were taken from many of Origen's expressions. So here we have only two undisputed Fathers that conveyed this Tradition.Conc. Eph. act. 1. We have the Acts of the third General Council yet preserved, and in them we find a Tradition in­deed alledged, but except S. Cyprian and S. Peter of Alexandria, they cite none but those that had lived after the Coun­cil of Nice; and Pope Leo's Letter to Flavian, to which the Council of Chal­cedon assented, is an entire contexture of authorities drawn from Scripture, [Page 72] without so much as any one citation of any Father. It is true, there is added to the end of that Letter a Collection of some sayings of six Fathers, Hilary, Ambrose, Nazianzene, Chrysostome, Au­stin and Cyril, who had all except one, lived within sixty years or a little more, of that time. So it is certain they founded their Faith only on the Scri­pture, and not on Tradition, otherwise they had taken more pains to have made it out, and had not been so easily satisfied with what a few late Writers had said: And thus it may be pre­sumed, that all the end for which they cited them, was only to shew that they did not broach new and unheard of opinions. And S. Austin could no [...] think that S. Cyprian's opinion al [...]ne was a sufficient proof of the Doctrine of the first three Centuries for Original Sin, and yet he cite [...] no other that lived in those Ages. No [...] could S. Ambrose, and Nazianzene that had lived in his own time, be cited t [...] prove the Tradition of former Ages And whereas it is insinuated that he cited others, one would expect to fin [...] a Catalogue of many other Father [...] wrapt up in this plural, whereas al [...] resolves into Hilary alone. And we [Page 73] have a more evident Indication of S. Austin's sense, as to the la [...]t resort in matters of Controversie, than this they offer in that celebrated saying of his, when he was writing against Maximinus the Arian Bishop. Sed nunc nec ego Ni­cenum, nec tu debes Arimi­nense tan­quam praeju­dicaturus pro­ferre Concili­um; nec ego hujus autho­ritate, nec tu [...]llius detine­ris. Scriptu­rarum autho­ritatibus non quorumque propriis sed utriusque communibus testibus, res cum re, causa cum causâ, ratio cum ratione concerter. Lib. 3. co [...]t. Max. cap. 14. But nei­ther may I make use of the Nicene Coun­cil, nor you that of Arimini, as that which ought to pre-judge us in this mat­ter; for neither am I held by the autho­rity of the one, nor you by the authori­ty of the other. Let the one side and cause, and their reasons, be brought a­gainst the other from the authorities of the Scriptures, that do not belong to ei­ther side, but are Witnesses common to both.

The Fourth Method

IS to tell them that their Ministers can never do this, nor shew in the Scriptures any of their Articles that are controverted, and this is very true. For example, they can never bring any formal Text to prove that Original Sin remains, as to the guilt of it after Baptism, that we receive the Body of Iesus Christ only by Faith; that after the Consecration, the Sacrament is still Bread; that there is no Purgatory, and that we do not merit any thing by our good works. And to this it may be added, that among all those pas­sages that are on the Margent of their Confession, there is not one that says that which they cite it for, either in express or equivalent terms, or in the same sense. This is the Method of Mr. Veron, which he took from S. Austin, who says to the Manichaeans, Shew me that that is in the Scripture; and in another place, Let him shew me that that is to be found in the Holy Scripture. We must then boldly tell them, That they cannot prove any of their Articles that are in di­spute, nor dispute against any of ours by any passages of Scripture, neither in ex­press terms, nor by sufficient consequences, so [Page 75] as to make their Doctrine be recei­ved, as the Faith, and ours pass for Er­rour.

Remarks.

THe first part of this Article pro­ceeds upon Veron's Method of putting us to prove our Doctrines by express words of Scripture, but some more cautious person has added in the conclusion a Salvo for good conse­quences drawn from them; upon which we yield that this is a very good Method, and are ready to joyn issue upon it. If they intend still to build upon that notion of express words, we desire it may be considered, that the true meaning of all passages is not to be taken only from the bare words, but from the contexture of the Dis­course, and the design upon which they are made use of; and that Rule of Logick being infallibly true, That what things soever agree in any third thing, they do also agree among themselves, it is certain that a true consequence is as good a proof as a formal passage. Thus did our Saviour prove the Resur­rection from the Scriptures by a very remote consequence, since God was [Page 76] said to be the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and was the God of the Living and not of the Dead. So did the Apostles prove Christ's being the promised Messias, and the obligation to observe the Mosaical Ceremonies to have ceased upon his coming, by many consequences, but not by the ex­press words of Scripture. All the argu­ings of the Fathers against the Hereti [...]ks run on Consequences drawn from Scri­pture, as may appear in all their Sy­nodical Letters, more particularly in that formerly cited of Pope Leo to Fla­vian, to which the Fourth General Council assented. This Plea does very ill become men that pretend such reve­rence to Antiquity, since it was that upon which all the Ancient Hereticks set up their strength, as the most plau­sible pretence by which they thought they could cover themselves. So the Athan. de Syn. Arim. & Sel [...]uc. Hilary de Synod. Au­eust. lib. 3. cont. Maxim. cap. 3. & Ep. 74, & 78. Arians at Arimini give this reason for rejecting the word Consubstantial, be­cause it was not in the Scriptures. The Nazianz. O­rat. 37. Macedonians laid hold of the same pretence. Act. Syn. Eph. Action 1. Nestor [...]us gives this as his chief reason for denying the Virgin to be the Mother of God: And Act. 6. Syn. Const. in Act. 2. Syn. Chalced. Eutyches covered himself also with this question, In what Scripture were the two Natures of [Page 77] Christ to be found? And his followers did afterwards insist so much on this Plea, that Theodoret wrote two large Discourses on purpose to shew the weakness of this pretence. So that af­ter all the noise they make about the Primitive Church, they follow the same tract in which the Hereticks that were condemned by the first four Ge­neral Councils, went; and they put us to do the same thing that the He­reticks then put on the Orthodox: But we make the same answer to it which the Fathers did, That the sense of the Scriptures is to be considered more than the words: So that what is according to the true sense, is as much proved by Scripture, as if it were con­tained in it in so many express words. And yet this Plea had a much greater strength in it, as it was managed by those Hereticks; for those contests be­ing concerning mysteries which ex­ceed our apprehensions, it was not an unreasonable thing at first view to say, that in such things which we cannot perfectly comprehend, it is not safe to proceed by deductions or consequences, and therefore it seemed safer to hold strictly to Scripture Phrases, but in other points into which our understandings [Page] can carry us further, it is much more absurd to exact of us express words of Scripture.

2. Most of the points about which we dispute with the Church of Rom [...], are additions made by them to the sim­plicity of the Christian Religion. So much as we own of the Christian Re­ligion they own likewise. In the other particulars, our Doctrine with relation to them is made up of Negatives, and theirs is the affirmative; and since all Negatives, especially in matters of Re­ligion prove themselves, it falls to their share to prove those Additions which they have made to our Faith, and to the Doctrine contained in the Scri­ptures.

3. Though this is a sure Maxime, yet our Plea is stronger, for there are many things taught by them against the express words of Scripture; as their worshipping Images, their no [...] drinking all of the Cup, their worship­ping of Angels, their not worshipping God in a tongue which the unlearned understand, and to which they can say, Amen; their setting up more Mediato [...] between God and us than one: Where­as S. Paul exhorting us to make Prayer [...] to God, tells us there is one M [...]di [...] tor, [Page 79] which shews that he spake there his single Intercession with God on our behalf.

4. We do not only build our Do­ctrine upon some few passages of the Scripture, in which perhaps a Critical Writer might easily raise much dust, but upon that in which we cannot be so easily mistaken, which is the main scope of the whole New Testament, and the design of Christianity, which we believe is reversed in their Church by the Idolatry and Superstition that is in it.

5. As for the particulars which they call on us to prove, as they are very few, so scarce any of them is of the greatest consequence. The first is a speculative point, about which we would never have broke Communi­on with them. For the second, that we receive Christ only by Faith, if the third is true, that the Sacra­ment is still Bread, then that must be also true: Now S. Paul calls it so four several times, as also our Saviour calls the Cup the Fruit of the Vine. As for our denying Purgatory, it is a Ne­gative, and they must prove it. Nor should we have broken Communion, for their opinion concerning it, if they [Page 80] had not added to that, the redeeming Souls out of it with Masses, by which the Worship is corrupted, contrary to the institution of the Sacrament. And for the last, in the sense in which ma­ny of them assert it, we do not raise any Controversie about it, for we know that God rewards our good works, or rather crowns his own Grace in us.

The fifth Method

IS the Peaceable Method, and without dispute founded on the Synod of Dort, which all the pretended Reformed Churches of France have received, and which has defined according to the Holy Scripture, that when there is a dispute concerning any Controverted Article between two par­ties that are both within the true Church, it is necessary to refer it to the judgement of the Synod, and that he who refuses to submit himself, becomes guilty of Heresi [...] and Schism. Now if we will run back to the time in which the dispute began con­cerning any Article, for instance that of the Real Presence, both the parties in th [...] debate, as well the Ancestors of those of the P. R. Religion as ours, were in th [...] [Page 81] same Church, which was the true Church; for there was no other before the S [...]pa­ration, which was not then made: Then their Ancestors, who would not submit to the Iudgement of the Church, and have separated from her on no other account but because she had condemned their senti­ments were Schismaticks and Hereticks: And those who at this day succeed them are in the same manner guilty, since they follow their opinions: And to this they can make no other Answer, but that which the Hereticks that have been con­demned in all Ages might have made. This Method is proved in all its parts in the little Treatise that has been made about it.

Remarks.

IT is not unwisely done to call this a Method that is to pass without dispute, for it will not bear one: And 1. There is this difference between the principles of Protestants and those of the Church of Rome, that whereas the latter are bound to justifie whatever has been decreed in a General Council as a rule either of Faith or Manners; the sor­mer are not so tied, and much less are they bound by the decision of a National Council, though never so solemn. It is na­tural for all Judicatories to raise their own authority as high as they can, and so if any Synod has made any such Decla­ration, it lies on them to justifie it, but the rest of those who have separated from the corruptions of the Church of Rome are not concerned in it.

2. The principle of Protestants, with relation to the majority even in a Ge­neral Council, is, That when any Doctrines are established or condemned upon the Authorities of the Scriptures, those who differ from them, and do think [...]hat the Council misunderstood the Scri­ptures are bound to suspect themselves a little, and to review the matter with [Page 83] greater application, and not to adhere to their former opinions out of pride or obstinacy: They are also bound to consider well of their opinions, though they appear still to be true, yet if [...]hey are of that importance that the publish­ing them is necessary to Salvation; for unless it is so, the Peace of the Church is not to be rent by them: Yet if they are required to profess that they believe opinions which they think false, if t [...]ey were never so inconsiderable, no man ought to go against his Conscience: But if a man after his strictest enqui­ries, is still persuaded that a Council has decreed against the true meaning of the Scriptures, in a point necessary to Salvation, then he must prefer God to Man, and follow the sounder, though it should prove to be the much lesser party: And if any Company or Synod of Protestants have decreed any thing contrary to this, in so far they have departed from the Protestant princi­ples.

3. Difference is to be made also be­tween Heresie and Schism in a Legal and a Vulgar sense, and what is truly such in the sight of God. The Sen­tence of a Supream Court from which there lies no Appeal, makes one le­gally [Page 84] a Criminal: But if he is inno­cent, he is not the less innocent be­cause a hard Sentence is past against him. So Heresie and [...]chism may take their denominations from the Sentence of a National or General Council: But in that which is the sense of those words that makes them Criminal, Heresie is nothing but an obstinate persisting in errours, contrary to Divine Revelation, after one has had a sufficient means of In [...]truction: and Schism is an ill grounded Separation from the Body of the Church: So it must be the Divine Revelation, and not the authority of a Synod that can prove one who holds contrary opinions to be an Heretick, and the grounds of the Separation must be likewise examined before one can be concluded a Schismatick.

4. Though the Conclusions and De­finitions made by the Synod of Dort are perhaps generally received in France, yet that does not bind them up to sub­scribe every thing that was asserted in that Synod: Nor do they found their assent to those opinions on the authori­ty of that Synod, but upon the Evidence of those places of Scripture from which they deduced them.

[Page 85]5. Since those of that Communion object a National Synod to the Prote­stants, this may be turned back on them with greater advantage, in some points established by Councils, which they esteem not only General but Infal­lible. In the Third Council of the La­teran it was decreed, That all Princes who favoured Hereticks did forfeit their Rights, and a Plenary Indulgence was granted to all that fought against them. In the Fourth Council at the same place it was decreed, That the Pope might not only declare this forfeiture, but absolve the Subjects from their Oaths of Obedience, and transfer their Dominions upon others. In the First Council at Lions they joyned with the Pope in thundring the Sentence of De­position against the Emperour Frede­rick the First, which in the preamble is grounded on some places of Scri­pture, of which if they were the Infal­lible Expositors, then this power is an Article of Faith. And in the last p [...]ace the Council of Constance decreed, That the Faith of a Safe-Conduct was not to be kept to an Heretick, that had come to the place of Judgement relying on it, even though he would not have come without it. When Cruelt [...], Re­bellion [Page 86] and Treachery were thus de­creed in Courts, which among them are of so sacred an authority; It is vi­sible how much gre [...]ter advantages we have of them in this point than any they can pretend against us.

6. For the Synod of Dort I will not undertake the Apology neither for their Decrees nor for their Assertions▪ and will not stick to say that how true soever many of their Conclusions may be, yet the defining such mysterious matters as the order of the Divine Decrees, and the Influences of Gods Grace on the wills of men, in so positive a manner, and the imposing their Assertions on all the Ministers of their Communion, was that which many as sincere Pro­testants as any are, have ever disliked and condemned, as a weakening the Union of the Protestant Church, and an assuming too much of that authority which we condemn in the Church of Rome. For though they supposed that they made their definitions upon the grounds of Scripture▪ so that in this sense the authority of the Synod was meerly Declarative; yet the question will still recur, Whether they under­stood the passages which they built on, right or not? And if they understood [Page 87] them wrong, then according to Pro­testant principles, their Decrees had no such binding authority, that the receding from them could make one guilty either of Heresie or Schism.

The Sixth Method

IS to shew them that the Roman Church, or that Church which acknowledges the Pope or the Bishop of Rome, the Suc­cessor of S. Peter, to be her Head all the World over, is the true Church: Be­cause there is no other besides her that has that undoubted mark, which is a perpet [...]al Visibility without Interruption, since Christ's time to this day. This is a Method com­mon to all the Catholicks, and is very well and briefly set forth in the little Trea­tise of the true Church, joyned to that of the Peaceable Method. This is that of which S. Austin makes most frequent use against the Donatists, and chiefly in his Book of the Vnity of the Church; and in his Epistles, of which the most remarkable passages relating to this mat­ter, are gathered together by the late Arch-bishop of Rouen, in the first Book of his Apology for the Gospel, in which he handles this matter excellently well.

[Page 88]One may add to this Method the Ma­xims, of which Tertullian makes use in his Treatise of Prescriptions against the Hereticks, and also Vincentius Lyri­nensis in his Advices. It is enough to say on this occasion that those two Trea­tises may satisfie any that will read them without prepossession, in order to their forming a just Iudgement of the true Church of Iesus Christ, and of all those Societies that would usurp that name▪

Remarks.

THis Method is so common that there was no reason in any sort to give Mr. Maimbourg the honour of it, unless it was that the Assembly in­tended to do him this publick honour to ballance his disgrace at Rome: But let us examine it.

1. This asserts that no other Church has a perpetual Succession without in­terruption, but that which derives it from Rome, which is so contrary to what every one knows, that Mr. Maim­bourg was certainly inspired with the Spirit of his Order when he writ it. Do not all the Greek Churches, and all the Churches that have their Ordina­tion from them, all from the Northern [Page 89] Empire of Muscovy to the Southern of the Abassines, together with all those in the East, derive from the Apostles by an uninterrupted series? For till the Authority of the Church of Rome is proved, which is the thing in questi­on, their being declared Schismaticks or Hereticks by it, does not interrupt this Succession.

2. The Church of England has the same Succession that the Church of Rome had in Gregory the Great's time (to wave the more ancient preten­sions of the Brittish Churches) and the Bishops of this Church being bound by one of their Sponsions made at their Consecration, according to the Roman Pontifical, to instruct their flock in the true Faith according to the Scriptures, they were obliged to make good this promise. Nor can it be pretended that they have thereupon forfeited their Or­ders, and by consequence their Succes­sion.

3. The Succession of the Church of Rome cannot be said to be uninter­rupted, if either Heresie or Schism can cut it off. It is well known that Fe­lix, Liberius, and Honorius, to name no more, were Hereticks; and if Ordi­nations by Schismaticks or unlawful [Page 90] Usurpers be to be annulled, which was judged in the case of Photius, and was often practised at Rome, then the ma­ny Schisms and unjust usurpations that have been in that See▪ will make the Succession of their Orders the most dis­putable thing that can be, especially during that Schism that lasted almost forty years; all the Churches of that Communion having derived their Or­ders from one or other of the Popes: and if the Popes at Avignon were the Usurpers, then let the Gallican Churches see how they can justifie the series of their Ordinations: To all which may be added the impossibility of proving a true Succession in Orders, if the Ver­tue of the Sacraments depends on the Intention of him who officiates, since secret Intentions are only known to God.

4. The ground on which the Donatists separated from the Orthodox Churches being at first founded on a matter of Fact, which was of the pretended Irregu­larity of those who ordained Cecilian, which they afterwards defended upon this, that the Church could be only composed of good men, and that the Sacraments were of no Vertue when dispensed by ill hands; all that S. Au­stin [Page 91] says is to be governed by this Hy­pothesis, against which he argues: And it being once granted that the Church was not corrupted neither in Doctrine nor Worship, we are very ready to subscribe to every expression of his; and do freely acknowledge that the making a rent in a Church, that is pure both in Doctrine and Worship, upon any particular or personal ac­count, is a sin that cannot be suffici­ently detested and condemned. I shall not enter into a particular discussion of every passage of S. Austin's, but if in some he seems to go too far for the au­thority of the Church, I shall only offer two general considerations concerning these. The first is, That it is a Maxime with Lawyers, That general words in Laws are to be restricted to the pre­ambles and chief design of these Laws: And if this is true of Laws that are commonly penned with more coldness and upon greater deliberation, it is much more applicable to warm dis­courses, where the heat of Contradi­ction, and the Zeal of a Writer, makes that things are of [...]en aggravated, and carried too far; but still all those ex­pressions are to [...]e molli [...]ied and re­stricted to that which was the subject [Page 92] matter of the debate; therefore those expressions of S. Austin's, supposing that the Church was still sound in her Doctrine and Worship, are to be go­verned by that Hypothesis. The se­cond is, That many of those who urge these passages on us, do not deny but S. A [...]stin in the disputes about Grace and Original Sin was carried too far, though those were the subjects on which he employed his latest years with the greatest application: If then it is con­fessed that he wrote too warmly against the Pelagians, and in that heat advanced some propositions that need a fair con­struction, is it unreasonable for us to say that he might have done the same, writing against the Donatists?

5. As for Tertullian, he that might have conversed with many that could have known S. Pol [...]carp, who was both instructed and ordained by the Apo­stles, so that he might have been the third person in the conveyance of the sense of what the Apostles had left in Writing, could reasonably argue as he did against the Hereticks; but certain­ly no man that considers the distance we live at from those ages, and the ma­ny accidents that have so often changed the face of the Church, can think it [Page 93] reasonable to argue upon that ground now. And yet it were easie to bring many citatious out of that very Book of Tertullians, to shew that he ground­ed his Faith only on the Doctrine of Christ, delivered in the Scriptures, how much soever he might argue from other Topicks against the Hereticks of his time, who indeed were bringing in a New Gospel into the World.

We willingly receive the Characters that Vincentius Lyrinensis gives of Tra­dition, that what the Church has at all times and in all places received, is to be believed, and are ready to joyn issue upon this, and when they can prove that the Church at all times and in all places has taught the Worshipping of Images, the Invocation of Saints and Angels, the adoring the Sacrament, and the dividing of it, with many more particulars; we will yield the whole cause, and confess that we have made a Schism in the Church.

The Seventh Method

IS to let them see that those who at first pretended to Reform the Church in which they were amongst us, neither had nor could have any Mission, either Or­dinary or Extraordinary, to bring us any other Doctrine but that which was then taught; and that by Consequence none ought to believe them, since they had no authority to Preach as they did. How can they Preach if they are not sent. This is the ordinary Method that puts the Ministers to the necessity of proving their Mission, which is a thing that they can never do. This cuts off all disputes, and is one of the Methods of Cardinal Richelieu.

Remarks.

1. IF the first Reformers had deliver­ed a new Doctrine which was never formerly taught, it had been ne­cessary for them to have had a very extraordinary Mission, and to have confirmed it by very extraordinary signs, but when they grounded all [...]hey said upon that very Book, which was and is still received as the unalterable Law of all Christians; then if every man is bound to take care of his own Salvation, and is in Charity obliged to let others see that same light that guides himself, then I say an extraordinary Mission was not necessary when the thing in dispute was not a new Do­ctrine, but the true meaning of those Writings which were on all hands ac­knowledged to be Divine.

2. If notwithstanding the necessity of not raising War in Civil Government, without an express Commission from the Prince or Supream Authority, yet in a General Rebellion, when the ways of intercourse with the Prince are cut off, if it be not only a lawful but a commendable action for any sub­ject, even without a Commission, to [Page 96] raise what force he can for the service of the Prince: Then if it be true, that the Western Churches had generally revolted from the rules of the Gospel, that was a sufficient warrant for any person to endeavour a Reformation.

3. The nature of the Christian Re­ligion is to be well considered, in which all Christians are a Royal Priest­hood: And though it be highly neces­sary for all the ends of Religion to maintain peace and Order, and to convey down an authority for sacred administrations in such a way as tends most to advance those ends; yet this cannot be lookt on as indispensable and absolutely necessary. Among the Iews, as there were many services in which none but Priests and Levites could offi­ciate, so the Succession went in the natural course of Descent. But in the Christian Church there are no positive Laws so appropriated, and therefore in cases of extream and unavoidable ne­cessity every Christian may make use of that dormant priviledge of being a Royal Priest, and so this difficulty must be resolved, by examining the merits of the whole cause, for if the necessity was not extream and una­voidable, we acknowledge it had been [Page 97] a Sacrilegious presumption for any that was not called in the ordinary manner to meddle in Holy things

4. It is but a small part of the Re­formed Churches that is concerned in this. Here in England our Reformers had the ordinary Mission; and in most places beyond Sea the first Preachers had been ordained Priests: And it will not be easie to prove that Lay-men, yea, and Women may baptize in cases of necessity, when that is often but an imaginary necessity, and that yet Priests in a case of real necessity may not or­dain other Priests. For all the Rules of Order are superseded by extraordi­nary cases, and in Moral as well as in Natural things, every Individual has a Right to propagate its kind, and though it may be reasonable to regu­late that, yet it can never be wholly cut off.

The Eighth Method

IS to tell them, You do not know that such or such a Book of the Scripture is the Word of God but by the Church in which you were before your Schism: So that you cannot know what is the true sense of those passages that are in dis­pute, but by that same Church which conveys it to you. This is S. Austin's method in many places, but above all in his Book De utilitate Credendi, and in his Book Contra Epistolam funda­menti: Ego vero evangelio non crederem, nisi me Ecclesiae Catholicae moveret au­thoritas Cont. Epist. Fund. cap. 5. In which he says, I would not believe the Gospel, if the authority of the Church did not oblige me to it. This Method is handsomely managed in the Treatise of the true Word of God, joyned to the Peaceable Method.

Remarks.

1. GReat difference is to be made be­tween the conveyance of Books and an Oral Tradition of Doctrine. It is very easie to carry down the one in a way that is Morally Infallible: An exact copying being all that is necessary for that: Whereas it is morally impos­sible to prevent frauds and impostures in the other, in a course of some Ages, especially in times of Ignorance and Corruption, in which the Credu­lity of unthinking people, has made an easie game to the Craft and Indu­stry of covetous and aspiring Priests. Few were then at the pains to examine any thing, but took all upon Trust, and became so ready of belief, that the more incredible a thing seemed to be, they swallowed it down the more wil­lingly.

2. If this way of reasoning will hold good, it was as strong in the mouths of the Iews in our Saviours time; for the High Priest and Sanhedrim might have as reasonably pretended that since they had conveyed down the Books in which the Prophecies of the Messiah [Page 100] were contained, they h [...]d likewise the right to expound those Prophecies.

3. A Witness that hands a thing down without Additions, is very diffe­rent from a Judge that delivers things on his own Authority. We freely own the Church to be such a Witness that there is no colour of reason to disbelieve the Tradition of the Books, but we see great cause to question the credit of her decisions.

4. In this Tradition of Books we have not barely the Tradition of the Church for it. We find in all ages since the Books of the New Testament were written, several Authors have cited many and large passages out of them: We find they were very quick­ly translated into many other Lan­guages, and diverse of those are con­veyed down to us. There were also so many Copies of these Books every where, that though one had resolved on so Sacrilegious an attempt as the corrupting them had been, he could not have succeeded in it to any great degree. Some additions might have been made in some Copies, and so from those they might have been derived to others, but these could not have b [...]en considerable, otherwise they [Page 101] had been discovered and complained of, and when we find the Church engaged in contests with Hereticks and Schis­maticks, we see both sides appealed to the Scriptures, and neither of them re­proached the other for violating that Sacred Trust. And the noise we find of the small change of a Letter in the A [...]ian Controversie, shews us how exact they were in preserving these Records: As for the Errours of Transcribers that is incident to the Nature of Man, and though some Errours have crept into some Copies, yet all these put toge­ther do not alter any one point of our Religion; so that they are not of great consequence. Thus it appears how much reason we have to receive the Scriptures upon the credit of such a Tradition. But for Oral Tradition, it is visible how it might have been so managed as quickly to change the whole Nature of Religion. Natural Religion was soon corrupted when it passed down in this Conveyance, even during the long lives of the Ancient Patriarchs, who had thereby an ad­vantage to keep this pure, that af­ter ages, in which the life of Man is so shortned, cannot pretend to. We [Page 102] also see to what a degree the Iewish Tradition became corrupted in our Saviours time, particularly in one point, which may be called the most essential part of their Religion, to wit, concerning their Messias, what the nature of his Person and King­dome were to be. So that they all expected a Great Conquerour, a se­cond Moses, or a David; so ineffe­ctual a mean is Oral Tradition, for conveying down any Doctrine pure or uncorrupted.

The Ninth Method

IS to tell them the Church in which they were before they made the Se­paration, was the true Church, because it was the only Church; so that they could not Reform the Doctrine without ma­king another Church: For then she must have fallen into Errour, and by conse­quence the Gates of Hell must have prevailed against her, which is directly contrary to the Promise of Iesus Christ that cannot fail, Portae Inse­ri non prae [...]a­leb [...]nt adv [...]r­sus eam. Ma [...]th. 1.16. The Gates of Hell shall not prevail against her

Remarks.

1. A Church may be a True Church, and yet be corrupted by many Errours, for a [...]rue Church is a Society of men, among whom are the certain means of Salvation, and such was the Iewish Church in our Saviours time: For their Sacrifices had still an Expia­tory Vertue, and the Covenant made with that people stood still, and yet they were over-run with many Errours, chiefly in their notions of the Messias. And thus as long as the Church of Rome acknowledges the Expiation, made by the Death of Christ, and applied to all that truly believe and amend their lives, so long she is a True Church. So that those of that Communion who adhere truly to that which is the great fundamental of the Christian Religi­on may be saved: But when so many things were added to this, that it was very hard to preserve this fundamental truth pure and entire, then it was ne­cessary for those who were better en­lightned, to call on others to correct the abuses that had crept in.

2. It is hard to build a great super-structure on a figurative expression, [Page 105] of which it is not easie to find out the true and full sense: And in this that is cited there are but three terms, and about every one of them great and just grounds of doubting do appear. 1. It is not certain what is meant by the Gates of Hell, which is an odd figure for an assailant: If by Gates we mean Councils, because the Magi­strates and Courts among the Iews sate in the Gates, then the meaning will be, that the Craft of Hell shall not pre­vail against the Church, that is, shall not root out Christianity: or if by Gates of Hell, or the Grave, according to a common Greek Phrase, Death be to be understood, it being the Gate through which we pass to the Grave, then the meaning is this, that the Church shall never die or be ex­tinguished. Nor is there less difficulty to be made about the signification of the word Church: Whether it is to be meant in general of the body of Christians, or of the Pastors of the Church, and of the ma­jority of them. The Context seems to carry it for the Body of Christians, and then the meaning will be only this, That there shall still be a Body of Chri­stians in the World. And it cannot be proved that any thing else is to be [Page 106] understood by the word Church in that place. A third difficulty may be also raised upon the extent of the word Pre­vail, whether a total overthrow, or any single advantage is to be under­stood by it; or whether this prevailing is to be restrained only to the funda­mentals of Christianity, or is to be ex­tended to all sorts of truth; or whe­ther it is to be understood of corrupting the Doctrine, or of vitiating the Mo­rals of Christians? Thus it is apparent how many difficulties may be started concerning the meaning of those words. So that at best the sense of them is doubtful, and therefore it will be a strange and rash adventure to deter­mine any thing in matters of great mo­ment upon the authority of such a figu­rative expression.

3. Though the Roman Church had been corrupted, that will not infer that the Gates of Hell had prevailed against the Church, for that being but the Cen­ter of the Union of some of the Western Nations, a corruption in it does not prove that the whole Church was cor­rupted, for there were many other Churches in other parts of the World besides those of that Communion.

The Tenth Method

IS that of the Bishop of Meaux, lately of Condom, in his Book entituled, The exposition of the Doctrine of the Catholick Church. In which he does in every Article distinguish between that which is precisely of Faith, and that which is not so; and shews that there is nothing in our belief that may give distast to a reasona­ble Spirit, unless they will look on the abuses of some particular persons which we condemn, as our belief, or impute Er­rours to us falsely, or charge us with the explications of some Doctors that are nei­ther received nor authorized by the Church. This method is taken from S. Hilary in his Book of Synods. Damnemus in commune vitiosam In­telligentiam, non aufera­mus fidei se­curitatem. — Sed Homo­ousion potest male intelligi, constituatur qualiter possit bene intelligi.—Potest inter nos optimus fidei status condi, ut nec ea quae bene sunt constituta vexentur, & quae male sunt Intellecta resecentur. Hil. lib. de Syn. pag. 394, & 396. of the Paris Edition. 165 [...]. Let us (says he) alto­gether condemn false Interpretations, but let us not destroy the certainty of the Faith. —The Word Consubstantial may be ill understood, but let it be esta­blished in a sense in which it may be well understood. —The right state of the Faith may be established among us, so as we may neither reverse that which has been well establishedpunc; nor cut off those things that have been ill understood.

Remarks.

SOmewhat was said in the Preface, with relation to this, which shall not be here repeated. It is not to be denied but in the management of Con­troversies the heat of Dispute has car­ried many too far, and some have stu­died to raise many Imaginary Contro­versies, which subsist only upon some misunderstood terms and expressions of the contrary party: And things have been on all hands aggravated in many particulars out of measure: So that they have deserved well of the Church that have brought matters as near a Reconciliation as may be. But after all this, it were a strange imposi­tion on this and the preceding age to persuade the World that notwithstand­ing all the differences of Religion, and the unhappy effects that have followed upon them, that they really were all the while of the same mind, but were not so happy as to find it out till that excel­lent Prelate helpt them to it, by letting them see how near the concessions of both sides are to one another; so that a little conversation and dexterity i [...] putting the softest construction that [Page 109] may be on the contrary persuasion might bring them to be of the same mind. But if in order to this, the sense of both sides is so far stretched, that neither party can own it for a true account of their sentiments, then this must be concluded to be only the Ingenious Essay of a very witty man, who would take advantage of some expressions, to perswade people that they have opinions which really they have not. I shall not enter into a particular disquisition of those things which have been already so fully exa­mined, but refer the Reader to the An­swers that have been given to that fa­mous Book.

2. The received and authorized Of­fices of the Church of Rome, and the Language in which they do daily make their Addresses to Heaven is that on whi [...]h the most unanswerable and the strongest part of our Plea for our Separation is founded, and it is not an ingenuous way of writing to affix some forced senses to those plain expressions, because they being so gross as they are, all wise or learned men are ashamed to defend them, and yet know not how to get them to be reformed, or thrown out: Therefore it is that they set [Page 110] their Wits on work to put some better construction on them. But this is a clear violence to the plain sense of those Offices, extorted by the evidence and force of Truth, and gives us this advantage, that it is plain those that so qualifie them, are convinced that their Church is in the wrong, and yet for other ends, or perhaps from a mista­ken notion of Unity and Peace, they think fit to continue in it.

3. It is to be hoped, that those who have cited this passage out of S. Hilary, will consider those other passages cited out of him against Persecution, though a great Errour made in the Translation of this citation, makes me fear that they who rendred it had read him very cursorily.

The Eleventh Method

IS drawn from those General Arguments which Divines call the Motives of Credibility: It is that made use of by Ter­tullian, in his Book of Prescriptions; and by S. Austin, Contr. Epist. Fund. cap. 45, Paris▪ Edit. who reckons up the Mo­tives that held him in the Catholick Church.

Remarks.

1. AS for the Case of Tertullian and S. Austin, a great deal was said formerly to shew the difference between the Age they lived in, and the grounds they went on; and the present state of the Western Church.

2. When it is considered that a course of many Ages, which by the Confessi­on of all were times of Ignorance and Superstition, has made a great change in the World, that the gross Scandals and wonderful Ignorance of those that have governed the See of Rome, that the Dissolution of all the Rules of Ec­clesiastical Order and Discipline both among Clergy and Laity, that the In­terest the Priests, particularly the Popes and the begging Orders that depended [Page 112] on them, had to promote those, was so great and undisput [...]d, that it is notori­ous, all the worst methods of forgeries, both of Writings to authorize them, and of Miracles and Legends to sup­port them, were made use of. When, I say, all these things are so plain to every one that has lookt a little into the History of former ages, it is no won­der if the Church of Rome is so much changed from what it was formerly, That the motives made use of by Ter­tullian and S. Austin do not at all belong to the present state of the Churches of that Communion: But on the contrary, instead of motives to perswade one to continue in it, there appear upon a ge­neral view, a great many just and well-grounded prejudices to dispose a man to forsake that Communion.

The Twelfth Method

IS both very short and very easie: It is to catch them in this Dilemma. Be­fore Wickliff, Luther and Calvin (and one may say as much of the Waldenses that lived in the Twel [...]h Century) the Church of those of the P R. Religion was either made up of a little number of the Faithful, or was not at all in being. If it was not at all in being, then theirs is a False Church, since it is not perpetual, as the True Church ought to be, according to the promise of Iesus Christ, Portae Infe­ri non praeva­lebunt adver­sus [...]am. The Gates of Hell shall not prevail against her, and Ego vobis­cum sum us­que ad con­summatio­nem seculi. I am with you even to the end of the World. If their Church was in being, it must have been according to their own principles Corrupted and Impi­ous: Because they cannot shew that little number of the pretended Faithful, who be­fore the Reformation did condemn, as they now do, Art. 31. of their Confessio [...] of Fait [...]. all the Assemblies of the Popish Churches, as over-run with Idolatry and Superstition. They behaved themselves, at least as to outward appearance, as others did. And thus their Church which was composed of that small unknown flock, was not Holy, and by consequence was not the True Church.

Remarks.

1. TO the greatest part of this, an­swer has been already given: We acknowledge the Church of Rome was a True Church, and had in it the means of Salvation though it was over-run with Errours, and Christ is truly with his Church as long as those means of Salvation do remain in it. So was the Iewish Church a True Church after she was in many points corrupted in her Doctrine.

2. In those dark Ages many might have kept themselves free from the de­filements of their Worship, though no account is given of them in story. So seven thousand had not bowed their knees to Baal in Elijah's time, who were not so much as known to that Prophet, though it might have been expected that they would all have willingly discovered themselves to him: And since he knew nothing of them, it is very probable they concealed themselves with great care from all others.

3. All good men have not all the de­grees of Illumination, for there might have been great numbers that saw the [Page 115] corruptions of their Church, but were so restrained by other opinions concerning the Unity of the Church, that they thought it enough to infuse their notions into some few Disciples, in whom they confided: and on some perhaps that which Elisha said to Naaman the Syrian, being wrong understood by them, had great in­fluence. Others observing that the Apo­stles continued to worship at the Tem­ple, and offer Sacrifices, which S. Paul and those with him that purified them­selves must have done, might have from that inferred that one might com­ply in a Worship, though they disliked many things in it; which, if I am not much misinformed, is a Maxime that governs many in the Roman Commu­nion to this day. I do not excuse this compliance, but it is not so criminal as at first view it may appear to be: If it is truly founded on a mistake of the mind, and not on a baseness in the will, or a rejecting of the Cross of Christ, especially in men that had so faint a twilight as that was which they were guided by in those blind times.

4. But to make the worst of this that can be, and should we grant that through fear they had complied against their [Page 116] Consciences, this only must make the conclusion terrible to them, if they did not repent of it. But God might have ordered the conveyance of truth to be handed down by such defiled hands, and their not being personally holy, must not be urged too far, to prove that they could not be the true Church. This will come too near the Doctrines of the Do­natists, and many of S. Austin's sayings which they unreasonably object to us, may be turned upon them. And it will very ill become a Church that ac­knowledges the Succession of the Bishop of Rome to have been the chief convey­ance of Tradition, which is a much greater matter in their principles than it is in ours, to urge the Holiness of the Members to be essential to the be­ing of a Church, when it is acknow­ledged what a sort of men the Heads of their Church have been for diverse Ages.

The Thirteenth Method

IS taken from the nature of Schism, which one ought never to make, what reasons soever may be pretended for it, for according to the Minister▪ [...]hemselves, no other reason can be given for their Sepa­ration, but the Errours which they pretend had crept into the Church. But those who were in it as well as th [...]y were, did strongly assert, as we do to this day, that these were no Errours at all but Truths. And it is certain that of opinions which are so different, the one must be the true Do­ctrine, and the other must be Errour and falshood; and by consequence the one must be the good grain, and the other must be the Tares. Now it does not belong to particular persons by their private autho­rity to pluck up that which they pretend to be Tares. There is none but God, who is the true Father of the Family, that has this authority, and can communicate it to others. It is he who appoints the Reapers, that is the Pope and the Bi­shops, who are represented by the Angels, to separate the Cockle from the Wheat, and to pluck out the one without touching the other till the time of Harvest, that is in a Council, or by the common consent [Page 118] of the whole Church, and in that case a Council is not necessary. Vis imus & colligimus ea? Non; ne forte eradi­cantes Ziza­nia, eradicetis & triticum; sinite utra­que crescere usque ad mes­sem. Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up? But he said, Nay; lest while ye gather up the Tares, ye root up also the Wheat with them, let both grow together un­til the Harvest. Therefore one ought ne­ver to s [...]parate upon what pretence soever it be, but he must bear with that which he thinks is an abuse and errour, and stay till the Church plucks up the Cockle. Lib. de uni­tate Ecclesi [...]e, & Psal. con. par. Don. & Epist. 162 & 171. This is one of the Methods of S. Austin in his Treatises against the Donatists, in which he shews from the Examples of Moses, Aaron, Samuel, David, Isaiah, Jere­my, S. Paul, who tolerated even the false Apostles, that we ought never to separate from our Brethren, before the solemn con­demnation of the Church.Non enim nobis displi­cent quia to­lerant m [...]los, sed quia into­lerabiliter mali sunt pro­pter Schisma, propter Al­tare contra Altare, pro­pter Separati­onem ab hae­reditate Chri­sti toto orbe diffus [...], f [...]cut tanto an [...]e promissa est. A [...]g. Ep. 162. He says pur­s [...]ant to this, that the Donatists were in­tolerably wicked for having made a Schism, for having erected an Alta [...] against an Altar, and for having sepa­rated themselves from the Inheritance of Jesus Christ, which is stretched ou [...] over all the Earth, according to the promise that was made to it. He add [...] ▪ that if they thought that was but a sm [...] matter, they had nothing to do but to s [...] what the Scripture teaches us by the exam­ples we find in it of the punishment of s [...] [Page 119] great a crime; for says he, Those that made an Idol of the Golden Calf were only punished by the Sword, whereas those who made the Schism were swal­lowed up by the Earth: Diversirate poenarum, Diversitas ag­noscitur me­ritorum. Ibid. So that by this diversity of the punishments, one may know that Schism is a greater crime than Idolatry.

We may likewise see how upon the same subject he exhorts the Donatists to re­nounce their wicked Schism in his [...]71 Epistle, in which among other things he has those excellent words. Quare divi­sores vesti­mentorum Domini esse vultis? & tuni­cam illam Charitatis de­super tex [...]am, quam nec persecutores ejus divise­runt, terere cum toto or­be non vultis? — Fingi [...]is vos ante tem­pus messis su­gere permix­ta Ziz [...]nia, quia vos es [...]is sola Zizania: Nam si fru­menta essetis, permixta Zi­zania tolera­re [...]is, & à se­gete Christi non vos divi­deretis. Aug. E [...]. 171. Why will you tear the Lords garments? and why will you not with the rest of the World leave that Coat of Charity entire, that is all woven of one Thread, which even his Persecutors themselves would not rend? And a little after this, You pre­tend that you would avoid that Cockle, that as you alledge, is mixt among us, and that before the time of Harvest; whereas indeed it is you your selves that are this Cockle, for if you were the good grain, you would bear with it, and would not separate your selves from the Corn of Jesus Christ.

We need only change the name Dona­tists into Calvinists: This is it that shews to what degree the Church ever was and ever must be acknowledged to be Infallible, [Page 120] since we must submit to its Decisions; and the Fathers have established this so strong­ly that one ought never to separate from her, and that one is by so much the more obliged to continue united to her, because she never refuses to hear the Remon­strances made to her by her Children.

Remarks.

1. IT was observed before how un­reasonable it was to build much on [...]n Allegory, but on this occasion the Allegory is so clearly forced, that it gives just cause of Suspicion that the cause is weak that must be supported by such Arguments. For our Saviour makes it so plain that the Harvest is the end of the World, that the Reapers are Angels, and that upon his last coming they shall gather together the wicked, and cast them into Hell, and that the Righteous shall shine in Heaven: That the applying this to a General Coun­cil, in which Heresie shall be con­demned, is such a fetch, that it must be confessed they have as easie Consci­ences as they have warm Fancies, that are wrought on by it.

2. As for that which S. Austin drew from this against the Donatists who ju­stified [Page 112] their Separation on the account of the sins of those who were in the Communion of the Church, it was as pertinent as this is strained; for the ground of the Schism being only the mixture of the Cockle with the Wheat, nothing could be more strongly urged against them. But it is quite out of the present Controversie between them and us, who do not separate for this mixture, but finding the Wheat it self so much corrupted, took care to cleanse it.

3. We freely acknowledge the great sin of Schism, and the severe punish­ment due to it, but for all the severity of the punishment inflicted on Corah and his Partners, we do not doubt but when the Temple was so defiled by Idolatry, under the Kings that polluted the Altar and the Courts of the Lords House with Idols, it was not only no sin, but a commendable piece of Re­ligion in such cases to have withdrawn from so impious a Worship. This is our present case, and if what we object to their Worship is true, then our Se­paration from it is as necessary a Duty as is the preserving of our lives from Poy­sons or Infectious Diseases.

[Page 122]4. The true scope of that Parable seems to be a reproof to the Violence of such Church-men as are too apt to condemn and pluck up every thing that they think to be Cockle; and when the declaring what is Cockle is lodged with them, they will be sure to count every thing such that does not please them. And then that same heat that makes them judge those opinions to be Cockle sets them on to root them out with such violence, that much good Wheat is in danger to be pluckt up. Therefore to repress this, our Saviour commands them under that figure, to let both grow till the end of the World, that is, not to proceed to extremities and to rigorous Methods, but to leave that to God who will judge all at the last day. If this were well considered, it would put an effectual stop to that Spirit of Persecution which ferments so violently in that Church: The lan­guage of which is always this, Let u [...] go and pluck up the Tares, or that of the two Disciples who would have called for Fire from Heaven; and because Heaven will not answer such bloody demands, they try to raise such Fires on Earth as may burn up those whom they call the Tares: Not knowing [Page 123] what the true Spirit of Christianity is, and that the Son of Man came not to de­stroy mens lives, but to save them: And forget that our Saviour commanded them to let the Tares grow till the Har­vest. But this is one of the mischiefs that follows the humour of expounding the Scriptures fancifully. That the plain meaning of clear Texts is neg­lected, while forced and Allegorical ex­positions are pursued.

5. When it is clearly proved that the majority of the Pastors of the Church is Infallible, then we shall acknowledge that all Separation from them is simply unlawful: But till that is done we can no more think it a sin, when in obedi­ence to the Rules of the Gospel we withdraw from such false Teachers as corrupt it; Then it were for Common Subjects to refuse to obey the Subordi­nate Magistrates when they clearly per­ceive that they have revolted from their duty to their Supream Authority. And since we are warned to beware of false Teachers, we know no other way to judge of them, but the comparing their Doctrine with that which is de­livered to us in Scripture.

The Fourteenth Method

IS for the Confirmation of the former: In order to which we must ask the Cal­vinists upon all their Articles, that which Si autem tunc non erat Ecclesia, quia Sacrilegi He­retici sine baptismo re­cipiebantur, & haec uni­versali con­su [...]tudine te­nebatur, unde Donatus ap­paruit? S. Austin asked of the Donatists, when the Church reconciled to her self Here­ticks that were penitent without re-bapti­zing them: For Example, Whether was the Church still a True Church or not, when before the Schism was made, Iesus Christ was adored in the Holy Eucharist? If she was the true Church, then none ought to have separated from her for any practice that was authorized by her. De qua ter­râ germina­vit? De quo mari emer­sit? De quo coelo cecidit? Lib. 5. de Bapt. cap. 2. If she was not the true Church, from whence came Calvin, out of what soil did he grow, or out of what Sea was he cast, or from which of the Heavens did he fall? From whence are these Re­formers come? From whom have they re­ceived their Doctrine, and the authority to Preach it? Ipsi consi­derent ubi sint qui neque unde propa­gati sint, pos­sunt dicere. Sed nos in Ecclesiae communione securi sumu [...], per cujus universitatem [...]d nun [...] agitur, quod & ante Agripinum, & inter Agripinum & Cyprianum, per ejus universitatem similiter agebatur. Ibid. Let those who follow them consider well where they are, since they can mount no higher than to those for their Original. For us we are secure in the Communion of that Church, in which that is to this day [Page 125] universally practised that was also pra­ctised before Agripinus's time, and also in the interval between Cyprian and Agri­pinus: And afterwards he subjoyns these excellent words that are Decisive, Et cujus u­niversitatem neque Agripi­nus deseruit, neque Cypri­anus, neque illi qui iis consenserunt, quamvis ali­ter quàm cae­teri saperent, sed cum iis ipsis à quibus diversa sense­runt, in ea­dem unitatis Communione manserunt. Ibid. But neither did Agripinus, nor Cyprian, nor those that have followed them, though they had opinions different from others, separate themselves from them, but re­mained in the Communion and Unity of the same Church with those from whom they differed. That is to say, they waited till the Church should have de­cided the difference; and after he had re­sumed a little of what he had formerly said, he concludes thus, Quapropter si temporib [...]s Cypriani perdidit Ec­clesia Malo­rum Com­munionem, non habent isti suae com­munionis ori­gin [...]m. Si autem non perdidit, non hab [...]nt prae­cisionis suae aliquam desensionem. Ibid. lib. 3. co [...]tra Donatista [...] de Bapti [...]mo. If then the Church was lost for holding that the Baptism of Hereticks was good, they cannot shew the Original of their Communi­on. But if the true Church did still subsist, they cannot justifie their Sepa­ration, nor the Schism that they have made. One may say all this against the Waldenses, the Lutherans, the Calvi­nists, and the other Hereticks who cannot mount higher than to Waldo, to Luther, to Calvin, or their other Heads. This Method of S. Austin's is most excellent.

[Page]But if our Brethren, the pretended Reformed, will defend themselves by saying, as in effect they do say in some of their Books, That it was not they who made the Separation, but rather that it came from us, and that we have cut them off from our Communion. To this it must be answered, That there are two sorts of S [...]paration, the one is Criminal, the other is Iudicial. In the first, one sepa­rates himself from his Pastor by a mani­fest Disobedience; in the second, the Pastor separates him from the Flock who is making a party, and refuses to submit to the Orders of the Church. The one is a Sin, and the other is the Pu­nishment. The one is a voluntary de­parture, the other is the being cut off by a S [...]ntence, even as the Iudge pronounces a Sentence of Condemnation against one that has killed himself.

The proof of those two different Se­parations is to be found in the Thirty eighth Letter of S. Cyprians, where he speaks of one Augendus, who had gone over to the party of Felicissimus the Deacon, and it appears that that great Saint had suspended and excommunica­ted him for having withdrawn himself from his Obedience, and for having en­gaged others in the same Separation. [Page 127] Interim cum Felic [...]ssi­mus commi­natus sit non communica­turos in mor­te secum qui nobis ob­temperassent, id est, qui no­bis commu­nicârint, acci­piat Sententi­am quam pri­or dixit, ut abstentum se [...] nobis sciat quisquis se in­spirationi & factioni ejus se adjunxerit. Sciat se in Ec­clesia nobis­cum non esse communicaturum, qui sponte maluit ab Ecclesia separari. Cypr. Ep. 38. Quod nunc hi Ecclesiam scindentes, & contra pacem atque unitat [...]m Christi Rebelles, Cathedram sibi constituere, & primatum assumere, & baptizandi atque off [...]rendi licentiam vindicare conantur. Idem [...]p. 76. Let every one, says he, that has fol­followed his Opinions and Faction, know that he shall communicate no more with us in the Church, since of his own accord he has chosen to be separated from the Church. In his Seventy sixth Epistle he says the same thing of Novatian, and those who had joyned with him in his Revolt; Because they leaving the Church by their Re­bellion, and breaking the Peace and Unity of Jesus Christ, have endeavour­ed to establish their authority, and to assume a Supreme Jurisdiction to them­selves, and to usurp power to Baptize, and to offer Sacrifice.

This Distinction is also clearly stated in the fourth Action of the Council of Chalcedon, where those two Ancient Ca­nons of the Council of Antioch that were drawn out of Canons of the Apostles, were cited. The first is concerning those that were separated, the other is concerning those who of their own accord did separate themselves. The Greek is [...].

[Page 128] Concil. Chal. [...]ct. 4. Can. 83. Si quis Epis­ [...]opus à [...] deposi [...]us, [...] Pr [...]s [...]ter, [...] Diaconus, [...] omnino qui est sub re­gu [...] ▪ à proprio Episcopo, ausus suerit amplius aliquid Sacri Ministerii ge [...]re, sive Episcopus juxta Superiorum consuetudinem, sive Presby­ter, sive Diaconus, postea non liceat ei, ne in altera quidem Synodo, spem restitutionis nec satisfactionis locum habere: Sed & omnes qui [...]i communicent, [...]jiciantur ex Ecclesiâ, & maxime si postqaam cogno­verint sententiam in praedictos latam, iis communicate ausi fuerint. Can. 84. De iis qui seipsos separant, si quis Presbyter aut Diaconus con­temp [...]o proprio Episco [...]o, se ab Ecclesiâ segregaverit, aut seorsim con­gregationem habuerit, & altare constituerit, si commonenti Episcopo non acqu [...]everit, nec consentire vel obedire voluerit, semel & iterum, ac t [...]r [...]ium vocanti, is omnino Deponatur, nec ultra remedium conse­qui, [...]ec proprium honorem recipere possit: Quod si perseveraverit tumultuari & Ecclesiam perturbare, per potestatem externam tanquam seditiosus. corrigatur. These two Can [...]ns were read and reported in the Fourth [...] of the Council of Chalcedon, in the Process of those two Monks Caroze and Dorothee, that had made a Schism, and having joyned themsel [...]es to Eutyches, did separate from the Church, as Luther and Cal­vin, and thos [...] who have followed them, have separated themselves in these latter Ages. It was thought proper for this purpose to transcribe here those two Canons, which are the fundamental Laws of the practice of the Church, with regard to Hereticks and Schis­maticks whom she throws out of her bosome, and who have separated themselves from her.

These Canons are the Fourth and Fifth of the Council of Antioch, and the Twenty seventh and Thirtieth of the Aposto­lick Canons, and the pretended Reform­ed cannot reject their Authority, since they observe among themselves the same Discipline, when any particular persons, whether Ministers, or others of their Com­munion, will not submit to the Decisions of their Synods.

Remarks.

1. FOr the first branch of this Me­thod the Reformed are not at all concerned in it, for they do not deny the Church of Rome to be still a True Church; and that her Baptism and Ordinations are valid, and that they are not to be repeated, and therefore though it was very pertinent to urge the Dona­tists as S. Austin did, who held that the Sacraments in an ill mans hands had no vertue at all, and that the Church had every where failed, so that there was no Church but that which was among them. Yet all this is foreign to the state of the Controversie between us and the Church of Rome, and we do freely acknowledge that in such a mat­ter as the Re-baptizing Hereticks, it had been a very great sin to have bro­ken Communion with the rest of the Church.

2. Yet upon this very head P. S [...]e­phen did excommunicate S. Cyprian, who yet for all that did not depart from his former opinion or practice: So here was such a Schism as they ob­ject to us, S. Cyprian thought the Re­baptizing Hereticks was well ground­ed; [Page 130] Stephen thought otherwise, and did excommunicate him. If upon that a lasting Schism had followed in the Church, S. Cyprian might have been held the fountain of it by those who condemned his opinion, but if his opi­nion was true he could be no Schisma­tick: So we desire the grounds of our Separation may be examined: if they will not bear such a Superstructure, we confess we deserve the severest cen­sures possible; but if they are solid, then the guilt of the rent that is in the Church, must lie somewhere else than on us.

3. We do not deny but there are two sorts of Separation which are here very well distinguished; and without seeking for any proof in so clear a mat­ter, We confess that when any sepa­rates himself from the Church, upon any unjustifiable account, those Ca­nons, and the highest severities of Church-censures ought to be applied [...]o them: but all this is upon supposition that the departure is ill grounded, and therefore all those Rules that have been [...]aid down in general against Heresie and Schism must still suppose the Church to [...]e pure and uncorrupted.

[Page 131]4. It is plain by these very Canons, how much that power of the Church may be and was abused. The Council of Antioch, being composed of the favour­ers of Arius, deposed Athanasius, and resolved to silence him, and such other Church-men as receiv'd the Nicene Doctrine, in such a manner that they should be no more able to withstand their designs: And therefore they made those Canons according to former cu­stomes, which in the stile of that Age was called the Canon or Rule (for none that has considered things, will believe that the Canons that are called Apostolical, were made by the Apo­stles) and their chief design was level­led against Athanasius and the Orthodox party. But at that same time as the Orthodox in the East did not submit to this▪ so nei [...]her did the Bishops [...] the West take any notice of it; an [...] Chrysostome, who was bred up at A [...]ti­och, and so could not but know in what esteem those Canons were held, did not look on himself as bound by them, an [...] made no account of them when they were objected to him. Thus, though i [...] general these are goo [...] Rules▪ and such a [...] ought to be obeyed where the Synod or the Bishop do not abuse their power, [Page 132] yet when the power of the Church is used not to Edification but to Destructi­on, then the obligation to obedience is not to be too far extended. And as in Laws that oblige Subjects to obey In­feriour Magistrates, a tacite exception is to be supposed, in case they should be­come guilty of Treason, so there must be supposed likewise in this case the like ex­ception, in case a Synod deposes a Bi­shop, or a Bishop censures his Clergy, for asserting the true Faith. And as a Separation from an uncorrupted Church is a very great wickedness, so the se­parating from a corrupted Church, in whose Communion we cannot conti­nue without being polluted in it, is but a part of that care which we ought to have of our own Salvation.

The Fifteenth Method.

TO all the former Methods a Fif­teenth may be added, by letting our P. Reformed see that many Articles are to be found in their Confession of Faith, in their Catechisms, in the Articles of their Discipline, in the Decisions of their Synods, and in the Books of their Chief Ministers who have writ upon the Contro­versies; from which, Arguments may be drawn against them to prove the truth of our belief, even by their own Confes­sion: For Example, Their Discipline al­lows the Communion in one kind only, to such as cannot drink Wine: From which one may infer that the Communion under both kinds is not an Article of necessity, and that they are in the wrong, to alledge that as they do, to be a lawful ground for their Separation.

The Minister Dailée, and many others confess, that in the time of S. Gregory Nazianzene, S. Chrysostome and S. Je­rome, the Invocation of Saints was re­ceived in the Church: John Forbes adds to this, That the Tradition of the Church was uniform concerning Prayer for the Dead: And since he denies that the Books of the Maccabees are Canonical, he says [Page 134] the Scripture speaks nothing of it. But without engaging into the difficulty con­cerning the Books of the Maccabees, in which they have no more reason on their side, than in the rest; It is easie to con­clude from their own principles, that it was no ways to be allowed to separate them­selves for matters, that according to them­selves, were established by so great an au­thority, and so constant an union of all Ages.

Remarks.

1. IT is not an equal way of proceed­ing, to object to the Protestants what some particular Writers have said, or to strain Inferences too far, at a time when the Celebrated Book of the Bishop of Meaux is in such high esteem. The chief design o [...] which is to set aside all the Indiscre­tions of particular Writers, and to put the best colours on things that is possi­ble. Now Tradition being of such au­thority among them, whatsoever passes down through many of their approved Writers, has a much greater strength against them, than it can be pretended to have against us: And therefore though particular Writers or whole Synods [Page 135] should have written or decreed any thing against the common Doctrines of the Reformed, they ought not to object that to us: If they will allow us the same Liberties that they assume to them­selves.

2. It is not a consequence becoming so great an Assembly to infer, that be­cause in some few extraordinary cases the general rule of Gods desiring Mer­cy and not Sacrifice is carried so far, as to give weak persons so much of the Sacrament as they can receive, and not to deny that to them because a natural aversion m [...]kes them incapable of re­ceiving the Wine: That therefore a Church may, in opposition to Christs express command, Drink you all of it, and the constant practice of Thir­teen Centuries take this away. It is not of necessity for Salvation that eve­ry one drinks the Cup, but it is of ne­cessity to the purity of a Church that she should observe our Saviour's Pre­cepts.

3. It is confessed that some Fathers used the Invocation of Saints; yet that being but a matter of fact, it is of no consequence for the Decision of any point of Doctrine: For we found our Doctrine only on the Word of God, [Page 136] and [...]ot on the practices of Men, how eminent soever they might otherwise be. But in relation to these Fathers, these things are to be observed, 1. They lived in the end of the Fourth Century: So this is no competent proof for an Oral Traditi­on, or conveyance of this Doctrine down from the Apostles days. 2. Figures and bold Discourses in Panegyricks are ra­ther to be considered as raptures and flights of warm affections, than as composed and serious devotions. There­fore such Addresses as occur in their Funeral Orations, are rather high strains of a daring Rhetorick, than In­structions for others, since in their ex­positions on Scripture, or other Trea­tises of Devotion, they do not handle these things by way of Direction or Advice.

Iohn Forbes is mis-cited for William Forbes, Bishop of Edenburgh: Iohn was not of such yielding Principles. It is true, William though he was a man Eminently Learned, and of a most Exemplary Life, yet he was possessed with that same weakness, under which Grotius, and some other great men have laboured, of thinking that a Re­conciliation with the Church of Rome might be obtained by an accommoda­tion [Page 137] on both sides; and this flowing in him from an excellent temper of Soul, he is to be excused if that carried him in many things too far: But he is a Writer that has been taxed by all men, as one that had particular Notions. And we may object Erasmus to those of the Church of Rome, as well as they may argue against us from Bishop Forbes.

5. If the Church of Rome used on­ly a General Commemoration of the Dead, with wishes for the compleat­ing their happiness by a speedy resur­rection, and went no further, we might perhaps differ in opinion with them a­bout the fitness of this, but we would not break Communion with them for it. But when they have set up such a Mer­chandize in the House of God, for Re­deeming Souls out of Purgatory, and say­ing Masses for them; this is that we ex­cept to, as a disgracing of the Christian Religion, and as a high profanation of the Holy Sacrament. And it is plain that the Fathers considered the Com­memoration of the Dead rather as a respect done to their Memory, and an ho­nourable remembrance of them, than as a thing that was any way useful to them in the other state; which may appear by [Page 138] this single Instance:E [...]. 34. S. Cyprian was so much offended at a Presbyter, when it appeared after his death that he had left another Presbyter Guardian of his Children; that he gave order that no mention should be made of him in the Commemoration of the Dead that was used in the Holy Eucharist; because, by the Roman Law, such as were left Guardians were under some obligations to undertake the trust: And that Saint thought such a trust might prove so great a distraction to a man that was dedicated to the Holy Ministry, that no Honour ought to be done to the Memory of him that had so left it by his Will. Certainly if that Comme­moration was believed to be of any advantage to the Dead, this had been an unreasonable piece of Cruelty in him to deny a Presbyter that com­fort for so small a fault: And there­fore we may well infer from hence, that by this Remembrance, and the Thanksgivings they offered to God for such as had died in the Faith, they intended only so far to celebrate their Memories as to encourage others to imitate those Patterns they had set them.

[Page 139]6. I shall not engage in any Dis­pute concerning the Canonicalness of the Books of the Maccabees, only as this general prejudice lies against all the Books called Apocryphal, that the Council at Laodicea, which was the first that reckoned up the C [...]non of the Scripture, does not name them: So as to the Book of the Maccabees, it is hard to imagine that one who professes that he was but an A­bridger of Iason's Five Books, and gives us a large account of the dif­ference between a Copious History and an Abridgement, could be an In­spired Writer.

The Sixteenth Method.

TO Conclude, one may solidly confute our Innovators by the Contradicti­on that is in their Articles of Faith, shewing [...]hem the Changes that they have made in the Ausburg Confession, as also in all the different Expositions of their Faith which they have received and authorized since that time; which shews that their Faith being uncertain Regula qui­dem fidei una omnino est, sola immobi­lis & irrefor­mabilis, caete­ra jam disci­plinae & con­versationis adm [...]ttunt no­vitatem ▪ Ter­tull. de Virg. [...]el. c. 1. lib. 1. adv [...]rsus Marc. c. 21. and al­most in his whole Book of Prescriptions. and wavering, cannot have the Character of Divine Re­velation, which is certain and constant. There is nothing but the Faith that ad­mits of no Reformation.

Tertullian made use of this Argument in many of his Books, and Hilary handles it excellently well against the Emperour Constantius, upon the occasion of the new Symbols, which the Arians published eve­ry day, changing their Faith continually, while the Catholick Church continued firm to that of Nice.

One may likewise use another Method, which is to make it appear that there is a Conformity between the Roman and Greek Churches, in the chief Articles of Faith, that are in dispute between us and the P. Reformed, and that in these the Roman Church does likewise agree with those So­ci [...]ties [Page 141] which separated themselves from the Church, for Errours which the P. Re­formed condemn with her, such as the Ne­storians and Eutychians.

To these Methods it will be necessary to add particular Conferences, solid Writings, Sermons and Missions, and to use all these means with a Spirit of Charity, without bit­terness, and above all, without injuries. Re­membring that excellent saying of S. Au­stin's, Non ago ut efficiar homi­ni convitian­do superior, sed errorem convincendo salubr [...]or. I do not endeavour to reproach those against whom I dispute, that I may seem to have the better of them, but that I may become sounder by convin­cing them of their Errour. And following the Canon of the Council of Africk, that ap­pointed that though the Donatists were cut off from the Church of God by their Schism, yet they should be gently dealt with, that so correcting them with meekness, as the Apostle says, God may give them the grace of Repentance to know the truth, and to retire themselves out of the snare of the Devil in which they are taken Captives.

Remarks.

1. IF we did pretend that the first Re­formers, or those who drew the Ausburg confession were inspired of God, in compiling what they writ there were some force in this Discourse: But since we build upon this principle, that the Scripture is the only ground on which we found our Faith, then if any per­son, how much soever we may honour his memory on all other accounts, has misunderstood that, we do not depart from our principle when we forsake him, and follow that which appears to be plainly delivered in the Scri­ptures.

2. We freely acknowledge that the Faith admits of no Reformation, and that we can make neither more nor less of it than we find in the Scri­ptures; but if any Church has brought in many Errours, we do not think it a Reforming the Faith, to throw these out. The Faith is still the same that it was when the Apostles first delivered it to the Church; nor was it the Faith, but the Church that was pretended to be Reformed: And if after a long night of Darkness and Corruption, those [Page 143] that began to see better, did not at first discover every thing, or if some of the prejudices of their Education, and their former opinions did still hang about them; so that others who came after them saw further and more clear­ly: This only proves that they were subject to the Infirmities of the Hu­mane Nature, and that they were not immediately inspired of God, which was never pretended.

3. Great difference is to be made between Articles of Faith and Theo­logical Truths. The former consists of those things that are the Ingredients of our B [...]ptismal Vows, and are indeed parts of the New Covenant, which may be reduced to the Creed and the Ten Commandments. The other are opinions relating to these, which though they are founded on Scripture, yet have not that Influence either on our Hearts or Lives, that they make us either much better or much worse. Among these we reckon the Explanation of the Presence of Christ in the Sacrament, and the Influence of the Divine Grace upon our Wills. If some of the Con­fessions of Faith among the Protestants differ much in these matters▪ that is not concerning Articles of Faith, but [Page 144] Theological Truths: In which great allowances are to be made for difference of opinion. And as particular Churches ought not to proceed too hastily to de­cisions in matters that are justly disputa­ble, so the rigorous imposing of those severe definitions on the Consciences of others by Oaths and Subscriptions, and more particularly all rigour in the prosecution of those that differ in opi­nion, is both disagreeing to the mild­ness of the Christian Religion, and to the Character of Church-men; and in particular, to the principles upon which the Reformation was founded.

4. As for the Greek Churches, to­gether with the other Societies in the East, we do not deny that many of those corruptions for which we con­demn the Church of Rome, are among them, which only proves that the be­ginning of these is elder than the Ninth or Tenth Century: In which those Churches began to divide, such is the worshipping of Images, the praying to Saints, and some other abuses.

5. To this it must be added, that for diverse Ages the oppression under which those Churches have fallen, and the great Ignorance that has overspread them, have be [...]n such, that no wonder [Page 145] if those Greeks that have been bred up in the States of the Roman Communion, and so were leavened with their opi­nions, have found it no hard task to impose upon their weak and corrupt Countrey-men, whatsoever opinions they had in charge to infuse into them: So that we may rather wonder to find that all those abuses for which we complain of the Church of Rome are not among them, than that some have got footing there.

6. But after all this, the main things upon which we have separated from the Church of Rome, are not to be found among those Churches: Such as the adoring the Consecrated Elements, the denying the Wine to the People, the saying Masses for Redeeming Souls out of Purgatory, the having Images for the Trinity, the immediate Invoca­tion of Saints for the pardon of Sin, and those blessings which we receive only from God: Besides an infinite variety of other things. Not to mention their denying the Popes authority. And to turn this argument on them, Those parts of their Worship, in which they dif­fer so much from the Eastern Churches, do afford us very good arguments to evince that they are Innovations, [Page 146] brought in since these ages, in which those Churches held Communion with the Roman Church: And do prove that at the time of their Separation they were not introduced in the We­stern Church: For when we find such a keenness of dispute concerning one of the most indifferent things in the World, as whether the Sacrament should be of Leavened or Unleavened Bread; can we think that if the La­tines had then worshipped the Sacra­ment, they had not much rather have objected to the Greeks their Irreverence upon so high an occasion, than have insisted on the matter of unleavened Bread?

As for the conclusion, we do ac­knowledge it is such as becomes an As­sembly of Bishops. But whether it becomes men of their Characters, of their Birth and of their Qualities, to pretend to such gentleness and meek­ness, when all the World sees such noto­rious proofs given to the contrary, I shall not determine; but will leave it to their own second thoughts to consider better of it. We find both the King and the Clergy of France, expressing great tenderness towards the persons of those they call Hereticks, togetherwith [Page 147] their resolutions of gaining them only by the Methods of Persuasion and Cha­rity, and yet the contrary is practis [...]d in so many parts of France, that consi­dering the exact Obedience that the Inferiour Officers pay to the Orders that are sent them from the Court, we must conclude these Orders are procured from the King, without his being rightly informed concerning them: And since we must either doubt of the sincerity of the Kings Declarati­ons or of the Assemblies, we hope they will not take it ill, if we pay that Reve­rence to a Crowned Head, and to so illustrious a Monarch, as to prefer him in the competition between his credit and theirs; and they must forgive us if we stand in some doubt of the since­rity of this Declaration, till we are convinced of it by more Infallible proofs than words or general Prote­stations.

The Conclusion.

THus I have made such Re­marks on these Methods as seem both just and solid: I have advanced no assertion either of Fact or Right concerning which I am not well assured, and which I cannot justifie by a much larger series of proofs than I thought fit to bring into a Discourse, which I in­tended should be as short as was pos­sible. But if that be necessary, and I am called on to do it, I shall not de­cline it. I have with great care avoid­ed the saying any thing meerly for contentions sake, or to make up a Mu­ster of many particulars; for I look on that way in which many write for a cause, as some Advocates plead for their Clients, by alledging every thing that may make a shew, or biass an unwary hearer, as very unbecoming the profes­sion of a Divine, and the cause of Truth which we ought to assert: And there is scarce any thing that shews a man is persuaded of the truth he maintains, more evidently than a sincere way of defending it: For great subtilties and [Page 149] deep fetches do naturally incline a Rea­der to suspect that the Writer was con­scious to himself of the weakness of his cause, and was therefore resolved to supply those defects by the quickness and nimbleness of his parts.

But having now said what I think sufficient in the way of Rem [...]rks upon the Letter, and the Methods published by the late Assembly General of the Cler­gy of France: I now go on to some Me­thods which seem strong and well groun­ded for convincing those in Communion with the Church of Rome, that they ought to suspect the ground they stand on. In which I shall observe this Method: First, I shall offer such grounds of just suspicion and jealousie, as may dispose every considering man to fear and ap­prehend that their Church is on a wrong bottom; from which I shall draw no other Inferences, but that they are rea­sonable grounds to take a man a little off from the engagement of his former Education and Principles, and may dispose him to examine matters in dis­pute among us with more application and less partiality: And then I shall shew upon more demonstrative grounds how false the foundations are, on which the Church of Rome is establish­ed, [Page 150] both which I shall examine only in a general view, and in bulk, with­out descending by retail unto the p [...]rti­culars in Controversie between us.

1. And first, It is a just ground to suspect any Church or Party of men, that pretend to have every thing pass upon their word or authority; and that endeavour to keep those who adhere to them in all the Ignorance possible; that divert them from ma­king Enquiries into Religion, and do with great earnestness infuse in them an Implicite Belief of whatsoever they sh [...]ll propose or dictate to them. The World has found by experience that there is nothing in which fraud and artifices have been more employed than in matters of Religion: And that Priests have been often guilty of the basest impostures. And therefore it is a shrewd Indication that any sort of them that make this the first and grand principle which they infuse in­to their followers, that they ought to believe every thing that the majority of themselves decree, and do therefore recommend Ignorance and Implicite Obedience to their people, and keep the Scriptures out of their hands all they can, and wrap up their Worship [Page 151] in a language not understood by the vulgar, are not to be too easily belie­ved: But that they may be justly sus­pected of having no sincere designs, since Truth is of the nature of Light: And Religion was sent into the World to enlighten our minds, and to raise our understandings.

2. It is a just ground of Jealousie of any Church, if she holds many opini­ons which have a mighty tenden [...]y to raise the Empire and Dominion of the Clergy to a vast height. A Reverence to them for their works sake is due by the light of Nature: But if Priests ad­vance this further to such a pitch that every one of them is believed qualified by his Character to work the greatest Miracle that ever was: The change of the Elements of Bread and Wine into the Body and Blood of Christ, besides all the other Consecrations, by which Divine Vertues are brought down on such things as they bless: If it is also believed necessary to enumerate all se­cret sins to them; and if their Absolu­tion is thought to have any other Ver­tue in it, than a giving the Peace of the Church, with a Declaration of the terms upon which God pardons Sin­ners: If the Vertue of the Sacraments, [Page 152] upon which so much depends, accord­ing to their principles, is so entirely in the Priests power, that he can defeat it when he pleases with a cross intention; so that all mens hopes of another state shall depend on the Priests good dis­position to them, by which every man must know how necessary it is to pur­chase their favour at any rate: If likewise they pretend to an Immunity from the Secular Judge; and do all enter into Oaths which center in him whom they ac­knowledge their Common Head, whose authority they have advanced above all the powers on Earth, so that he can de­pose Princes and give away his Domi­nions to others: It must be confessed that all these have such Characters of Interest and Ambition on them, and are so little like the true Spirit of Chri­stianity, or indeed the Common Prin­ciples of Nat [...]ral Reason and Religion, that a man is very partial who does not think it reasonable to suspect such pro­ceedings, and a Church that holds such Doctrines.

3. It is likewise reasonable to suspect any Church that holds many opinions that tend much to a vast encrease of their Wealth, and to bring the greatest Treasures of the World into their [Page 153] hands. The power of redeeming Souls out of Purgatory has brought more Wealth into the Church of Rome, than the discovery of the Indies has done to the Crown of Spain. Such also was the power of Pardoning, and of ex­changing Penances for Money, by which the World knew the price of Sins, and the rates at which they were to be compounded for. The Popes power of granting Indulgences, the vertue of Pilgrimages, the communi­cation of the merits of Orders to such as put on their Habits; and in a word, the whole authority that the C [...]r [...] of Rome has assumed in these lat­ter ages, that tend so much to the en­crease of their Revenue, are all such evident Indications of particular ends and private designs, that he must be very much wedded to his first impres­sions, that does not upon this suspect that matters have not been so fairly carri­ed among them, that nothing ought to be doubted which is defined by them.

4. It is a very just cause of suspect­ing every thing that is managed by a company of Priests, if they have for seve­ral Ages carried on their designs by the foulest methods of Forgery and Im­posture; of which they themselves [Page 154] are now both convinced and ashamed. When the Popes authority was built on a pretended Collection of the Let­ters, which the Popes of the first ages after Christ were said to have writ; and their assumed Jurisdiction was ju­stified by those precedents which are now by themselves acknowledged to be forgeries. When the Popes Tem­poral Dominion was grounded on the Donations of Constantine, of Charles the Great, and his Son Lewis the Good, which appear now to be notorious forgeries: When an infinite number of Saints, of Miracles, Visions, and other wonderful things were not only read and preached to the people, but likewise were put into the Collects and Hymns used on their Festivals, which wrought much on the simplici­ty and superstition of the vulgar; many of which are now proved to be such gross impostures, that they are forced to dash them out of their Offices, and others against which there lyes not such positive proof, yet depend on the credit only of some Legend, writ by some Monks. When many Books past over the World as the Writings of the most Ancient Fathers which were but lately writ, and many of their genuine Wri­tings [Page 155] were grossly vitiated. When all those things are become so evident, that the most Learned Writers amongst themselves, particularly in the Gallican Church, have not only yielded to the proofs brought by Protestant Writers in many of these particulars, but have with a very Commendable Zeal and Sincerity, made discoveries themselves in several particulars, into which the others had not such advantages to pe­netrate. There is upon all these grounds, good cause given to mistrust them in other things, and it is very reasonable to examine the assertions of that Church with the severest rigour, since an Imposture once discovered, ought to bring a suspicion on all con­cerned in it, even as to all other things.

5. There is likewise great reason to suspect all that are extream fierce and violent; that cannot endure the least contradiction, but endeavour the ruine of all that oppose them. Truth makes men both confident of its force, and merciful towards such as do not yet re­ceive it: Whereas Errour is Jealous and Cruel. If then a Church has de­creed that all Hereticks, that is, such as do not submit to all her decisions are to be extirpated; if she has bound all [Page 156] her Bishops by Oath at their Ordinations to Persecute them to the utmost of their power. See the Oath in Pontif. Rom. If Princes that do not extir­pate them, are first to be excommuni­cated by their Bishops, and after a years Contumacy, are to be deposed by the Popes, and their Kingdomes to be given away. If all Hereticks upon Obstina­cy or Relapse are to be burnt; and if they endeavour in all places as much as they can, to erect Courts of Inquisiti­on with an absolute authority, in which Church-men, forgetting their Cha­racter, have vied in Inventions of Tor­ture and Cruelty with the bloodiest Tyrants that have ever been: Then it must be confessed, that all these set to­gether present the Church that autho­rizes and practises them with so dread­ful an aspect, so contrary to those bow­els and tendernesses that are in the na­ture of man: Not to mention the mer­ciful Idea's of God, and the wonderful meekness of the Author of our Holy Religion; that we must conclude that under what form soever of Religion such things are set on foot in the World, such a Doctrine is so far from improving and exalting the nature of man, that really it makes him worse than he would otherwise be, if he were [Page 157] left to the softness of his own nature: And certainly it were better there were no revealed Religion in the World, than that mankind should become worse, more cruel, and more barba­rous by its means, than it would be if it were governed by Nature or a little Philosophy.

Upon all these grounds laid together, it is no unreasonable thing to conclude, that a Church liable to such imputa­tions ought justly to be suspected, and that every one in it ought to examine well on what grounds he continues in the Communion of a society of men, against which such strong prejudices lie so fairly, without the least straining or aggravating matters too much.

I proceed now to the second part of my undertaking, which is to shew, that the grounds upon which that Church builds, are certainly weak if not false. And

1. They boast much of a Constant Succession, as the only infallible mark to judge of a Church, and as that with­out which we can never be certain of the Faith. But if this is true, then in­to what desperate scruples must all men fall? For the resolution of their Faith turns to that which can never be so [Page 158] much as made probable, much less cer­tain. The efficacy of the Sacraments depending on the intention of the Priest, none can know who are truly Baptized or Ordained, and who are not: And it is not to be much doubted but that many profane Priests may have, in a sort of wanton Malice, put their In­tention on purpose cross to the Sacra­ment: For the Impiety of an Atheisti­cal Church-man is the most extrava­gant thing in the World. Beside this, what Evidence can they give of the Canonical Ordination of all the Bishops of Rome? The first Links of that Chain are so entangled, that it is no small difficulty to find out who first succeed­ed the Apostles: And it is not certain­ly known who suceeeded them after­wards; for some few Catalogues ga­thered up perhaps from report by Hi­storians, is not so much as of the na­ture of a Violent presumption. If we consider Succession only as a matter of Order, in which we go on without Scrupulosity, I confess there is enough to satisfie a reasonable man: But if we think it indispensable both for the con­veyance of the Faith, and the vertue of the Sacraments, then it is impossible to have any certainty of Faith; all must [Page 159] be sounded on conjecture or probability at most. It is but of late that formal Instruments were made of Ordinations, or that those were carefully preserved and transmitted. In a word, difficul­ties can be rationally enough proposed concerning Succession, that must needs drive one that sets up his Faith on it to endless scruples, of which it is im­possible he should be ever satisfied.

There is one thing of great conse­quence in this matter, that deserves to be well considered: Under the Mosai­cal Law God limited the Succession to the High Priesthood, so that the first-born was to succeed; and the great Annual Expiation for the whole people was to be performed by him. Yet when in our Saviours time this was so in­terrupted, that the High Priesthood was become Annual, and wassold for money, God would not suffer the people to perish for want of such Expiation; but the Sacrifice was still accepted, though offered up by a Mercenary In­truder: And Caiaphas in the year of his High Priesthood prophesied: So that how great soever the sin of the High Priest was, the people were still safe in him that was actually in that Of­fice. And if this was observed in a dis­pensation [Page 160] that was chiefly made up of positive Precepts and carnal Ordinances, it is much more reasonable to expect it in a Religion that is more free from such observances, and is more Spiritual and Internal.

2. Another ground on which those of the Roman Church build is this, That a True Church must hold the truth in all things: Which is so Sophi­stical a thing, that it might have been expected wise and ingenious men should have been long ago ashamed of it.

It is certain the Iewish Church was the true Church of God in our Savi­ours time, for their Sacrifices had then an Expiatory Vertue in them: So that they had the certain means of Salvati­on among them; which is the formal notion of a True Church: And yet in so great a point as what their Messias and his Kingdome were to be, we find they were in a very fatal errour. The opinion of his being to be a Temporal Prince had been handed down among them so by Oral Tradition, that it had run through them all, from the Priests down to the Fisher-men: For we find the Apostles so possessed with it, that at the very time of Christs Ascension, [Page 161] they were still dreaming of it: And yet this was a gross Errour, and pro­ved of most mischievous consequence to them: Of this they were so persua­ded, that the Supream Judicature or Representative of their Church, the Sanhedrim, that had much more to shew for its authority,See Deu [...]. 17. from 8, to 14. than a General Council can shew in the New Testa­ment, erred in this fundamental point, and condemned Christ as a Blasphe­mer, and declared him guilty of Death. So that while they continued to be the True Church of God, yet they erred in the point which was of all others the most important; upon which it is evident, that it is no good Inference to conclude, that because a Church is a True Church, therefore it cannot be in an Errour.

3. Another pretence in that Church, on which they build much, and which makes great Impression on many weak minds, is the Churches Infallibility in de­ciding Controversies, by which all dis­putes can be soon ended, and they con­clude that Christ had dealt ill with his Church, if he had not provided such a Method for the end of all Dis­putes.

[Page 162]But it is certain they have lost this Infallibility if they ever had it, unless it be acknowledged that it is lodged in the Pope▪ against which the Gal­lican Clergy has so lately declared: And yet it can be no where else, if it is not in him; for as they have had no General Council for about one hundred and twenty years, so they cannot have one but by the Popes Summons; and if the Pope is averse, they cannot find this Infallibility: so at best it is but a Dormant Priviledge, which Popes can suspend at pleasure. In the Intervals of Councils where is it? Must one go over Europe, and poll all the Bi­shops and Divines to find their Opi­nions? So in a word, after all the noise about Infallibility, they can only pretend to have it at the Popes Mer­cy: And indeed he that can believe a Pope, chosen as he generally is, by Intrigues and Court factions, to be the Infallible Judge of Controversies; or that a Council managed by all the Ar­tifices of crafty men, (as that at Trent appears to have been, even by Car­dinal Pallavicini's History) was In­fallibly directed by the Holy Ghost, is well prepared to believe the only thing in the World that is more [Page 163] Incredible, which is Transubstantia­tion.

There was as good reason for lodg­ing an Infallible Authority among the Iews as among Christians; for their Religion consisting of so many Exter­nal Precepts concerning which Dis­putes might rise, it seemed more ne­cessary that such an authority should have been established among them, than under a Dispensation infinitely more plain and simple. And the Supream Authority was lodged with the Sanhe­drim in much higher expressions under the Old Testament than can be pretend­ed under the New, as will appear to any that will read the fore cited place in Deuteronomy. There was also a Di­vine Inspiration lodged in the Pecto­ral, by which the High Priest had immediate Answers from the Cloud of Glory; and when that ceased un­der the Second Temple, yet, as their Writers tell us, that was supplyed by a degree of Prophecy; which is also confirmed by what S. Iohn says con­cerning Caiaphas's Prophecying; and yet after all this, th [...]t In [...]allibility was not so obstinately lodged with them, that a company of lewd and wicke [...] Prie [...]ts could not mis-lea [...] the people, a [...] [Page 164] they did in the Doctrine concerning the Messias. From all which it may be well inferred, that how large so­ever the meaning of those disputed passages that relate to the authority of the Church may be supposed to be, yet a tacite condition must be still im­plyed in them, That while Church-men continue pure and sincere, and seek the truth in the methods prescribed by the Gospel, they shall not err in any point of Salvation. And it is not reasonable to ex­pect that our Saviour should have left a more effectual provision against Er­rour than he has done against Sin; since the latter is certainly more per­nicious and destructive of those ends for which he came into the World▪ So that as he has only left sufficient means for those who use them well to keep themselves from Sin, in such a manner that they shall not perish in it; so has he likewise provided a suf­ficient security against Errour, when such means of Instruction are offered that every one who applies himse [...]f to the due use of them, shall not err damnably.

4. Another foundation on which they build is Oral Tradition, which [...]hey reckon was handed down in eve­ry [Page 165] Age since the Apostles days. This some explain so as to make it only the conveyance of the Exposition of the Scriptures, though others stretch it further, as if it might carry down Truths not mentioned in Scripture: And for finding this out two Methods are given: The one is Presumptive, when from the Doctrine of the Church in any one age, it is presumed from thence, that those of that age had it from the former, and the former from those who went before them, till we run it up to the Apostles days.

The other Method is of particular proof, when the [...]onveyance in every age appears from the chief Writers in it. I shall not here run out to shew upon either of these hypotheses, the unfitness of this way of conveying Doctrines, nor the easie door it opens to fraud and imposture; but shall only shew that they cannot prove they have a competent Evidence of Oral Tradi­tion among them.

And first, it is certain that we have not handed down to us a general ex­position of the Scriptures, and that al­most all the Ancient Expositors run after Allegories, according to the way of the Greek Philosophers▪ For some whole [Page 166] ages we have not above two or three Writers, and those lived very remote; and what they say, chiefly in the pas­sages that are made use of in the later Disputes, fall in oft on the by, and seem rather to have dropt from them, than to have been intended by them; so that this cannot be thought deci­sive. And when it is likewise con­fessed, that in their Disputes with the Hereticks of their days, they have not argued so critically from those places of Scripture, which they considered more narrowly▪ It will not be reaso­nable to conclude too positively upon those things that rather fell in their way occasionally, than were the designed subjects of their enquiries. So that it is not possible to prove an Oral Tra­dition by the Instances of particular Writers, in all the ages and corne [...]s of the Church: For almost an age and a half we have not one copious Latine Writer but Tertullian and Cyprian, that both lived in Carthage: And it is not very clear of what persuasion the for­mer was when he wrote the greatest part of his Treatises: That he was a Heretick when he wrote some of them is past dispute: Now can one think [...]hat if God had intended that the Faith [Page 167] should have passed down by such a conveyance, there would have been such uncertain prints left us by which we might trace it out?

As for the other Method of Pre­sumption or Prescription, it is cer­tainly a false one; for if in any one particular it can be made appear that the Doctrine of the Latin Church has been in these latter ages contradictory to that of the primitive times, then this of Prescription is never to be any more alledged; and of this I shall give two Instances that seem demonstra­tive. The first is about the worship­ping departed Saints or Martyrs, which has been the practice of the L [...]tin Church for several ages: And yet in the second Century we have the greatest evidence possible that it was not the Doctrine of that age; and that not in any occasional word let fall by some single Writer, but in a Letter writ by the Church of Smyrna, concerning the Martyrdom of their late Biship S. Polycarp: In which there ap­pears that warm affection for his per­son, and honour for his memory, that we cannot think they would have been wanting in any sort of respect that wa [...] due to the ashes of so great a Saint. [Page 168] And what they say to this purpose is deliberately brought out; for it being suggested by the Iew that had set on the Heathens against that Martyr, that it was necessary to destroy his Body, lest the Christians should worship him▪ They reject that imputation in these words: They being Ignorant, say they, that we can never forsake Christ who died for the salvation of the World, nor worship any other, for we adore him as the Son of God. But for the Mar­tyrs, we do worthily love them, as the Disciples and Followers of our Lord, for their unconq [...]ered love to their King and Master, and therefore d [...]s [...]re to be their Partne [...]s and Disciples.

To this I shall add another Instance that is no les [...] evident▪ which is con­cerning the presence of Christ in the Sacrament. The Tradition of the Church can be best gathered from the Liturgies,Ambro [...]. [...]o. 4. de Sa [...]ram. c. 5. Fac nobis h [...]nc oblatio­nem as [...]ri­ptam, rationa­bilem, acce­pt [...]bilem▪ quod est figu­ra corporis & s [...]nguinis Do­mini nostri [...]esu Chr [...]sti [...] pridie [...]am [...] which are the pub­lickest, the most united and most so­lemn way in which she expresses her self. In S. Ambros [...]'s time, or whoso­ever else was the Author of the Book of the Sacraments that goes under his name, we find that the Prayer of Consecrations, as it is cited by him, differs in a very essential point from [Page 169] that which is now in the Canon of the Mass: In the former they called the Sacrifice that they offered up in it, the figure of the Body and Blood of Christ; but since that time they have changed that phrase, and instead of it they pray,The same Pray­er [...] thus vari­ed in the Canon of the Mass. Quam oblati­onem tu Deus in omnibus quaesumus be­nedictam, as­criptam, ra­tam, ration [...] ­bilem acce­p [...]abilemque facere digne­ris, ut nobis corpus & s [...]nguis fiat dilectissimi [...]lii tui Domi­ni nostri Jesu Christi. that It may be to us the Body and Blood of Christ. We cannot tell in what age this change was made, but we may cer­tainly conclude that the Latin Church in S. Ambrose's time, had a very diffe­rent opinion concerning the presence of Christ, from that which is now re­ceived among them; and that then she only believed a Figurative Presence. And thus it is certain that the Pre­sumptive Method for finding out Oral Tradition is a false one, and that the particular proof of Tradition by enqui­ring into the Doctrine of every age is impossible to be made.

5. I shall enlarge a little further upon one particular Instance, which is concerning one of those propositions lately condemned by the Assembly G [...] ­neral: In which I intend to shew that they have departed from the Tradition of the Church, much more evidently than they can pretend that we have done: And this is concerning the Popes power o [...] Deposing Kings, which they [Page 170] who live under so mighty a Monarch have very prudently renounced: But whether they have not more plainly contradicted the Tradition of the Church than the Reformers did, shall appear by the sequel of this Dis­course.

In order to which I shall lay down two grounds that seem undeniable in their own principles; The one is, That the Tradition of any Age or Ages of the Church, when it is universal and un­disputed, is of the same authority with the Tradition of any other Age what­soever: For the promises made to the Church last continually, and have the same force at all times: And there­fore a Tradition for these last six hun­dred years is of as strong an autho­rity as was that of the first six Ages.

The second is, That a Tradition concerning the measures of mens Obe­dience and actions, is of the same au­thority with a Tradition concerning the measures of their Belief. The one sort are practical, and the other are specula­tive points; and as more are concerned in a practical truth than in a speculative point, so it has greater effects and more influence on the World; therefore it is as [Page 171] necessary that these be certainly hand­ed down as the other: And by con­sequence a Tradition concerning any Rule of Life is as much to be received as that concerning any point of Belief; for the Creed and the Ten Command­ments being the two Ingredients of the positive part of our Baptismal Vow; it is as necessary that we be certainly directed in the one as in the other; and if there were any preference to be ad­mitted here, certainly it must be for that which is more practical, and of greater extent.

Upon these two grounds I subsume, that all the Characters of Oral Tra­dition, by which they can pretend to find it out in any one particular, agree to this Doctrine of the Popes power of deposing Princes that are either Hereticks, or favourers of them. The way sof searching for Tra­dition are these four: First what the Writers and Doctors of the Church have delivered down from one age to another. The second is what the Popes have taught and pronounced ex Cathe­drâ, which to a great part of that Communion is Decisive, their autho­rity being held Infallible; and to the rest it is at least a great Indication of [Page 172] the Tradition of such an Age. The third is, what such Councils as are esteemed and received as Oecumenical Councils have decreed as General Rules. The fourth is, the late famous Method of Prescription, when from the recei­ved Doctrine of any one Age we run a back-scent up to the Apostles, upon this supposition that the Doctrine of the Church, chiefly in a visible and sensible thing, could not be changed. These are all the ways imaginable to find out the Tradition of past Ages; and they do all agree to this Doctrine.

All the Writers for five or six Ages, both Commentators on Scripture, the School-men, the Casuists and Canonists agreed in it; so that Cardinal Perron had reason to challenge those of the contrary persuasion to shew any one Writer before Calvin's time, that had been of another mind. We do not cite this as a proof, because Cardinal Perron said so, but because the thing in it self cannot be disproved; and in the Contests that fell in between the Popes and those Princes against whom they thundred, no Civilian nor Canonist ever denied the Popes power of depo­sing in the case of Heresie. It is true, when the Popes pretended to a Tempo­ral [Page 173] Dominion, and that all Princes were their Vassals, some were found to write against that; other Princes con­tended about the particulars laid to their charge, and denied that they were either Hereticks or favourers of Here­ticks. But none ever disputed this position in general, that in a manifest case of Heresie the Pope might not de­pose Princes; and it is too well known what both the Sorbonne determined in the case of Henry the Third, and like­wise how the body of the Clergy adhe­red to Cardinal Perron in the oppositi­on he made to the condemnation of that opinion.

The next mark of Tradition is the Popes pronouncing an opinion ex Ca­thedrâ, that is, in a solemn Judiciary way, founding it on Scripture and Tra­dition. If Popes had only brutally made War upon some Princes, and violently thrust them out of their Do­minions, this indeed were no mark by which we could judge of a Tradition: But when we find Gregory the Seventh,Lib. 8. Ep. 21 [...] and many Popes since his time,Extravag. d [...] Major. & O­bed. cap. 1. found this authority on passages of Scripture, as that of the Keys being given to S. Pe­ter, Jeremiah the Prophet's being set over Kingdomes to root out, to pluck up and [Page 174] destroy, and that all power in Heaven and Earth was given to Chr [...]st; and his bidding his Disciples to buy a Sword, we must look on this as the declaring the Tradition of the Church. So that it must eit [...]er be confessed that they are not faithful conveyers of it, or that this is truly the Tradition of the Church. And this has been done so often these last six hundred years, that it were a needless imposing on the Readers pa­tience to go about the proving it.

The Third Indication of Tradition is the Declaration made by Synods, but chiefly by General Councils. I need not here mention the many Roman Synods that have concurred with the Popes in the Depositions which they thundered out against Kings or Em­perours, since we have greater autho­rities confirming it.Later. 3. c. 28. The Third Coun­cil of Lateran declared that all Princes that favoured Heresie fell from their Dominions, and they granted a Plena­ry Indulgence to all that fought against them.Later. 4. cap. 3. The Fourth Council of the La­teran vested the Pope with the power of giving away their Dominions, if they continued for a year obstinate in that their merciful disposition of not extirpating Hereticks. The first Coun­cil [Page 175] of Lions concurred with the Pope in the deposition of the Emperour Fre­derick the Second, which is grounded in the preamble on the power of binding and loosing given to S. Peter.

After these came the Council of Con­stance, Const. S [...]ss 11, 13, 17, 19. and they reckoning themselves superiour to the Pope, lookt on this as a power inherent in the Church, and so assumed it to themselves; and there­fore put this Sanction in many of their Decrees, particularly in that for main­taining the Rights of the Church, and in the Passports they granted, which had been often added in the Bulls that confirmed the foundations of Monaste­ries, that if any, whether he were Em­perour, King, or of what Dignity so­ever he might be, opposed their Or­der, he should thereby forfeit his Dig­nity. The Council of Sienna confirm­ed all Decrees against Hereticks, and the favourers of them, that had been made in any former Councils, and by consequence those of the Third and Fourth Councils in the Lateran. The Council of Basil put that threatening clause of forfeiture, used by those of Constance, in their Decree for a Gene­ral Council:Tid. [...] [...]. c. 19. And at Trent it was de­clared, [Page 176] That if any Prince did suffer a Duel to be fought in his Dominions, he was thereupon to forfeit that place in which it was fought. Now by the same authority that they could declare a forfeiture of any one place, they could dec [...]are a for [...]eiture of a Princes whole Dominion; for both those Sen­tences flow from the same Superi­our Jurisdiction: And thus we see seven of those Councils which they esteem general, have either decreed, confirmed, or assumed this right of Deposing Kings, for Heresie, or in­deed for breaking their Orders and Writs.

4. The fourth mark o [...] Tradition is [...]hat which has been of late so famous by Mr. Arnauld's endeavours to prove from thence that the belief of the Corpo­ral Presence in the Sacrament is a Do­ctrine derived down from the Apos [...]les days, which is this: If any one Age has universally received an opinion as an Ar­ticle of Faith, it must be concluded that that Age had it from the former, and that from the preceding till we arrive at the Apostles days: And this he thinks must hold the stronger, if the point so received w [...]s a thing obvious to all [Page 177] men, in which every one was concern­ed, and to which the nature of man was inclined to make a powerful op­position. I shall not examine how true this is in general, nor how applicable in fact it is to the Doctrine of the Cor­poral Presence; but shall only say that allowing all these marks to be the sure Indications of Apostolical Tradition, the Doctrine of Deposing Princes for favouring Heresie, has them all much more indisputably than the other has. Take any one Age from the eleventh Century to the sixteenth, and it will appear that not only the Popes, the Bi­shops, and all the Ecclesiastical Order received it, but that all the Laity like­wise embraced it: Though this was a matter obvious to sense, in which ma­ny were much concerned. It might have been hoped that Princes upon their own account for fear of an ill Precedent, would have protected the [...]eposed Prince: But on the contrary, they either entred into the Croisades themselves, or at least gave way to them: vast Armies were gathered to­gether to execute those Sentences, and the injured Princes had no way to keep their people firm to them, but by assuring them they were not guil­ty [Page 178] of the matters objected to them, which shewed that had their people believed them guilty, they had forsa­ken them: And yet as it was, the terrour of a Croisade was such, and the Popes authority to depose Princes was so firmly believed, that they were for the most part forced to save them­selves by an absolute submission to the Popes pleasure, and to what Conditions or Penances a haughty Pope would impose on them. So certain it is that this Doctrine was universally received in those ages.

And thus it appears that all the Characters by which it can be pre­tended that an Apostolic [...]l Tradition can be known, agree to this Doctrine in so full and uncontestable a manner, that they cannot bring such Evidence for the points in dispute between them and us. So that the Assembly Gene­ral by condemning this Doctrine, have departed from the Tradition of their own Church more apparently than it can be pretended that either Luther and Calvin did in any of those Do­ctrines which they rejected; and there­fore they ought not any more to com­plain of us for throwing off such things as they found on Tradition, when they [Page 179] have set us such an Example. From which I shall only infer this, That they themselves must know how weak a foundation Oral Tradition is for Di­vine Faith to build upon, and that it must be established upon surer grounds.

FINIS.

ERRATVM.

Page 85. line 21. for First read Second.

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