66 ry, not to listen to it, but follow like beafts the first "in the herd, this were brutish.”

66

Again, That the authority of men fhould prevail "with men, either against or above reafon, is no part "of our belief. Companies of learned men, though "" they be never fo great and reverend, are to yield unto "reafon; the weight whereof is no whit prejudiced by "the fimplicity of the perfon which doth alledge it; but "being found to be found and good, the bare opinion "of men to the contrary muft of neceffity stoop and give "place." And this he delivers, not only as his own particular judgment, but that which he apprehended to be the judgment of the church of England."

I have produced these clear and positive testimonies of fo learned and judicious a perfon, and of so great esteem in our church, on purpose to prevent any misapprehenfion, as if by this discourse I intended to derogate from the authority of the church, and her juft and reasonable determinations, in things no ways contrary to plain reafon or the word of God. And beyond this pitch no judicious Proteftant, that I know of, ever strained the authority of the church. I proceed now, in the

II. Second place, to vindicate the reasonablenefs of.. this refolution from the objections to which this fingular and peremptory kind of resolution may feem liable: As, 1. It may very fpeciously be faid, that this does not seem modest for a man to fet up his own private judg ment against the general fuffrage and vote. And it is very true, as I faid before, that about things indifferent a man fhould not be stiff and fingular; and in things doubtful and obfcure a man fhould not be over-confident of his own judgment, and infift peremptorily upon it, against the general opinion. But in things that are plain and evident, either from fcripture or reafon, it is neither immodefty, nor a culpable fingularity, for a man to stand alone in the defence of the truth; because, in fuch a cafe, a man does not oppofe his own fingle and private judgment to the judgment of many, but the common reafon of mankind, and the judgment of God' plainly declared in his word.

If the generality of men should turn Atheists and infidels, and should deny the being of God, or his provi

dence;

dence; the immortality of mens fouls, and the rewards and punishments of another world; or fhould deny the truth of the gofpel, and of the Christian religion: it would not certainly be any breach of modesty for a man to appear fingle, if no body elfe would stand by him, in the refolute defence of these great truths.

In like manner, when a whole church, though never fo large and numerous, fhall confpire together to corrupt the Christian religion, fo far as to impofe upon mankind, under the name of Christian doctrines and articles of faith, things plainly contrary to the fenfe and reafon of mankind, and to the clear and express word of God, why muft a man needs be thought immodest, if he oppofe fuch grofs errors and corruptions of the Chriftian doctrine? And what reafon have the church of Rome to talk of modesty in this cafe, when they themfelves have the face to impose upon mankind the belief of things contrary to what they and every man elfe fees, as they do in their doctrine of transubstantiation; and to require of them to do what God hath exprefsly forbidden, as in the worship of images, befides a great many other idolatrous practices of that church; to deny the people the free use of the holy fcriptures, and the publick fervice of God in a known tongue, contrary to the very end and design of all religion, and in affront to the common reafon and liberty of mankind?

2. It is pretended, that it is more prudent for private perfons to err with the church, than to be fo pertinacious in their own opinions. To which I anfwer, That it may indeed be pardonable in fome cafes to be led into mistake by the authority of those to whose judgment and inftruction we ought to pay a great deference and fubmiffion; provided always it be in things which are not plain and necessary but surely it can never be prudent, to err with any number, how great foever, in matters of religion which are of moment, merely for numbers fake. But to comply with the known errors and corruptions of any church whatfoever, is certainly damnable.

3. It is pretended yet further, that men fhall fooner be excufed in following the church, than any particular man or fect. To this I answer, That it is very true, if the matter be doubtful; and especially if the probabiliVOL. III.

tics

ties be equal, or near equal on both fides: but, if the error be grofs and palpable, it will be no excufe to have followed any number of men, or any church whatsoever. For here the competition is not between men and men, but between God and men; and, in this cafe, we must forfake all men to follow God and his truth. 'Thou fhalt in no ways follow a multitude in a known error,” is a rule which in reafon is of equal obligation with that divine law, Thou shalt in no ways follow a multitude to do evil; or rather is comprehended in it, because to comply with a known error is certainly to do evil.

And this very objection the Jews made against our bleffed Saviour, and the doctrine which he taught, that the guides and governors of the Jewish church did utterly differ from him, and were of a contrary mind: Have any of the rulers (fay they) believed on him? What? will you be wifer than your rulers and governors? what? follow the doctrine of one fingle man against the unanimous judgment and fentence of the great fanhedrim, to whom the trial of doctrines and pretended prophets doth of right belong?

But, as plaufible as this objection may feem to be, it is to be confidered, that, in a corrupt and degenerate church, the guides and rulers of it are commonly the worst, and the most deeply engaged in the errors and corruptions of it. They brought them in at first; and their fucceffors, who have been bred up in the belief and practice of them, are concerned to uphold and maintain them; and fo long'a prescription gives a kind of facred ftamp even to error, and an authority not to be oppofed and refifted.

And thus it was in the corrupt ftate of the Jewish church in our Saviour's time; and fo likewife in that great degeneracy of the Chriftian church, in the times of Popery, their rulers made them to err; infomuch that when Martin Luther appeared in oppofition to the errors and fuperftitions of that church, and was hard preffed with this very objection which the Pharifees urged against our Saviour, he was forced to bolt out a kind of unmannerly truth, Religio nunquam magis periclitatur quàm inter Reverendiffimos: Religion (fays he) is never in greater hazard and worse treated, than amongst

"the

"the Most Reverend ;" meaning the Pope and his Cardinals, and all the Romish hierarchy who had their dependence upon them.

4. It is objected, That as, on the one hand, there may be danger of error in following blindly the belief of the church, fo, on the other hand, there is as great a danger of fchifm in forfaking the communion of the church upon pretence of errors and corruptions. Very true: but where great errors and corruptions are not only pretended, but are real and evident; and where our compliance with thofe errors and corruptions is made a neceffary condition of our communion with that church in that cafe, the guilt of fchifm, how great a crime foever it be, doth not fall upon those who forake the communion of that church, but upon those who drive them out of it by the finful conditions which they impose upon them.

:

And this is truly the cafe between us and the church of Rome; as we are ready to make good, and have fully done it upon all occafions; and they have never yet been able to vindicate and clear themselves of those grofs errors and corruptions which have been charged upon them; and which they require of all their members, as neceffary conditions of communion with them here, and of eternal falvation hereafter.

For we do not object to them doubtful matters, but things as plain as any that are contained in the Bible; as every body would fee, if they durft but let every body read it. The worship of images is there as plainly forbidden in the decalogue, as murder and adultery are. The communion in both kinds is as exprefs an institution of our Saviour, as any in all the New Testament; and even as the facrament of the Lord's fupper itself only that church pretends to a difpenfing power, as a privilege inherent in their church, and infeparable from it.

And, to add but one inftance more, publick prayers and the service of God in an unknown tongue, are as plainly and fully declared against by St. Paul, in a long chapter upon this fingle argument, as any one thing in all his epistles.

These things are plain and undeniable; and, being

fo, are a full juftification, not only of the church of England, in the reformation which fhe thought fit to make within herself, from the grofs errors and corruptions of the church of Rome; but likewife of particular perfons, who have at any time, for the fame reasons, withdrawn themselves from her communion, in any of the Popish countries; yea though that fingle perfon fhould happen to be in thofe circumftances, that he could not have the opportunity of holding communion with any other church that was free from those errors and corruptions, and which did not impose them as neceffary conditions of communion.

For if any church fall off to idolatry, every good Christian not only may, but ought to forfake her communion; and ought rather to stand single and alone in the profeffion of the pure and true religion, than to continue in the communion of a corrupt and idola, trous church.

I know, that fome men are so fond of the name of a church, that they can very hardly believe, that any thing which bears that glorious title can mifcarry, or do any thing fo much amifs, as to give just occasion to any of her members to break off from her communion. What? the church err? That is fuch an abfurdity as is by many thought fufficient to put any objection out of countenance. That the whole church, that is, that all the Christians in the world, fhould at any time fall off to idolatry, and into errors and practices directly contrary to the Chriftian doctrine revealed in the holy fcriptures, is on all hands, I think, denied: but that any particular church may fall into fuch errors and practices, is, I think, as univerfally granted; only in this cafe they demand to have the Roman Catholick church excepted. And why, I pray? Because though the Roman church is a particular church, it is alfo the univerfal church. If this can be, and good fenfe can be made of a particular univerfal church, then the Roman church may demand this high privilege, of being exempted from the fate of all other churches; but if the Roman Catholick, that is, a particular univerfal church, be a grofs and palpable contradiction, then it is plain, that the church of Rome hath