Defense of the Protestant Christian Religion, Chapter 1
CHAP. I. Proving, That a true viſible Church may fall away.
TO paſs by the Rhetorick of the Title, and the aptneſs of the phraſe of [ſingular onelyonly one] as an emphatical addition to [the one onelyonly] and the conſiſtence between Roman, and Catholick, and between ſingular, and Catholick, or univerſal. How, and in what reſpects of reaſon, and what ſenſes may be thought upon, wherein the ſame thing may be called both Roman and Catholick, both ſingular and univerſal. The Diſcourſe it ſelf begins with unconuected Quotations of ſeveral choice portions of Holy Scripture: And, indeed, ſo far as there is a cordial adherence and ſubjection of heart unto that rule among different parties and perſuaſions, it will, through the grace of Chriſt, produce either union of Judgement, or at leaſt union of Brotherly affection, and forbearance of love; but what eſteem the Church of Rome hath for the Holy Scriptures, is well known, She doth not ſubject her … unto them: And though you in this Diſcourſe de Quote them, as your Writers ſometimes do; yet, if you be a true Roman Catholick, it is not with any intent to ſubject your Church upto the Scripture, and to advance the Scriptures above your Church; but onelyonly to deal with Hereticks (as you call them) at their own Weapons; and to uſe the Scripture as a ſteppingſtone, whereby to mount up your Church into the Throne of her pretended Supremacy and Inerrability, as one would uſe a ſtirrup to get into the ſaddle; wherein, nevertheleſs, your means hath an inconſiſtency with your end, as will further appear, before we come to a cloſe of this Debate: Your Argumentation from the Scriptures you recite, begins thus.
DISCOURSE.
Now, I hope, it will not be deemed, but that the Church of Rome was once a moſt pure, excellent, flouriſhing, and Mother-Church, ut ſupra, Rom. 1.
ANSWER.
It will not be denyed, but is readily granted by us, That there was once a True Church in Rome; that is, a Congregation of ſaithful men, wherein the pure Word of God was Preached, and the Sacraments duly miniſtred, according to the Ordinance of Chriſt, which is the deſcription of the viſible Church in the Thirty nine Articles. Artic. 19.And that this Church which was in Rome, might be inſtrumental (as Churches in populous Cities often are) to propagate the Faith, and plant Churches in other places, is not improbable: But that ſhe had any ſuperlative Purity, or any motherly Power and Authority, over and above other Churches, is part of the thing in Queſtion between her and us.
The Church of Corinth, the Church of Epheſus, of Theſſalenica, of Smyrna, of Philadelphia, were once pure, flouriſhing Churches, as well as the Church of Rome. What may be truly ſaid of her, may be truly ſaid of all other Goſpel Churches, in their firſt plantation and conſtitution by the Apoſtles; yet, it doth not follow, That ever they were Mother-Churches in your ſenſe, or, that becauſe they were pure at firſt, that therefore they are ſo ſtill; for viſible Churches may degenerate, and apoſtatize, though the Myſtical Church, that is, ſuch as are in Chriſt by the spirit of ſaving Faith, cannot wholly fall off from him, yet ſuch as are in him onelyonly by external and viſible profeſſion may: Jer. 2.21. I had planted thee a noble vine, wholly a right ſeed; how then art thou turned into the degenerate plant of a ſtrange vine unto me? How is the faithful City become an Harlot? It was full of judgment, righteouſneſs lodged in it, but now murtherers, Iſa. 1.:21. Whereupon a Church thus forſaking God, God may forſake them. He may diſcovenant and un-church a people, and give them a Bill of Divorce, and withdraw the ſigns and tokens of his love and preſence. He may break the ſtaffe of beauty, and cut it aſunder, that he may break the Covenant he hath made with all the people. He may alſo break the other ſtaffe of bands and brotherhood between Judah and Iſrael, Zach. 11.10, 14. He may give them a Bill of Divorce, Jer. 3.8. When for all the cauſes whereby back-ſliding Iſrael committed Adultery, I had put her away, and given her a bill of divorce; yet her treacherous ſiſter Judah, feared not. God may ſay unto a people Le-ruhamab and Lo-ammi, I will no more have mercy upon the houſe of Iſrael; for ye are not my people and I will not be your God, Hoſ. 1.6. Plead with your mother, plead: for ſhe is not my wife, neither am I her husband, Hoſ. 2.2. God may remove the candleſtick out of its place, Rev. 2.5.
You ſee in all theſe Scriptures, what the Lord hath threatned and done to other Churches in dayes of old; which, as it utterly overthrows any ſuch imagination, That a True Church cannot fall away; ſo it ſhews, That your Church claims ſuch a priviledge, as never any Church enjoyed: Go to Shiloh, where I ſet my name at firſt, Jer. 7.12, 14. Go to Jeruſalem, and ſee what God hath done unto it for the wickedneſs of his people Iſrael: Never any Church enjoyed ſuch a priviledge as yours pretendeth to, of Indefectibility and Impoſſibility of loſing their Church eſtate and priviledges. It was Chriſts own threatning to the Jewes, The kingdom of God ſhall be taken from you, and given to a Nation bringing forth the fruits thereof, Matth. 21.43.
Yea, the Lord hath denounced the like: Threatnings, and brandiſhed the ſame flaming Sword againſt the Church of Rome in particular, and that from this very inſtance and example of the Jewiſh Church before mentioned, Kem. 11.17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22. And if ſome of the branches were broken off, and thou being, a wild Olive tree wert graſſed in among them, Boaſt not againſt the branches; which your Church doth againſt all the Churches in the World, pretending to ſuch tranſcendent priviledges and prerogatives above all other Siſter-Churches: But if thou boaſt, thou beareſt not the root, but the root thee. Thou wilt ſay, the branches were broken off, that I might be graffed in: Well, becauſe of unbelief, they were broken off, and thou ſtandeſt by faith. Be not high-minded, but fear. This is written to Her, that ſaith, She cannot erre: For if God ſpared not the natural branches, take heed leſt be alſo ſpare not thee. Behold therefore the goodneſs, and ſeverity of God: on them which fell, ſeverity; but towards thee, goodneſs, if thou continue in his goodneſs: otherwiſe thou alſo ſhalt be out off. You ſee he threatneth Her with cutting off; And he hath executed theſe his righteous Threatnings, becauſe She hath not continued in his goodneſs, therefore he hath cut Her off, and given Her a bill of Divorce, having declared Her in the Scriptures of Truth to be Babylon, and Her Head Antichriſt, even Babylan the Great, the Mother of Harlots, a monſtrous Beaſt, the principal object of all the vyals of his wrath. And her Head, a falſe Prophet, a Star fullen from Heaven, a perſecuting Horn, wearing out the Saints of the moſt High, as it is written in theſe, and the like Scriptures: Daniel 7. and Dan. cap. 11. verſ. 36, &c. 2 Theſſ. 2. 1 Tim. 4.1, &c. And it is the chief ſcope of the Book of the Revelation, to diſcover and reveal Antichriſt, in every Chapter, from the ſixth, to the twentieth. This is ſomething that doth ſome way concern this great Apoſtaſie; in all which Scriptures, both of the Old and New Teſtament, She may read, as it were, the Letters of her Divorce: The Lord, who was Her Husband, having publiſhed them, and left them upon Record to all the Churches, that they may take notice that She is not his Wife, nor he Her husband; and that they may do as is written, Revel. 18 4. Come out of her my people, that ye be not partakers, of her ſins, and that ye receive not of bet plagues. And accordingly we, for our parts, in obedience to this command, have proteſted againſt Her, and are come out from Her; and our defence muſt be without ſhifts and ſubterfuges, by making good the charge againſt Her. What can She ſay for Her ſelf? How will She clear and vindicate Her ſelf from all this fin and ſhame? You attempt it under three Heads, of Apoſtaſic, Hareſie, and Schiſm; and I muſt follow you in your own method, though it be none of the beſt: But whether you took your Diſcourſes hereof out of Fiat Lux, for there they are verbatim, there is more than a meer coincidence of matter, or that Fiat Lux had learned them privately from you, and then publiſhed them in Print, ſuppreſſing your name, I leave it to him and you to diſpute that point, and to your infallible Judge to determine it, and judge between you: Both he and you ſpeak thus.