Faith Grounded Upon the Holy Scriptures Against the New Methodists, Part 3 · Chapter 2
CHAP. II. An Expoſition of the Principal Beliefs of the Roman Church, which we reject from our Faith.
FOr we confeſs voluntarily that we cannot believe, neither that which you teach, that Jeſus Chriſt the Saviour of the world, beſides his being once offered upon the Croſs, is ſtill every day immolated, and truly and properly ſacrificed upon your Altars, under the Signes of Bread and Wine, for the expiation of the ſins of men; nor that which you preſuppoſe to this purpoſe, that the body of Jeſus Chriſt, although it be in Heaven in Sovereign Glory, is notwithſtanding here below really and ſubſtantially under the Species of Bread and Wine which you conſecrate intirely under every part of the Species of the Bread and the Wine looſing their firſt ſubſtance, and being changed into that of his Body and Blood; nor that which you conclude, that all the faithful of the Lord are obliged, without ſcrupling, to render to your Sacrament the adoration, *Cult. de Latria.worſhip and ſervice due to the true God.
We reject alſo from our faith, this which you aſſert in yours, that the Souls of ſome of the faithful, after having been waſhed in the Blood of Chriſt, which cleanſeth from all ſin, ought yet to be purged by, I know not what, ſubterranean flames, in a place which you name Purgatory: Nor can we perſwade our ſelves to believe what you ſo firmly maintain, that ſinful men obtain the pardon of their Crimes not by faith alone (as we all believe) but alſo by the merits of their own works, ſuch (as moſt of you ſay) as they even merit Divine Grace, and life eternal.
Neither can we receive that which you teach, that beſides this great God whom we adore, we ought alſo to ſerve the Saints departed; and beſides the love and honour which we bare them as perſons who have lived in the fear of God, and who now rejoyce in his Glory, we ought moreover to invoke them, pray to them, and have recourſe to their aide, and render as well to their Images as to thoſe of Chriſt, a certain Religious Veneration, in kiſſing and ſaluting them, uncovering our heads and proſtrating our bodies before them.
Leſs yet do we think our ſelves obliged (as you do) to acknowledge the Biſhop of Rome for the Head and Spouſe of the Univerſal Church, beſides Jeſus Chriſt our Lord, or to attribute to him a Sovereign and Independant Authority over all other Paſtors and Biſhops, and even over Councils; and an infallible Light in the Faith, never erring in the deciſion of things which concerns it: and therefore we do not believe that the Laws which he hath made of celebrating certain Feaſts, and of abſtaining certain days from certain kinds of meats does oblige the Conſciences of the Faithful.
And as to the Miniſters of Religion in particular, we do not believe (as you do) that they are obliged to abſtain from Marriage, which the Aſtle calls honorable, believing that it is enough that they have the good qualities which is required in them in the firſt of Tim. and elſewhere.
Upon the Articles of the Sacraments, we confeſs that Baptiſm and the Supper are ſufficient for us, not being able (as you have ordained) to receive for true and proper Sacraments of the Chriſtian Religion; your Confirmation, Orders, Extreme Unction, Penitence, nor Marriage; nor do we believe (as you do) that the faithful are obliged before they communicate of the holy Euchariſt, to confeſs to a Prieſt all and every one of their ſins in particular, declaring to him the kinds and circumſtances of them, believing that it is ſufficient, that a man trie himſelf, 1 Cor. 11.28,and ſo eat of that bread, and drink of that wine of the Lord, as the Apoſtle preſcribes.
In a word, we cannot believe that your Clerks ought to be exempted from the Juriſdiction and Subjection of Princes and States in the Country in which they live; nor that Princes and States ſhould be ſubject to your Pope, or to any other Eccleſiaſtical Miniſter in his Temporal Concerns, as the Court of Rome holds, which you acknowledge as the Mother and Head of the Catholique Church.
Theſe are the Principle Articles of the Faith of our Adverſaries, which we will not receive. Let us conſider now as briefly as 'tis poſſible whether they are found in the Holy Scriptures. If we will follow their Principles, it will be very eaſie for us to finiſh all this Diſpute in one word. For ſince according to the Maximes of their Method we ought to hold for Doctrine of the Scriptures, nothing but what we read there, preciſely & in ſo many words, the Conſequences being faulty and diſcourſe deceitful abuſive; who ſeeth not but by their own Confeſſion all the Articles which we have excluded from our faith, are out of the Scripture, and cannot be proved by it; it being clear that one cannot read there any one thing expreſly, formally, and literally in the ſame terms as they believe them and expound them; and upon this account I ſhould be already at the end of my task. For ſince that according to us the Scripture is the only Principal of faith, ſo perfect that we do not think that it is permitted us to receive into our Religion any Article of Belief which is not taught by the Scriptures: and ſince on the other ſide, none of the Articles which thoſe of Rome lay down, can be read there, which is according to theſe new Diſputers, the only Method to juſtifie a Belief by the Scripture, it follows clearly that my faith is all intire, and moſt agreeable to the Holy Scriptures (which is all the deſigne of this Treatiſe) ſince that which it believes is found there, and that which it doth not believe is not found there. But God forbid that we ſhould take advantage by the wrangling of our Adverſaries. We ſhall always acknowledge for true Doctrine of the Scriptures, that which can be clearly and neceſſarily drawn from thence; all that which they charge upon Reaſon being falſe, and not to the purpoſe, as we have ſhewed here above. Let us deal honeſtly then, and examine whether their Beliefs which appear no where in formal and preciſe terms in the Scripture may notwithſtanding be concluded from thence by ſome evident and neceſſary Conſequences. We will recite here only thoſe which ſeem to them to be moſt ſtrong, paſſing by a great number of them; which though uſed by their Authors are ſo weak, and (if I may be permitted to ſay it) ſo extravagant, that whoever hears them will think them the idle talk of a ſleeping man, rather than the diſcourſe of one that is awake. For to what purpoſe ſhould I go about to ſpoil Paper, and loſe time to copy the Arguments of thoſe who conclude the Monarchy of the Biſhop of Rome from that which Jeſus Chriſt ſaid to St. Luke 5.4.Peter, Duc in altum, Go into the deep: or the truth of Purgatory from that which David ſaid, Pſal 129.1. (Lat. 130.1.) (Hebr.)De profundis clamavi ad te, Domine: Lord, I have cried to thee from the deep places: or that the Prieſts are obliged to a ſingle life, from that which St. Paul ſayeth, Rom. 8 8.that thoſe who are in the fleſh cannot pleaſe God; or the worſhipping of Images, from that which is ſaid, the Lord made man after his own Image, and the like? Without lying, if theſe Conſequences, and the works of our underſtandings were all of this nature, theſe Gentlemen would have great reaſon to reject them. We will produce as much as poſſible we can, only thoſe of their proofs which ſeem to have ſome colour and ſhadow of Reaſon, although at the bottom any one may eaſily know, in bearing but attention to them, that they are nothing in effect.