The Safe Religion, To the reader 2
To the Literate Romaniſts that will read this Book.
Men and Brethren,
A Writing that ſo much concerneth your cauſe, I think, ſhould tender you ſome account of its publication, eſpecially when I know that not onelyonly the divulging, but the holding of the Doctrine contained therein, is ſo hainous a matter in your eyes, that if I were in your power, the ſuſpicion of it might bring me to the Rack and the Strappado, and the confeſſion of it would expoſe me to the flames. I have many times conſidered, that you could never ſure endure to torment men in your Inquiſition, and conſume them to aſhes, and ſo induſtriouſly to embroyle the Nations of the earth in blood and miſeries, to work them to your minds, and ſet up your own way, if you did not think it right, and think them exceeding bad whom you thus deſtroy. I find that my own heart would ſerve me to uſe Toads and Serpents, and deſtroying Vermine, half as bad as you do Proteſtants, that is, to put them to death, though not to torment them ſo long: but for gentler and more harmeleſs creatures, I could not do it without a great reluctancy of my nature. I muſt needs therefore by your works bear you record that you have a zeal for God; but ſo had ſome before you that guided it not by knowledge, Rom. 10.2. And I ſuppoſe your way is undoubtedly right in your own eyes, or elſe you durſt never proſecute it with ſuch violence: And yet one that was once as zealous in his way, and ſhut up the Saints in priſon, and received authority from the high Prieſts to put them to death, and compelled them to blaſpheam, did afterward call all this but madneſs, Acts 26.9, 10, 11. But methinks I find my ſelf obliged, when I ſee men differ from me with ſuch height of confidence, to give them ſome Reaſon of my differing thoughts: And yet it is no great matter of ſucceſs that I can expect from this account. To make any addition or alteration in your belief, I have no great reaſon to expect; while you read my words with this prejudice, that they are damnable hereſie; and depend upon him whom you ſuppoſe infallible, for the faſhioning of your Faith. And if I ſhould ſay that I expect ſatisfaction from you, with any great hope, I ſhould but diſſemble. For I have not been negligent in reading ſuch writings of your own as might acquaint me both with your Faith, and your Theological Opinions; and can ſcarce reaſonably expect that any of you ſhould ſay more to ſatisfie me, then theſe contain. For any of you to recite the Canons or Decretals of your Church or Popes, in a writing to me is in vain: For I have them at hand already, or can have them at a trice. And if you ſay any thing to me by way of Anſwer, which is not in thoſe Canons or Decretals, or ſolemnly pronounced already by your Church to be de fide, you can give me little aſſurance of its verity; but your own writing muſt incur all thoſe reproaches, which Knot beſtows on the Doctrine of Chillingworth, and we hear from you ſo frequently, for …he defect of Infallibility. But yet, let what will come of it, I ſhall leave ſome ſlender Te…timony to poſterity, that I diſſented not from …o many confident men, without giving them …ome of the Reaſons of my diſſent.
I was born and bred here among the Pro…eſſors of the Reformed Catholik Chriſtian Religion. When I was young, I judged of …our Profeſſion as I was taught, and the pre…udice which I received againſt it, did grow up …ith me, as yours doth againſt us. Yet receiving much good to my ſoul by Parſons Book of Reſolution corrected (when I was but ſixteen years of Age) it run much in my mind, that ſure there were ſome among you that had the Fear of God. When I was capable of it, by Age and Studies, I made ſome diligent ſearch into your Writers, that I might know the true ſtate of the controverſies betwixt us. But ſtill I confeſs I read them with prejudice and partiality; till at laſt I attained (as far as I can underſtand by my own heart) ſuch a love to the truth, and an impartiality in my Studies and judgement of theſe things, that I read your Writers, with as free a mind (I mean, as willing to find what truth was there to be found) as I do the Writings of Proteſtants themſelves. When I had diſcovered undoubtedly that in ſome doctrinal points, the differences were made by moſt on both ſides much greater then they were, and much greater then the moſt Learned on both ſides tha… had any moderation, did conceive them to be▪ I was the more confirmed in my reſolutions to be impartial in my Studies, and ſo have proceeded (if I be a competent judge of my own mind) to this day. And after all, I am left in the diſſatisfaction which I here manifeſt▪ And by what ſheps my averſeneſs to your wa… hath been brought on ſince I began to ſearch in to it impartially; I ſhall here further declare.
Firſt, I have been moſt offended with thoſe doctrines and practices, that did moſt notoriouſly run againſt the ſtream of the Holy Scripture; for here the caſe was ſo plain that without any ſingular acuteneſs it might be diſcerned: as in your Latin Service of God with thoſe that underſtand it not, your adminiſtring the Bread in the Lords Supper without the cup; that Image-worſhip which your Writers do maintain, forbidding Prieſts marriages, with many ſuch like. And yet ſuſpecting my own underſtanding, I read what your Writers ſay alſo for theſe: But when I ſaw how palpably they forced the text, it increaſed my diſlike: And then knowing that you contradicted the Scriptures in theſe, and finding withal that you build your faith upon your Churches Infallibility, I was exceedingly turned againſt your profeſſion, when I ſaw your foundation ſo clearly overthrown. But yet this was not all: There was ſcarce any thing that more offended me, then the tendency of your Doctrines, to deſtroy the Knowledge of the people, and lead them on in ignorance, and pleaſe and deceive them by a company of ceremonies, inſtead of a Reaſonable ſervice of God: and the manner of your worſhip I could never digeſt. Other things did grate very hard upon thoſe truths which I was confirmed in, but theſe went againſt the very bent of my heart, and croſſed the very ends of my Religion and my Life. Your keeping the Scriptures from the Laity, as far as you do; and maintaining it ſo commonly to be the Original of Hereſies to tranſlate them into a known tongue; and making it ſo deadly a crime to have a Bible which they can read; with your Latin Service aforeſaid, and the formalities and ſcenical worſhip in which you train up the ignorant vulgar with many other things in your doctrine and practice, are ſuch as leave me but little room for deliberation, whither I ſhould own them or not, becauſe they are ſo plainely againſt the very end of the Chriſtian Religion. Had theſe things come under my conſideration in a carnal ſtate, when the fleſh was my end, and not God I know not how I ſhould have entertained them. But your own Doctors conſent that God muſt be my end, and chiefly Loved, deſired, and ſought: And will you teach a man this, and whoodwinke him when you have done? Will you bid him love God, and keep him from the Knowledge of him? Will you bid him deſire and ſeek him, and when you have done lock him up in the dark? Or will you bid him ſerve and obey him, and yet forbid him to ſearch after the knowledge of his laws and will? If you would bring me to be of theſe opinions, your reaſonings would be to as much purpoſe as if you ſhould perſwade me to put out my eyes and put them in your pockets, for fear of miſſing my way in my race, when my life is at the ſtake: Or as if you ſhould perſwade me to be ignorant of Plowing and Sowing, and Merchandize, and yet to ſeek after proviſion and riches in the world. I am as eaſily reconciled as another to thoſe that ſtep out of the path that I am in, if they go towards the ſame end: But if you would teach me to turn my back upon Heaven, as the onelyonly way to attain it, this will not eaſily down with me: I know that God is light, and with him is no darkneſs; and that Chriſt is the light of the world, and his ſpirit is the illuminater of the Saints, and the word is a light to our feet, and giveth wiſdome to the ſimple: And yet would you have us refuſe this Light, and chooſe the Darkneſs? I know that Satan is the prince of darkneſs, & a ſtate of death is a ſtate of darkneſs, tending to outer darkneſs: and that it is the ſaving way of God to tranſlate men out of darkeneſs into his marvellous light: And yet would you perſwade me that this is the way of Life? What a difference is there between this doctrine of yours, and the very ſcope of Scriptures, and antient Writers, and the ſenſe of a gracious ſoul? Solomon would have men to Hide the commandment with them, and incline their ear to wiſdom, and apply their hearts to underſtanding, and cry after knowledge, and lift up their voiec for underſtanding, and ſeek for it as ſilver, and ſearch after it as for hid treaſure, Prov. 2.2, 3, 4. And is your Doctrine like this? Iſay bids, To the Law and the Teſtimony. Iſ. 8.20. And the Bereans are commended for ſearching the Scriptures daily to ſee whether the things were ſo that were taught them even by Apoſtles: And will you forbid this, and burn men for to promote their ſalvation? Did not Paul write his Epiſtles to the Laity as well as to the Clergy? You muſt ſtrip me of the grace of God, and reduce my mind to a ſtate of darkneſs, before I can ever entertain theſe principles of darkneſs: For light and darkneſs will not have communion. If by Arguments you would perſwade me, ſo plainly againſt the life of nature, as that I am bound to blind or kill my ſelf in order to my good, there's ſomewhat within me that would confute them beſides reaſon: And why ſhould not the Life of Grace alſo be a principle of ſelf-preſervation? As for your Reaſon, that men muſt let alone the Scripture and hearken to their Teachers for fear of hereſies, it will never take with me till I can believe you to be leſs ſuſpected guides then Chriſt and his Apoſtles, and till I can believe that a Scholar may not learn of his Book & his Teacher both without any contradiction.
And then for your devotions, it is not all the Arguments in the world, that would ever reconcile me to them, while I have that Law in any prevailing meaſure written in my heart, that teacheth me to worſhip God in Spirit and in truth. What man of Spiritual experience can chooſe but diſtaſte your way of worſhip, that doth but read over one of your offices, and Lady's Pſalters, and ſee the affected repetition of words, and the ludicrous kind of devotions, which you teach the people, more like to charms then ſerious prayers to God! eſpecially if he alſo obſerve the huge number of ceremonies which the very body of your worſhip is compoſed of. As there is ſomewhat in nature, that hindereth a man, from delighting to eat chaffe, or feeding upon meer air; ſo is there ſomewhat in the new nature of a Chriſtian, that is againſt this trifling and jeſting with God.
*The abominable wickedneſs of your party, even the Romane Cardinals themſelves, is proclaimed by many that have been your Prieſts and turned from you: as Copley, Sheldon, Boxhorne, and many more ſaith Sheldon (in his Survey of Rome: Miracles, p. 18. having ſpoken of the Cardinals Sodomy) [Believe it Reader, the abominations which are committed by theſe purpured Fathers, and the Supream Fathers of that Synagogue are ſo deteſtable, that they paſs all narration either of modeſt or immodeſt pen.] And it's long ſince Petrarch, Dantes, Aventine, Pariſienſ. Clemangis, Sabellicus, Groſthead, Ferus and more of your own Writers have ſaid enough, to ſatisfie us of your ſanctity. Many a one that hath been …iced to Popery in England, have been cured by a journey to Rome, ſeeing the abominations of that place.Another thing that hath encreaſed my diſtaſte of your wayes, is the common ungodlineſs of your followers. I have endeavored as well as I could to be acquainted with them where I came and I have known but very few of them, but have been either Whoremongers, or Swearers, or Drunkards, or Gameſters, or ſenſual livers: nor did I ever meet with one to this day, to my beſt remembrance, that manifeſted a ſpiritual frame of heart, or had any delight to ſpeak of the workings of God upon the ſoul, and the ſweet communications of the love of Chriſt, or could give any ſavory account of any ſuch ſpiritual workings in them: but all their Religion was to ſtick to the Romiſh Church, and go on in their ceremonious forms of worſhip, abſtaining from this meat, or that, and rioting and pampering their fleſh on Holidayes, &c. If I had known this to be the caſe onelyonly of the common people in Italy, or Spain, or France, I ſhould not have wondered: for I know that moſt of the people, do take up their Religion but upon carnal accounts, and accordingly will uſe it: But to find it thus in England, where your number is ſmall, and you pretend to hold your Religion in ſo much ſelf-denyal, the ſtate being againſt you; and therefore your party ſhould be the pureſt zelots, and ſhew the face of your doctrine in its greateſt glory; this makes me judge of the tree by the fruites. And the obſerving of this hath made me admire, that ever you can make the holineſs of your Church, the matter of ſo great oſtentation as you do: Yea that ſuch men as H.P. de Creſſy can have the face to pretend that your admirable holineſs in compariſon of ours, was the means of their converſion to you. Unhappy man! with whom did he converſe while he ſeemed a Proteſtant? or where did he live? But this was not his fate alone; but of divers of his ſtrain. When they are carnal Proteſtants, abhorring the power of the Religion, which they profeſs, and avoiding and reproaching the practicers of their own Religion, and ſo have no communion with them, nor experience of their holineſs; it is a righteous thing with God to leave them to ſo much blindneſs, as to run from England to Rome for holineſs; and that becauſe they abhorred purity, they ſhould be ſo blinded as not to diſcern the beauty of it, and yet to dote on the name and coate of it, which may be put on in the morning, and off at night. And indeed this hath ſomewhat increaſed my averſneſs; to obſerve that by how much the more godly and conſcionable any are of our profeſſion, the more they are againſt yours: and that ſo few of this ſort are turned to you, that I yet know not certainly of one, that ever ſeemed a Godly perſon. And the common ignorant ſort of people that know not what a Church is, nor what Religion is, and that live in ſenſuality and wickedneſs, are the favourableſt to your wayes, yea ſo forward to promote them that many of them would quickly be yours if the times were but changed to you; and theſe are the people that I have known become your proſelites. When we have loſt our labor upon them, and left them in their wickedneſs, and they that were filthy are filthy ſtill, then ſome of them turn Papiſts, and this forſooth in admiration of the holineſs of your Church: When I confeſs for ſome of them, I have not been ſorry to hear that they were turned to you: for I thought, it may be the liking they have to you, might make them hearken more to your reproofs, then to ours, and poſſibly you might perſwade them from Whoredoms and Drunkenneſs, and Swearing, and Lying, when we were out of hope: But when I perceived that they fled to you for an indulgence in their ſin, becauſe ſome of theſe are but venial ſins with you, and they have a palliate ceremonial cure at hand to befool them; I then acknowledged the juſtice of God againſt them. I am none of thoſe that think that there is none among you ſhall be ſaved. I have read that in ſome of your Writers, that perſwadeth me it came from a ſanctified heart. I am ready to acknowledge and honor the Spirit of Chriſt wherever I can diſcern it. But I muſt profeſs that I was never yet ſo happy as to converſe with a Papiſt, that manifeſted an experienced, gracious, heavenly mind; though I am truely willing to make the beſt of them. And that your Church ſhould be as the ſink or channel, to receive the excrements and filth of ours, is no great argument of its holineſs in my eyes. And if a few that are leſs ſenſual turn to you, it is commonly, as far as I can diſcern, the Tenants or ſervants of ſome of your way, that are led by worldly reſpects, and they are ſuch ignorant ſouls that they know not what the Religion is which they are turned to, nor are able to give a reaſon of their change. I have ſpoke with ſome affected to your way, and ſome turned to it, that have thought our doctrine was yours, and yours was ours: for inſtance, that we taught that men might live without ſin, and you taught otherwiſe: and have denyed that you hold the doctrine of mans merits, and divers the like. Are not theſe good Catholikes, and well converted, that be of our mind, and do not know it? And I obſerve among your own Writers, that uſually thoſe that write in the moſt heavenly ſtrain, are thoſe that give ſome wound to your profeſſion, by ſome conſiderable oppoſition, as Mirandula, Gerſon, Bernard, and many more.
And it hath more diſaffected me to your way, to obſerve how low the deſign of your Religion is, in compariſon of ours: You can let the common people be as blind as Moles, and worſhip they know not what! And you almoſt confin Religion unto Votaries and Cloyſters. When as the deſign of our Religion is to make the generality of our Paſtoral charge more holy by far then your retired Votaries. And (as far as I am able to learn) I do verily think that there are in the ſmall Town that I live in, ſome hundreds of ſouls, that have more true ſelf-denyal, humility, acquaintance with the ſaving works of Grace, abhorrence of ſin, delight in God, and believing ſerious thoughts of heaven, then is to be found in twenty of your Monaſteries. When I am in one of their meetings which you account but a curſed Schiſmatical conventicle, I can behold their diligent attendance, their humble learning, their modeſt, orderly, ſerious devotions, and afterwards their painful recollections and improvement of what they learn. But among you, I ſhould ſee a dumbe ſhew, a pompous oſtentation, compounded of Ceremonies, and words which are as no words, being not by the people underſtood. And I am certainly informed by travellers that have known them, and by your own confeſſions, that you have Prieſts even like your people and your ſervices. Even unlearned men, that are but able to read their Maſs; like ſome of the worſt of our old Readers, whom we have caſt out: However you may have learned Jeſuites and Fryars, that are bred up chiefly for your Theological wars, while the people that live in peace under you are famiſhed.
It hath alſo much increaſed my diſaffection, to obſerve, by what groſs kind of cheating you carry on your cauſe. You make a noiſe with the oſtentation of Miracles; but we can never ſee one of them, nor have certain proof of it. I confeſs if I could ſee them, they would work on me much: and I would go from Sea to Sea to ſee one: but I know not whither to go with the leaſt hope of ſuch a ſight.
You talk much of perfection, and keeping the Law of God without ſin: But how long will it be before you will ſhew us one of thoſe ſinleſs perfect men? I have enquired of thoſe that I thought moſt likely, and they have told me that ſuch men there be in the world, but would not be intreated to ſhew me one of them. Nay, it amazeth me, that you ſhould glory of perfection, where it is ſo hard to find ſincerity, and to meet with a man that will not curſe and ſwear, and whore, and be drunk. Yea more to find that after this oſtentation of perfection, you come ſo low as to make thoſe to be perfect which we ſuppoſe to be in a damnable ſtate: For how many abominable ſins do you make to be venial? Do I need to tell you what ſome of your own Writers ſay of Fornication; and of a Prieſt rather keeping a Concubine then a wife; and what gaines have come to the Church by Whorehouſes? and what a trade it is at Rome and Venice, &c. To give inſtance but in the ſin of lying, how light do you make of it? yea you fear not to teach your Engliſh Proſelytes, That [A lye is a mortal ſin, when it is any great diſhonor to God, or notable prejudice to our neighbor; Otherwiſe if it be meerly officious or jeſting it is but a venial ſin] They are the words of H.T. (they ſay Henry Turbervile) in his Catechiſm, pag. 160. Yea he ſaith pag. 268. That [By this we muſt know when a ſin is mortal, and when venial: Becauſe to any mortal ſin it is required, both that it be deliberate and perfectly voluntary—] And then ſet altogether, and conſider what your Writers make of venial ſin: no worſe then your Doctor Thomas, ſaith, that [Venial ſin hath not perfectam rationem peccati, but is Analogically called ſin: and that non eſt contra Legem; quia venialiter peccans non facit quod lex prohibet, nec pretermittit id ad quod lex per praeceptum obligat, ſed facit praeter legem: It is not againſt the Law, nor forbidden by it, but beſide it.] 12. qu. 88. art. 1. ad 1. And that it deſerves not damnation; and eternal puniſhment is not due to it, but temporal onelyonly, 12. q. 87. a. 5. c. & q. 88. a. 1. c. And that it induceth not a blot on the ſoul, 12. q. 89. a 1. c. But onelyonly as it hindereth the luſtre of Grace, and therefore may be done away without the infuſion of habitual grace, 3. q. 8.7.2. c. Apply this now to your laſt inſtanced caſe. It ſeems now that the Law of God forbiddeth not Lying, when it diſhonoreth God but a little and not greatly, or when it is a prejudice to another but not notable; It forbids not men to lie Officiouſly or in jeſt; as H.T. ſpeakes. Nay it ſeems if you curſe or ſwear or blaſpheam the name of God, or kill your own Father or Mother, it is but a venial ſin, if you do it not deliberately, and perfectly voluntarily. And is not here a fine doctrine to make men perfect? Have you no way to make your ſelves perfect, but by making the Law of God imperfect? How can you perſwade us to value ſuch perfection? Doth H.T. think that a man that hath the uſe of Reaſon is not bound by God to deliberate of all the weighty actions of his life! And if a man ſhall kill and blaſpheam in paſſion, and ſay [I did not deliberate; and therefore it is no ſin: God did not forbid it me:] Shall this excuſe him? Or is ſuch doctrine to be endured among Chriſtians? If God do not make it a reaſonable mans duty to uſe his reaſon in the greateſt things, and to deliberate of what he ſaith or doth, I know not what either Reaſon or Law is made for. I think on the contrary that [Not deliberating, eſpecially in weighty caſes is a heinous ſin, and the principal cauſe of all other ſin, in many of the ungodly. So I ſay of the other limitation: that (it be perfectly voluntary] Paſſion may make a blaſphemy or murder but imperfectly voluntary; and yet that proveth not that God forbiddeth it not. For the will it ſelf is under a Law, which puts it upon duty, and not onelyonly reſtrains it from ſinful volition or nolition: And therefore if the will do but ſuſpend its act, in whole or in part, and thereby let the commanded faculties miſcarry, I ſhall yet believe that this is forbidden, and a proper ſin. What if you have a charge of the ſouls of your flock; and you ſleep while they are miſled: Or if you were a Phyſician, and had charge of your patients lives; and you fall aſleep till they are paſt recovery; are you no ſinner, and do you not go againſt the Law? Yes, you are a murderer: For though the thing be not voluntary quoad actum voluntatis, it is morally or imputatively voluntary, propter omiſsionem actus. If Wolverhampton Papiſts be fed with ſuch doctrine as this; they may well be many, but they are unlikely to be good. Inconſiderateneſs (which I took for one of the moſt deſtroying ſins) it ſeems is a notable preſervative from ſin: For be ſure you deliberate not, and you break no Law of God what ever you do. And if there be no Law againſt Lying, except the lyes of the higher ſtrain that are by H.T. excepted, no wonder then if Papiſts be Lyars.
And can you think it any injury to you if from hence I interptet, not onelyonly many of your Hiſtorical writings (ſuch as the Image of both Churches, &c.) but alſo much of the jug…ing that is in England at this day. If you put your ſelves in the Garbe of Quakers, Enthuſiaſts, Anabaptiſts, &c. and pretend that you are of their opinions, and deny your ſelves to be what you are, as long as you think that theſe lies are pious, and rather honor God, then greatly diſhonor him, and rather do good to others, by promoting the Catholike cauſe, then notably injure them, can any man ſay, thats of your opinion, that they are againſt the Law of God? And why call you that a venial ſin, which is againſt no Law, when ſin is a tranſgreſſion of the Law, and where there …s no Law there is no tranſgreſſion, 1 Ioh. 3.4. Rom. 4.15. And why ſay you …hat veniam meretur, when yet you ſay that …aenam aeternam non meretur! How can there …e venia ſine merito vel debito paenae? What …eed you any pardon of that which was never …eſerved by you? And what need you ask forgiveneſs of theſe ſins, or be beholden to God …or it, if the puniſhment to be forgiven were never due? Will you beg the remiſſion of a debt which is no debt? Aquinas makes venial and mortal ſin to differ as Reparabile & irreparabile; becauſe from an inward principle the one may be repaired, but the other not without infuſed ſupernatural grace. But is it ever the leſs ſin, becauſe it is reparabile? Nay what needs it reparation if it be not a tranſgreſſion? But what is this Reparation that he ſpeaks of? Is it the remiſſion of the guilt and puniſhment? No ſure: for eternal puniſhment he ſaith, it deſerveth not; and internal principles do not ſure forgive the puniſhment of ſin? Can we forgive our ſelves? What is it then? Is it the removing of the blot? No: properly peccatum veniale non inducit maculam, as before ſaid? Is it that venial ſin is eaſier conquered and forſaken then mortal? No ſure: For Aquinas tells us that a man may live for a little while without venial ſin, but not long; but without mortal ſin,Veniale, culpa non eſt, ſed diſpoſitio ad culpam. Reinerius. Cont. Waldenſ. ubi. infra. they may eaſily live till death. What this reparation then is, I do not certainly know. But whatever it is, methinks it ſhould ſuppoſe a proper ſin, and not onelyonly Analogical, an a deſert of eternal puniſhment to be remitted.
And here I muſt adde, that another thin… that lately hath much diſaffected me to you… profeſſion, is to ſee by what actual fraud and jugling it is propagated. Do you think I ſee not the game that you are now playing in the darke in England, in the perſons of Seekers, Behmeniſts, Paracelſians, Origeniſts, Quakers, and Anabaptiſts? I muſt confeſs I naturally abhor colluſions and diſſimulation in the matters of God. If your way were of God, it needed not ſuch devices to uphold it, nor would it ſuit ſo well with works of darkneſs? If you have the truth, produce it naked, and deal plainly, and play above board! For my part I do not fear being cheated out of my Religion, by any thing but ſeeming force of Argument: for I mean to know what I receive before I take it, and to taſte and chew it before I let it down: but the blind incautelous multitude, and half witted giddy perſons, and diſcontented licentious half ſtudyed Gentlemen, may poſſibly be caught by ſuch chaffe as this.
Another of your diſſimulations which increaſeth my diſſatisfaction is, Your pretending …o the ignorant people, that you are all of a mind, and there are no diviſions among you, …nd making our diviſions the great Argument …o raiſe …n odium againſt our doctrine, calling us Schiſmaticks, Hereticks and the like. When …ndeed no one thing doth ſo much turn away my heart from you as your abominable Schiſm. Do we not know of the multitudes of Opinions among you, mentioned by Bellarmine and other of your Writers? If you call me out to any more of this work, I mean the next time to preſent to the world a Catalogue of your Diviſions among your ſelves, that it may appear how notable your unity is? If the Jeſuites are to be believed, what a ſilly ſottiſh generation are your ſecular Prieſts? If your Prieſts are to be believed, what a ſeditious hypocritical, cheating packe are the Jeſuites? I ſpeak not the words of your Proteſtant adverſaries, but of thoſe of your own Church. Do I not know what Guiliel. de Sancto Amore and many another ſay of your own Church? Do you think I never read Watſons Quodlibets, and the many pretty ſtories of the Jeſuites exploits there mentioned by him? I do not think that you ſuffer many of your own followers to read theſe books that are written againſt one another by your ſelves. But the great diviſion among you, that quite overthrows your cauſe in my eſteem, is that between the French and Italian, in your very foundation which all your faith is reſolved into. You have no belief of Scripture, nor in Chriſt, no hope of heaven, you differ not from Turkes and Infidels, but onelyonly upon the credit and authority of your Church: And this Church muſ… be infallible, or elſe your faith is fallible: A… leaſt it muſt be of ſovereign authority. And when it comes to the upſhot, you are not agree… what this Church is? One ſaith it is the Pope with a General Council; and another ſaith it is a General Council, though the Pope diſſent. One ſaith the Pope is fallible, and the other ſaith a Council is fallible. One ſaith, a Pope is above the Council, and another ſaith the Council is above the Pope. And now what is become of your Religion? Nay is it not undenyable that you are of two Churches ſpecifically different? Certainly a body Politick is ſpecified from the ſumma poteſtas. And therefore if the French make a Council the ſumma poteſtas, the ſovereign power; and the Italians make the Pope the ſovereign, and a third party make the Pope and Council conjunct…only, the ſovereign, are not here undenyably ſeveral Churches ſpecifically different?
And then you have another deceit for the ſalving of all this, that increaſeth my diſaffection. You glory in your preſent judge of controverſies, and tell us it is no wonder if we be all in pieces that have no ſuch judge. And what the better are you for your judge; when he cannot or dare not decide your controverſies? No, he dare not determine this fundamental controverſie, whether himſelf or a Council be the ſovereign power, for fear of loſing the French and thoſe that joyn with them. So that it muſt remain but dogma Theologicum and no point de fide, what is the ſumma poteſtas; and yet all that is de fide, even our Chriſtianity and Salvation muſt be reſolved into it? And doth not this directly tend to infidelity? Would you have ſerious Chriſtians deliver up themſelves to ſuch a maze as this for the obtaining of unity? What the better are you for a judge of controverſie, in all thoſe hundreds of differences that are among your ſelves, when your judge either cannot or will not determine them? Are not we as well without him as you are with him? Plain things that are paſt controverſie have no need of your judge! It is no controverſie with us whether Chriſt be the Meſsiah, whether he roſe, aſcended and will judge the world: And if we go to darker points, your own judge will ſay nothing or worſe. Why do you cry out ſo much againſt expounding the Scripture otherwiſe then according to the ſence of the Church, when your Church will give you no interpretation of them? Do not your expoſitors differ about many hundred texts of Scripture, and neither Pope nor Council will decide the controverſies? Theſe are therefore meer deluſions of the world, with the empty name of a judge of controverſies. And indeed you ſometime ſhew your ſelves that you have no ſuch high conceit of your Pope (whatever you would make the world believe) as to truſt his judgement. Your own Prieſt Watſon tells us in his Quodlib. pag. 56.57. That the Jeſuites [Preached openly in Spain againſt Pope Sixtus the laſt of all holy memory, and railing againſt him as againſt a moſt wicked man, and monſter on earth: they have called him a Lutherane heretick, they have termed him a Wolf; they have ſaid, he had undone all Chriſtendome if he had lived: and Cardinal Bellarmine himſelf as judge paramount being asked what he thought of his death, anſwered, Qui ſine paenitentia vivit, & ſine paenitentia moritur, proculdubio ad infernum deſcendit: and to an Engliſh Doctor of our Nation he ſaid, [Conceptis verbis, quantum capio, quantum ſapio, quamtum, intelligo, deſcendit ad infernum.] And yet we muſt hold our Belief in Chriſt on the credit of ſuch a mans infallibility.
But yet I have not come to that point of your Schiſme which above all things in the world doth alienate my mind from your profeſſion. And that is your ſeparation from all other Chriſtians in the world! I find in my ſelf ſo great an inclination to unity, and the title [Catholike] is ſo honourable, in my eſteem, to them that deſerve it, that if I had found you to have the unity and Catholike Religion and Church which you boaſt of, it would have much inclined me to your Church and way. But when I find you like the Donatiſts confining the Church to your party, and making your ſelves a Sect and Faction, and unchurching and damning the far greateſt part of the Chriſtians in the world; this left me aſſured that you are moſt notorious Schiſmaticks. When I ſaw ſo much knowledge and holineſs comparatively among the Reformed Catholikes, and ſo much ignorance and wickedneſs among the Papiſts (even here where are but a remnant that adhere to their Religion againſt the courſe of the Nation) and when I read ſo many plain promiſes in Scripture, that Whoever believeth in Chriſt ſhall not periſh, and that if by the ſpirit we mortifie the deeds of the body we ſhall live, and that if we Repent our ſins ſhall be forgiven, yea that Godlineſs hath the promiſe of this life and that to come; and then when I find that the Papiſts for all theſe certain promiſes, do unchurch and damne us all, becauſe we believe not in the Pope of Rome as well as in Chriſt; this ſatisfied me as fully that you are moſt audacious Schiſmaticks, as I am ſatisfied that you are Papiſts, What! muſt I be a Papiſt on ſuch grounds as theſe? Muſt I believe becauſe you tell me ſo, that all the moſt conſcionable heavenly Chriſtians that I am intimately acquainted with are unſanctified, ungodly, and in a ſtate of damnation? When I am a witneſs of the earneſt breathings of their ſouls after more communion with God; When they would not live in one of thoſe ſins that you call venial, for all the world; When they mortifie the fleſh, and live in the ſpirit, and wait for Chriſts appearance. And yet that ſuch as the Papiſts ſhall be ſaved that are ſo far below them, becauſe they believe in the Pope of Rome? Why you may almoſt as well perſwade me to become a Papiſt by telling me that you have eyes in your heads, and noſes on your faces, and the reſt of the world have none. Doth Chriſt ſay, He-that believeth, and repenteth ſhall be ſaved; and muſt I believe that all Proteſtants ſhall be damned, let them believe and repent never ſo much? This is to bid me [ceaſe to believe Chriſt] that I may believe the Pope [Ceaſe to be a Chriſtian] that I may become a Papiſt. I am confident I ſhall never be Papiſt, if it may not be done but by believing that all the Godly that I am acquainted with are ungodly, and in the way to hell.
And (to ſpeak of the quantity as well as the quality) I feel a kind of univerſal charity within me, extending to a Chriſtian as a Chriſtian, and therefore to all the Chriſtians in the world,Armeniorum Eccleſiae, & Ethiopum & jndorum & caeterae quas Apoſtoli converterunt, non ſubſunt Romanae Eccleſiae Reinerius cont. VValdenſ. Catal. in Biblothe…. Par. T. 4. p. 773. which will not give me leave to believe if a hundred Popes ſhould ſwear it, that the far greateſt part of Chriſtians ſhall be damned, becauſe they are not ſubjects to the Pope! The Papiſts are but a handful of the Chriſtians in the world; at leaſt the ſmaller part by far! The moſt of them never acknowledged the ſovereignty of your Pope. And a few ages ago, before Mahometaniſm and Heatheniſm diminiſhed the number of Chriſtians in Aſia and Africa, the Papiſts were but a ſmall proportion. There are but lately taken off from the Chriſtian Religion, its probable, twice as many as all the Papiſts in the whole world: If it were but the Kingdomes of Nubia and Tenduc, how far would they go on this account? A Biſhop of your own, and Legate of the Popes that dwelt in thoſe Countries, ſaith, that the Chriſtians in the Eaſterly parts of Aſia alone, exceeded in multitude: the Chriſtians both of the Greek and Latin Churches: Jacob. a Vitriaco Hiſt. Orient. c. 77. And which is more; the whole Church for many hundred years after Chriſt were far from being the ſubjects of the Pope of Rome! And indeed had Chriſt no Church till the Pope became univerſal Monarch? Muſt Paul be damned becauſe he was not one of Peters ſubjects? Do not your conſciences know that ſwearing obedience to the Pope of Rome, was a thing unknown for many hundred years, yea that it is a novelty in the world? Muſt Chriſt loſe for ever the moſt of his Church, even thoſe that never heard of Rome; becauſe they believe not in the Pope? Never ſhall I be Papiſt while I breath, if I muſt be engaged to ſend the moſt of the Chriſtians on earth, to the Devil, and that upon ſuch an account as this. Theſe things are ſo uncatholike, ſo unchriſtian, ſo inhumane, that I wonder and wonder a hundred times, how any learned, ſober men among you, are able to believe them. For my part I am a reſolved Catholike; that own the univerſal Church of Chriſt; and cannot limit my charity to a corner or a faction; eſpecially ſo groſs a one as yours. I own not the errors or other ſins of any of the Churches, ſo far as I can diſcover them: But if I muſt make them Hereticks and unchurch them for theſe (yea even thoſe that go under the name of Neſtorians, and Eutichians) I muſt needs put you in among them, who I think do erre more groſly then they. But I am none of your judge: Nor none of your moſt rigid adverſaries. I am one that have been oft called a Papiſt in print, for avoiding ſome of thoſe extreams, into which ſome others have run from you. I am one that cannot chooſe but hope that there are thouſands that ſhall be ſaved that profeſs themſelves of your Church and way. But that I cannot do ſo my ſelf, and the Reaſons why I cannot do it, I have thought good here to let you know. Many more there are, but I have mentioned ſome of them in the following Diſputations, to which I refer you. I can truely ſay this in the preſence of the Lord that knows my heart, that if I knew it my ſelf, I would moſt gladly turn Papiſt before I ſleep if I could diſcern it to be the way of God: Yea if I had but any probability of it, and knew but the man that could give me ſatisfactory evidence on your ſide, I would wander from Sea to Sea to find him, as weak and unfit for travail as I am. And therefore if any learned man among you, have ſo much confidence of his way, and charity to my ſoul, as to perſwade me to his opinion, he ſhall at any ſeaſonable time be wellcom, and I ſhall thankfully entertain any evidence that he can bring, according to my capacity. But then I muſt deſire him to deal plainly and come bare face't, and not to juggle under the vizor of a Seeker, or any other Sect; for that way will never take with me.
And I muſt further here profeſs that this paper comes not with any cruel or bloody deſign againſt you. I write not to exaſperate the Governors againſt you, ſo far as to deal unmercifully with any of you. And whereas under the vizor of the ſects before mentioned you are of late ſo earneſt in pleading for a toleration, deal but impartially like honeſt men, and I will ſet in with you. Procure but a toleration for the Reformed Chriſtian Religion in Italy and Spaine and your part of Germany, Portugal, &c. and I ſhould willingly petition the ſovereign Powers in England that you might have as much liberty here: But that you ſhall have full liberty here, and Proteſtants have none where you can hinder it, this is not equal dealing. But how comes it to paſs that you that pretend ſo much to unity are in this alſo of ſo many opinions; the Engliſh Papiſts are for liberty of Religion, and the Spaniſh and Italian are againſt it? But I muſt cry you mercy: I now conſider, It is but your ſelves that you think have right to liberty here, and others ſhould have it but in order to yours. As hardly as you think you are uſed in England, you live openly among us, and no man that I hear of layeth hands on you: When you know if a Spaniard or Italian be known to be a Proteſtant, hee's as ſure tormented and burnt at a ſtake as the coat is on his back. Do you not know this to be true? Were I in thoſe places where your Religion hath its will, I know one leafe of this book would cauſe me to be burnt to aſhes: that I am alive is becauſe I am not in your power: But for my part I wiſh not the ſhedding of one drop of your blood, nor your impriſonment or baniſhment, but only your moderate and neceſſary reſtraint from open iniquity and ſeducing of thoſe that are unfurniſhed to encounter you.
I have ſome invitation to make this profeſſion, by the uſage of a Juſtice of Peace of this County; who was ſo far your friend as to cenſure me and others for a late Gratulation, and petition to his Highneſs the Lord Protector, ſubſcribed by many Juſtices, and by the Grand Jury and thouſands of the County; and to cenſure the ſaid petition to be of a cruel and bloody complexion; inſerting to your honor and the reproach of the Reformed Churches, a vindication of your Religion from the guilt of the Powder-plot and Spaniſh invaſion, and other foreign bloody acts, and charging as much on the Reformed as can be charged on you, according to the Hiſtory, called [The Image of both Churches.] And what was this bloody petition of this County? Why? when you had murthered, and baniſhed, and ſtarved ſuch a multitude of the poor Proteſtants in Savoy, and we were aſſured of it by a Narrative from the Lord Protector himſelf, inviting us to contribute to relieve the remnant, in the ſenſe of your continued bloody dealings, and of the ſad caſe of thoſe poor people, and the favor of his Highneſs toward them, we returned him a thankful acknowledgement of his care, and added our deſires to uſe the moſt effectual means to hinder the growth of ſo bloody a doctrine, leſt it ſhould reach our ſelves at laſt, yet adding that we deſined no rigor as to your perſons: but craved the promoting of the Reformed Religion, and of unity among our ſelves as the means of our preſervation. The world is come to a fair paſs: when our brethren are murdered by thouſands, we are bloody for mentioning it, and blaming you for it, and deſiring our ſelves to be preſerved from your doctrine and rage, ſo as without any rigor to our perſons. Alas poor Proteſtants! When your throates are cut by the merciful Papiſts, you are cruel and bloody for ſaying ſo; When they have killed one half, the other half is bloody if they deſire to eſcape. By my good will I'le never come to the Bench for Juſtice where this Gentleman hath power: For if I accuſe a thief for robbing us, or a murderer for murdering twenty of my friends, I may on theſe terms expect to be accounted cruel for complaining: Yea though I adde [I pray Sir ſpare the perſon of the Murderer: onelyonly do your beſt to prevent the death of the reſt of my friends] I may look to be told its a bloody requeſt. But perhaps if leiſure ſerve I may ſay more to this Gentleman, in a full Reply to his paper.
Yea I am ſo far from deſiring your blood, that I hope I have given you no abuſive language. Sure I am, I come far ſhort of the language that you give one another, where you may judge me to be moſt ſharp. I had once very Reverend thoughts of your Father Parſons when I read his book of Reſolution, and thought that if you had any good one it was he. And yet your own Prieſt Watſon calls him [An Atheal ſtratagemitor, pag. 160. A baſtardly Vicar of hell, p. 157. Judge paramount on earth under the Divel in Hell, p. 156. The arch couſener, p. 149. That he was a baſtard, unhoneſtly begot, baſely born, a Wolſey in ambition, a Midas in immundicity, a traytor in action, p. 108. That all Catholikes muſt depend upon the Archprieſt, the Archprieſt upon father Garnet, father Garnet upon father Parſons, and father Parſons upon the devil, the author of all rebellious conſpiracies, treaſons, murders, diſobedience, hereſies, and all other ſuch diabolical and bloody deſignments as this wicked Jeſuite hath hitherto deviſed] p. 151. One that as ſure as you live on earth, doth care no more for the lives of all the Catholikes themſelves, then for ſo many dogs lives, in a time of infectious plague.] p. 153. Yea (ſaith he) queſtionleſs he could wiſh in his heart, to ſee all the ſeculars and other Catholikes in England hanged rather then to be fruſtrate of his conceited Japonian Monarchy. Yea I verily think he would be the hangman of them all himſelf, rather then his platform ſhould fail, if it ſtood upon ſo deſperate a point: as a fitter office for ſuch a baſe irregular baſtard, then to come neer Gods holy Altar, &c.] Quodlib. pag. 153.154. I will not foul my paper with any more concerning him.
And of the Jeſuites in general I have thought that there are among them ſome temperate vertuous men: but your Prieſt Watſon ſaith, Quodlib. p. 346. [I call them Jeſuitical, that is, the Faction of Jeſuites, by a…breviation, to avoid circumlocution, in one word expreſſing them to be a factious, ſeditious, ambitious, avaritious, treacherous, turbulent, Machivilian, Atheal conſort, that abuſing the rules of their ſociety, and quite perverting the courſe, cauſe, inſtitution, and intent of their order, &c.] The reaſons he gives at large, p. 340. And p.. 108. [The Jeſuites have a ſpecial priviledge in two things. One is to make all things to be believed as Goſpel, be it never ſo falſe that they ſpeak or write: another, to make all things be judged falſe, be it as true as the Goſpel it ſelf, that any other ſhal write or ſpeak without their approbation: But if directly againſt them; out upon it; it is not to be heard, ſpoken of, or once looked upon— And withal, the vileſt parts that can be played, are counted acts of zeal among them, if done by a Father: ſo as it may be any way covered with either of their two principles, ſcilic…t, propt…r bonum ſocietatis, vel …rdine ad Deum.] And p. 149. he makes their principles to be, Omnia pro tempore, …et divide & impera. And p. 150.151. he affirmeth that it was the Jeſuites own choice and doing that the Papiſts had not to…eration in England, becauſe by ſufferings they would have the people more paſſionately ſerve their deſigns.] This is the language of your own brethren (even more as well as he) but not mine.
To conclude, concerning theſe following Diſputations, I need not tell you, that they are none of the elaborate writings of any champion of the Proteſtant cauſe, challenging your Anſwer: but a few haſty (yet conſidered) lines, delivered in a monthly meeting of a few Country Miniſters, for mutual edification, by one that never pretended to much skill or will for ſuch Diſputes. If any of you have a mind to try your ſtrength, we boldy challenge you to do it on thoſe mentioned by me in the end: to whom let me add Dr. Craken…horpe, eſpecially againſt Spalatenſ▪ and Dallaeus on ſeveral particular ſubjects, as de Paenis & ſa…i…fact de Imaginitus, de I…juniis and the reſt. I pretend not in ſo ſmall room to handle the particular differences between you and us, but to give my general reaſons againſt you▪ and to chooſe out one particular about our foundation and yours. For I had read in Coſterus Enchir. c. de ſum. Pont. p. 151.152. That No men Petrae plus includat quam fundamentum▪ fundamenta quippe edificium ſuſtinent, Petra aut…m ſ…u Rupes ipſa fundamenta, & Apoſtoli ali… fundamenta dicuntur. Petrus vero ut Rupes ſolidiſſima, etiam fundamenta ipſa continet, & … in errores & vitia labantur detinet authoritat… paſtorali.] And Skulkenius ſaith Apol. pro Bell▪ c. 6. p. 255. Pontificia poteſtas eſt veiut cardo, fundamentum (& ut uno verbo omnia complectar) ſumma fidei Chriſtianae.
Gretſer ſaith Def. c. 1. l. 1. de verb. Dei p. 16. Id ſolum pro verbo Dei veneramur ac ſuſcipimus, quod nobis Pontif…x ex cathedra Petri, tanquam ſupremus Chriſtianorum magiſter, omniumque controverſiarum Iudex definiendo proponit.]
Bellarm. ſaith lib. 4. de Pont. c. 1. In controverſiis Religionis ultimum judicium eſt ſummi Pontificis. & cap. 3. ſolum Petrum Chriſtus vocavit Petram, & fundamentum; non petrum cum Concilio. Et ibid. Petrus & quilibet ejus ſucceſſor eſt petra & fundamentum Eccleſiae — Ejus praedicatio & confeſſio eſt radix mundi, & ſi illa errare…, totus mundus erraret. — Ex quo apparet totam firmitatem conciliorum eſſe a Pon…ifice, non partim a pontifice, partim a Concilio.] The Pope then is your foundation, yea your Church: For ſaith Gretſer Def. c. 10. l. 3. de Verb. Dei. p. 1450. Per Eccleſiam intelligimus pontificem Romanum, qui pro tempore Eccleſiae naviculam moderatur. Et p. 1451. Eccleſiam papam interpretantur: Non abnuo.]
But the French have another foundation. But that we renounce both yours and theirs, I thought meet to tell you in the third Diſputation. Acept this account from, Your friend
Ri. Baxter.