Examination of those Plausible Appearances in the Romish Church, Chapter 37
CHAP: XXXVII. In what sense wee yeeld that the Church of Rome hath the substance of true religion, and how shee ceaseth not for all that to be a false Chuch.
YEa; but at least wee yeeld to them, that they hauehave Baptisme, that they hauehave the substance of Christian religion; from whence they conclude, that they cannot perish, & that wee who hauehave separated our selues from them, hauehave gone schismatically to worke. This argument they frame, from that confession which they thinke they hauehave extorted from vsus, let vsus see then what trueth & strength it may hauehave. First concerning Baptisme, they confesse that wee hauehave it, & that it may be amongst heretiques: Antiquity beleeued it, & wee beleeue it with antiquity. They reiterate not the Baptisme administred by vsus, wee reiterate not the Baptisme administred by them: this priuiledge aduantageth not vsus against them, why should it aduantage them against vsus? The true Circumcision was in the Church of the ten tribes, it was not for all that the true Church: an hereticall Church, shall hauehave Baptisme, & yet for all that not cease to be a false Church; not in respect of the Baptisme, but of her heresie: not in regard of that which is pure in her & of the Lords institution, but in regard of her rebellion against the Lord, & her owne impurity. That they hauehave Baptisme then wee graunt, but so wee say hauehave all heretiques, so the ten tribes after their apostacy receiued circumcision▪ this exception then is friuolous, when they pretend, that wee confesse, that they hauehave the Baptisme, & craftily dissemble that which wee adde, that they hauehave adulterated, & depraued it as much as in them lies. Concerning the substance of Christian religion, wee confesse that it is also amongst them, but not pure, nor separated, not only from chaffe and straw, that is, from tolerable abuses, but neither from the venome and poison of false doctrine. Now it is no schisme to forsake a Church wherein is the substance of religion, if it be accompanied with superstition, impiety and sacriledge, as gold and siluer in false coine are mingled with copper aad tinne. It is true that the Church of Rome teacheth, that there is one God, Father, Sonne, and holy Ghost, that for the redemption of mankind, the s…nne hath taken to himselfe the nature of Man, and in it hath expiated our sinnes by his death, that he was buried, raised from the dead, taken vp into heauen, sitting at the right hand of God Almighty: That the holy Ghost sanctifieth vsus, th…t there is a Church, a communion of Saints, a remission of sinnes, a resurrection of the flesh, and a life euerlasting. That by faith wee must rely vponupon the mercy of God, that by hope wee must expect the accomplishment of his promises, by charity louelove him. This is indeed the substance of Christian religion which continueth so farre as the doctrine, and outward Profession of it in the Church of Rome, in this respect wee hauehave not forsaken her, but these considerations make vsus leaue her the title of a Church, to which soe farre wee will alwaies be ioyned. But what is it that hath not beene added to corrupt this truth? what strange doctrines hauehave beene inuented to obscure it? What heresies? what Idolatry? what grosse sacriledge vent they vnderunder the protection of this Truth which they professe. These are the causes of our separation from them, if amongst them wee could hauehave enioyed the substance of true religion, without defiling vsus with their superstition, wee had tarried with them still. But in these later times, after the Lord had lifted vp the Standart of his Gospell, and sounded with his Trumpet, Come out of Babilon my people, since the Angells hauehave flowne in the midst of heauen, carrying the euerlasting Gospell, and crying with a lowd voice, Blessed are they henceforth who dye in the Lord for they rest from their labours, and their works follow them: not to runne to this standard, not to obey this summons, not to goe whither wee heare this inuiting voice call vsus, in breife not to come out of Babilon, to goe vp to Ierusalem, is a rebellion against the liuing God, and a manifest contempt of his grace· Before this, the faithfull whom God had reserued to himselfe in the Captiuity of Babilon as a residue of the election of grace, though they were not separated from the superstitious, yet they were from their superstitiō, their groanes, and sighs seruing in steed of protestations against it, because that the Lord had not yet opened them away by which to come out, nor as yet prepared them a place into which they might withdraw themselues. In a word the time preordained by God, to put an end to that miserable captiuity was not yet come. As then it was not a sinne to tarry in Egypt before the Lord had sent Moses, or in Babilon before the seauenty yeares were expired; But God hauing sent Moses, hauing giuen liberty to his people to come out of Egypt, to come out of Babilon, to tarry there still had beene manifestly to testify a consent to the superstition of Egypt, and idolatry of Babilon: so before the Lord had sounded vsus a loud summons with his trumpet, Come out of Babilon my people, he sustained and supported his people in the midst of Babilon; it was not at that time a sinne, but a Captiuity to abide in it. But for any to abide, or linger in it, after the publishing of this summons, it is a sure testimony, that they liue not in it vnwillingly, but with delight, and that, at least outwardly, they partake of her sinnes, and so may iustly partake of her plagues. Now to demand, why God caused not this trumpet to be sounded sooner, is to dispute against him; it were to bring back those ancient questions propounded to the primitiue Christians, why the Lord Iesus had not brought the light of the Gospell sooner into the Church, to which St. Paul clearely answereth, when he teacheth, that the fullnesse of time was not yet come. Why the Lord called not the Gentils sooner vntounto his knowledge? to which the same Apostle answereth noe more, then that God hauing winked at the time of Ignorance, now warneth every man to repent. Act. 17.3….He hath the times and seasons in his owne disposing.
It often falleth out, that they who cannot goe out of an infectious citty tarry in it, and are safe, but for all that, they that hauehave opportunitie to goe out of it, will not take example from them to tarry in it. The sheepheard will lead his sheepe into pastures where are noxious hearbs, rather then he will suffer them to bee famished: but if he hauehave the opportunity of leading them elsewhere, where no danger is to be feared, the good lucke that God gaue him, of preserving them in an vnwholsome pasture, shall not disswade him from taking of them out of that, to put them into a better. That which the shepheard doth to his sheepe, we are to doe to our selues: so long as there was presented vntounto vsus no other place of pasturage, then the Romane Church, for want of a better, wee were compelled to make vse of that. But the Lord hauing graciously prov…ded vsus a better, miserable are we if we leaue not that, and betake our selues to this. In the time of a famine men liue pinchingly and wretchedly, but the dearth being past, and plenty restored, hee that will not take the benefit of it, deserueth to be starued to death. Let this consideration then serue for the solution of the difficultie aboue proposed.