mained much more innocent. But, I pray, give me leave to confider for you, because you,in your change, confidered fo little for yourself; what fault, what falfe doctrine, what wicked and dangerous propofition, what defect, what arhifs did you find in the doctrine and liturgy, and Church of England? fot it is doctrine, it is certain it profeffes the belief of all that is written in the old and new Testament, all that which is in the three creeds, the apoftolical, the nicene, and that of Athanafius, and whatsoever was decreed in the four general councils, or any other truly fuch; and whatsoever was condemned in these, our Church hath legally declared to be herefy. And upon these accounts, above four whole ages of the Church went to heaven; they baptized all their catechumens into this faith, their hopes of heaven was upon this and a good life, their faints and martyrs lived and died in this alone, they de nied communion to none that profeffed their faith. This is the catholick faith, fo faid the creed of Athanafius; and unless a company of men have power to alter the faith of God, whofoever live and die in this faith, are entirely catholick and christian: fo that the Church of England hath the fame faith, without dispute, that the Church had four hundred or five hundred years ago; and therefore their could be nothing wanting here to faving faith, if we live according to our belief.

2. For the liturgy of the Church of England, I fhall not need to fay much, because the cale wlil be very evident; first, because the difputers of the Church of Rome have not been yery forward to object any thing against it, they cannot charge it with any evil: 2. Because for all the time of King Edward the fixth, and till the eleventh year of Queen Elizabeth, your people came to our churches, and prayed with us, till

the

the bull of Pius Quintus came out upon temporal regards, and made a fchifm by forbidding the queen'sfubjects to pray as by law was here appointed, though the prayers were good and holy as themselves believe. That bull enjoined recufancy, and made that which was an act of rebellion, and difobedience, and fchifm, to be the character of your Roman Catholicks. And after this, what can be fuppofed wanting to falvation! we have the word of God, the faith of the apoftles, the creeds of the primitive church, the articles of the four first general councils, a holy liturgy, excellent prayers, perfect facraments, faith, and repentance, the ten commandments, and the fermons of Chrift, and all the precepts and councils of the gofpel. We teach the neceffity of good works, and require and strictly exact the severity of a holy life, we live in obedience to God, and are ready to die for him, and do fo when he requires us fo to do; we fpeak honorably of his most holy name; we worship him at the mention of his name; we confess his attributes, we love his fervants, we pray for all men; we love all christians, even our most erring brethren we confefs our fins to God and to our brethren whom we have offended, and to God's minifters in cases of scandal or of a troubled confcience: we communicate often, we are enjoined to receive the holy facrament thrice every year at least our priests abfolve the penitent; our bishops ordain priests, and confirm baptized perfons; and bless their people and intercede for them, and what could be here wanting to falvation; what neceffity forced you from us; I dare not suspect it was a temporal regard that drew you away, but I am fure it could be no fpiritual?

But now that I have told you, and made you to conûder from whence you went; give me leave

to

1

to represent to you, and tell you whether you are gone, that you may understand the nature and conditions of your change. For do not think yourself fafe,because they tell you that you are come to the church; you are indeed gone from one church to another, from a better to a worfe, as will appear in the induction, the particulars of which before I reckon, give me leave to give you this advice: if you mean in this affair to understand what you do, it were better you enquired what your religion is, than what your church is, for that which is a true religion to day, will be fo to morrow and for ever; but that which is a holy church to day may be heretical at the next change, or may betray her truft, or obtrude new articles in contradiction to the old, or by new interpretations may elude antient truths, or may change your creed, or may pretend to be the spouse of Christ when she is idolatrous, that is, adulterous to God your religion is that which you muft, and therefore may competently understand; you muft live in it, and grow in it, and govern all the actions of your life by it, and in all queftions concerning the church, you are to chufe your church by the religion, and therefore this ought first and last to be enquired after

Whether the Roman church be the catholic church, muft depend upon fo many uncertain enquiries, is offered to be proved by fo long, fo tedious a method; hath in it fo many intrigues and labyrinths of questions, and is (like a long line) fo impoffible to be perfectly freight, and to have no declination in it when it is held by fuch a hand as yours, that unless it be by material enquiries into the articles of the religion, you can never hope to have juft grounds of confidence. In the mean time you can confider this, if the Roman church were the catholic, that is, fo as to exclude

B

exclude all that are not of her communion, then the Greek churches had as good turn Turks as remain damned chriftians, and all that are in the communion of all the other patriarchal churches in Christendom, muft alfo perifh like heathens; which thing before any man can believe, he must have put off all reafon, and all modefty, and all charity. And who can with any probability think that the communion of faints in the creed is nothing but the communion of Roman fubjects, and the article of the catholic church was made up to difpark the inclofures of Jerufalem, but to turn them into the pale of Rome, and the church is as limited as ever it was, fave only that the fynagogue is tranflated to Rome, which I think you will eafily believe was a propofition the apostles understood not. But though it be hard to truft to it, it is alfo fo hard to prove it, that you fhall never be able to understand the measures of that question, and therefore your falvation can never depend upon it. For no good or wife perfon can believe that God hath tied our falvation to impoffible measures, or bound us to an article that is not by us cognofcible, or intends to have us conducted by that which we cannot understand.

And when you fhall know that learned men, even of the Roman party, are not agreed concerning the catholic church that is infallibly to guide you, fome faying that it is the virtual church, that is, the pope, fome, that it is the representative church, that is, a council; fome, that it is the pope and the council, the virtual church and the reprefentative church together; fome, that neither of thefe, nor both together are infallible, but only, the effential church, or the diffusive church is the catholic, from whom we must at no hand diffent; you will quickly find yourself in a wood, and uncertain whether you have more than

a

a word in exchange for your foul, when you are told you are in the catholic church.

1

But I will tell you what you may understand, and fee, and feel, fomething that yourself can tell whether I fay true or no concerning it. You are now gone to a church that protects itself by arts of fubtilty and arms, by violence and perfecuting all that are not of their minds, to a church in which you are to be a fubject of the king fo long as it pleases the pope: in which you may be abfolved from your vows made to God, your oaths to the king, your promises to men, your duty to your parents in fome cafes: a church in which men pray to God, and to faints in the fame form of words in which they pray to God, as you may fee in the offices of faints, and particularly of our lady a church in which men are taught by most of the principal leaders to worship images with the same worship with which they worship God and Chrift, or him or her whofe image it is, and in which they usually picture God, the Father, and the Holy Trinity, to the great dishonour of that facred mystery, against the doctrine and practice of the primitive church, against the express doctrine of fcripture, against the honour of a divine attribute. I mean, the immenfity and spirituality of the divine nature; you are gone to a church that pretends to be infallible, and yet is infinitely deceived in many particulars, and yet endures no contradiction, and is impatient her children fhould enquire into any thing her priests obtrude: you are gone from receiving the whole facrament to receive it but half; from Chrift's inftitution to a human invention, from scripture to uncertain' traditions, and from ancient traditions to new pretences, from prayers which ye understood, to prayers which ye understand not, from confidence. in God to rely upon creatures, from entire dependence

B 2