Apology for the Reformed Churches, Chapter 5
CHAP. V. Reaſons of our Separation from Rome founded upon the diverſitie of our Beliefs.
Object. BUt you'l ſay, If it be thus, how can you poſsibly paſſe over theſe conſiderations your ſelves, which you pretend to think ſo important? why do you not follow them whither they would lead you? Seeing you deſire the favour of Princes, the love of your Countreymen, a peaceable and ſettled condition; ſeeing you would gladly promote the glory of God and the edification of men, and do really abhorre the ſcandal of this diſunion, why are ye not again reconciled to the Romane Church? ſhe opens her arms wide unto you, and is not ſo ſtiff and rigorous as you ſeem to apprehend her, but for to gain you is willing to yield to ſome Accommodation, and in favour of you to mitigate ſome of thoſe things that offend you moſt. What, I pray, is there ſo ſtrange in her doctrine, or in her ſervice, that ſhould cauſe you to forſake her communion, to avoid the ancient Churches, and Religion of our Fathers, to renounce the ordinary publick aſſemblies of Chriſtian people, to ſever from all the reſt of the world, and to ſuffer all ſorts of extremities? Our Church adores the ſame JESƲS CHRIST, whom you profeſſe to be the Prince and Authour of your Religion. She confeſſeth the unity of His perſon, and the veritie of His two natures. She believes Him to be God eternal, of the ſame ſubſtance with the Father and with the Holy Ghoſt, and likewiſe man made in time, of the fleſh of the bleſſed Virgin, like to us in all things, ſinne onelyonly excepted, truly Immanuel, as the ancient Propheſies foretold. She acknowledges the truth, benefit, and neceſſity of his ſufferings, and preacheth (even as you) That His bloud expiated the crimes of mankind; That the freedome and ſalvation of the world is the fruit of His death. She exalteth His glory, and believes That He ſits at the right hand of God in heaven; and, That He ſhall come in the laſt day to judge the world; and ſhe hopes after the renovation of this world, for a bleſſed immortality (through his grace) in one to come. She gives to her children baptiſme, which Chriſt did inſtitute, and refreſhes them with His Euchariſt, and recommends to them piety toward Him, and charity toward men. She reverenceth the Goſpels, and the Epiſtles of the Apoſtles as books divinely inspired. And if there be any other Article in the diſcipline of our Lord, ſhe receiveth and embraceth it as well as you, and curſeth the names and memory of thoſe, who have gone about to overthrow or ſhake them, whether in former or latter ages.
Anſ. The truth is, We neither can nor will denie, that the Church of Rome doth at this day believe all theſe holy truths; We thank our gracious Lord, that ſhe hath preſerved them through ſo many ages, midſt ſo many diſorders. But we would to God, That ſhe had been as carefull of not adding as of not diminiſhing; That ſhe had foiſted in nothing of her own, but permitted us to content our ſelves with that, which ſufficed the Primitive Chriſtians to bring them to ſalvation. For had ſhe kept within thoſe bounds, neither our Fathers nor We had ever had any cauſe of withdrawing from her Communion. We had then ſworn to her opinions, and performed her ſervice without any ſcruple, finding abundantly in this brief but full and admirably complete rule of wiſdome, enough to repleniſh our faith, and ſeaſon our manners, underſtandings, and wills with all perfections neceſſary for attaining to that Soveraigne Happineſſe, which both you and We naturally deſire. But who knows not, That to the aforeſaid divine Articles (clearly expreſſed in the Holy Scriptures, authentically preach'd and founded by the Apoſtles, uniformly believed and confeſſed by Chriſtians of all places and ages) Rome hath added divers others, which ſhe preſſeth equally with them, forcing all thoſe of her communion to receive them with the ſame faith as they do thoſe aforeſaid; thundring out horrible anathemaes againſt all them that doubt of them, and uſing for the ruine of ſuch all the power and credit that ſhe hath, whether in the Church, or in the world? For beſides J. Chriſt (whom ſhe acknowledgeth with us to be the Mediatour of mankind, the High-Prieſt and chief Soveraigne of the Church) ſhe would have us hold the Saints departed to be our Mediatours, and her Prieſts our Sacrificers, and her Pope to be the Head and Husband of the Church. Beſides the ſacrifice of the Croſſe, ſhe forceth upon us that of the Altar. Beſides the bloud of Chriſt, ſhe commands us to expect our cleanſing from the ſufferings of Martyrs, and from the vertue of a certain fire which ſhe hath kindled under ground. Beſides the water of Baptiſme, and the refection of the Euchariſt, ſhe preſſeth us to receive unction with oyles, and the myſteries of her private Confeſſions. Beſides the Great God, whom ſhe adores and prayes to as we do, ſhe commandeth us to adore the holy Sacrament, to invocate Angels and beatified Spirits. Beſides that ſervice of the Goſpel wherein ſhe agreeth with us, ſhe impoſeth upon us divers ceremonies, abſtaining from meats, diſtinction of times, veneration of images. Beſides the H. Scriptures which are divinely inſpired, which ſhe confeſſeth with us, ſhe would have us receive with the ſame faith and reſpect all the traditions which ſhe approves of. Beſides the repoſe and reſt in the Kingdome of heaven, which ſhe with us promiſeth to the faithfull, ſhe will have us to believe another in Limbo, a priſon for children that die without baptiſme. And beſides the torments of hell, which ſhe with us threatens to the wicked, ſhe denounceth to the faithfull another like it in purgatoric.
Theſe (and ſeverall others like to theſe) are the poſitions which ſhe addeth to the true and fundamentall Articles of the good Old Chriſtianity; and which are the points that divorce us from her Communion. For every one knows, how carefully ſhe hath eſtabliſhed them in her Councels, how daily ſhe recommendeth them in her Schools and pulpits, how rigourouſly ſhe exacteth them in confeſsion; having long ſince pronounced, and oft ſince (daily ſtill) proclaiming and repeating, That ſhe eſteems them Hereticks, Enemies of Chriſt, and worſe then Infidels, that reject theſe opinions or any of theſe. And (which is more offenſive yet) not content to teach them by the voice of her Doctours, ſhe imprints them in the hearts of her people through continuall obſervation and uſe; ſo that among them of her communion, the practiſe of theſe additionall Articles makes more then a full half of what they eſteem Chriſtianity. For the greateſt part of their ſervice conſiſts in invocation of Angels and Saints, in adoring the Sacrament, in worſhipping images, in offering up the Sacrifice of the Altar, or in partaking of it, in making Confeſsions, and exerciſing other ceremonies. But as for us, all the world knows that we have quite another opinion of theſe matters. We content our ſelves with the interceſſion, ſacrifice, and monarchy of J. Chriſt, and can joyn to Him neither Saints, nor Prieſts, nor the Pope in any of thoſe three qualities, which the Scripture of the New Teſtament attributes to none but Him alone. We deem His bloud ſufficient for the purgation of our ſouls, having never learnt that either S. Paul, or any other Saint was crucified for us; nor, That after this life the Saints ſhall enter into any other place, but onelyonly one of repoſe and reſt. After Baptiſme and the Lords Supper we deſire no other Sacraments; not having heard in His Word, that he hath obliged us neceſſarily to go to the eare of any Prieſt to receive his abſolution, or to the hand of any Biſhop to have his chriſme. We dare not adore the bread which we break, nor the cup which we bleſſe; becauſe all confeſſe, That it is not permitted us to adore any but God onelyonly. We can neither invocate creatures, ſince we have in the Scripture neither commandment nor example for it; nor proſtrate our ſelves before images, ſince we have expreſſe commands therein againſt it. We ſcruple at making any thing an Article of our Faith, which we have not heard in the Word of God; be he an Apoſtle or an Angel that evangelizeth. So that ſince we find nothing in the Scripture of abſtinence from meats, diſtinction of times, and other Romane ceremonies, nor of the Limbus of infants, or purgatory; we cannot yet be perſwaded that it is neceſſarie for us to believe them.