The Papists Reasons of State and Religion, Reason of religion 3
Reaſon of Religion. 3 3. REASON OF RELIGION.
A religion, of whoſe communion and felowſhip the founders of other religions, or theaWe are Chriſtians and deſire to be ſo called. reformers of our Churches faith (if they more deſire to be ſo called) werebWee never were of the communion of the Popiſh church, but (by the great mercy of God) hauehave ever k…pt our ſelues from that wicked one. 1. Iob. 5.18. and our Fathers, who were once of that communion, obei…d the divine commaundement G…t out of her, my people, &c. Apoc. 18 4. once, and went out; andcThis is no good conſequence, reade the Anſwere. conſequently their doctrine newer, and leſſe auncient then ours and therfore as we beleeue, not the good ſeede, Matth 13.24. but the cookle that was ſowen af…er. And that wee never going out of anydThey have loſt the faith, and yet they ſmite vsus, as Ziakva the falſe Prophet did Micheah, & …ke. When went the ſpirit of the Lord from mee to ſpeake vntounto thee. 1. King. 22.24 knowne Chriſtian ſociety (for the whole world cannot tel your Grace out of which church we departed, when, how, and where) as did the former, the Apoſtolicall markes of falſe beleeuers, namely, To goe out from others; 1. oh. 2.19 To ſegregate themſelue., Iude. v. 19. and To make diſſention & ſcandalls, contrarie to the doctrine they had learned, Rom 16.17.eThey ſpake by contraries. cannot belong to vsus by any poſſible application, nor by any ſleight or deviſe ſh…fted from them.
Reſolution of the 3. Reaſon.
Popiſh Religion, was that of whoſe communion the Proteſtantes were once, and went out; a marke of new Doctrine.
Ergo:
Poperie is true Religions; and conſequently to be tolerated.
ANSWERE.
I. To the Antecedent.
1 NOT every going out, departing, or ſeparation, is a token of new doctrine, or a marke of a falſe beleever: but only that going out, departing, & ſeparation, which is made from the true Church of Chriſt.
2 We hauehave ſeparated our ſelues from the communiō of the Pope of Rome, and from his Synagogue, wee confeſſe: but not from Chriſt, and his true Church.
3 The Pope, is that Robber, that Thiefe, that Deſtroyer of the Sheepe, who firſt departed and fel away frō Chriſt our Lord. But vve, being the Lords Sheepe, departed & fell away from the Pope. We ſeparated our ſelues, not frō the Church, but from the robber and worrier of the ſheep in the Church.
4 Our ſeparation cannot indeede properly bee tearmed a going out, a departing, a falling away or A…oſtaſie, but a Renunciation of Apoſtaſie. VVherein wee hauehave imitated the Patriarks, the Prophets, Chriſt himſelfe, and his Apoſtles. In the time of Enoſch, the Godly ſeparated themſelues, from the rabble of the wicked; & had their private meetings, wherein they applyed the holy exerciſes of devotion and Religion, calling vponupon the name of the Lord. Gen. 4.26. Paule ſeparated the Diſciples from the reſt of the Iewes, vvho vvilfully and obſtinately reſiſted the Goſpel of Chriſt.
5 We in like manner, hauehave ſeparated our ſelues, not, as Heretikes are wont to doe, from the Church of Chriſt: but, which all good Chriſtians ought to doe, from the cō tagion of wicked men, and of Hypocrites.
6 The Cardinals, the falſe Biſhops, and all the reſt of the Popiſh faction, hauehave made a plaine and manifeſt Apoſtaſie from the faith of Chriſt Ieſus; becauſe they fell from the wholeſome doctrine, comprehended in the writings of the Prophets & Apoſtles, from the pure worſhip of GOD, from the right adminiſtration and vſe of the Sacramentes, and alſo from holy diſcipline in manners: And therefore the Papiſts be they, that went out, that ſegregated themſelues, that made diſſentions and ſcandals contrary to the doctrine they had learned; not the Proteſtants,
7 Who appeale vntounto this Faith, from which they fell away, vntounto the holy Scriptures: albeit they ſtil inculcate vntounto vsus, the faith of the Popiſh Synagogue, the Decrees and Decretals, and the auctority of the Romiſh Pope: for they ſee, they cannot ſtand, if iudgment be made of their doctrine, according vntounto the rule and ſquare of the holy Scriptures: no more then the auncient Heretikes could. Tertul. de Reſurrect. Carnis, cap. 3.
II To the Conſequence.
The Conſequence hath no coherence with the Antecedent. For our doctrine is not therefore new, becauſe we went out, departed, and ſeparated our ſelues from the ſociety and communion of the Popiſh Church: ſeeing we we are expreſly commanded, vponupon paine of eternal damnation, to goe forth of Babylon. Apoc. 18.4.