图书图片
PDF
ePub

L. Whatever he means by his Supremacy, we mean no fuch thing, or other than that he is the First or Chief of the Bishops, and as fuch, think our felves obliged to keep Communion with him.

G. But when he means one thing by his Supremacy, and you mean another, and he has fufficiently declared what he means by it, and requires your owning it and wearing to it, for his Security. Who deal moft fincerely with him, we who not believing any fuch Supremacy in him, will neither own it nor wear to it: Or you, who not believing it more than we, in the Sense you know he means it, yet own it in General Terms, but in a quite contrary Sense to what you know he means, and trufts to as his Security? We Difown it, and Fight against it: You Fight against it as much as we, yet feem to own it.

L. But though we differ from the Pope upon the Point of his Supremacy, yet we keep Communion with him.

(24.) G. Is not Excommunication putting a Man out of Communion?

L. Yes, for fo is the Word Ex-communicate, that is, to put out of Communion.

G. Can a Man be faid then to be in the Communion of a Bishop who has Ex-communicated him?

L. No, I think not, elfe Ex-communication fignifies nothing.

G. Then

G. Then none can be truly faid to be in Communion with the Pope who are Excommunicated by every Year, in the Bulla in Cana: And that is all France, and you, My Lord, and all who are on your fide of the Question concerning the Supremacy of the Pope, for that is the Main, almost the only Subject of that Bull,

L. But all Cafuifts do agree, that an Excommunication does not bind, which is made Clave Errante, that is, where the Judge passes Sentence through Mif-information, Inadvertence or of Malice, Self-defigns, or other Sinifter Motive; in these the Judge has erred, and also where he has exceeded his Authority, and extended it to things that are not fubject to it; in thefe Cafes the Sentence is unjust, and will not be ratified in Heaven.

G. But who is Judge whether the Sentence be pronounced Clave Errante or not? And how far the Pope's Authority does extend: He has Excommunicated you, All of you, as if each one were particularly named, for fo it is expreffed in the Bull. On the other hand, you defpife this Bull, and fay, with the Parliament of Paris, p. 44, 45. That he has hereby Excommunicated himself! And fo you have a Head of the Church who is Excommunicated! And fo of every Pope who gives his Sanction to this Bull, that is, all the Popes in our time, and long before. And from whofe Communion is the Pope of Rome Excommunicated? Is there any other Communion but that of Rome? Is a Perfon Excommunicated no longer a Member of the Church? And can he then

be

[ocr errors]

be the Head of it? Thefe are Matters of no fmall Importance, no less than whether we Members of the Church, or cut off from it? You are cut off, fays the Pope and Church of Rome. No, fays France to them, you your felves are cut off. And yet these Two Churches are the fame! And is there no Judge in this Cafe? Is every Man left to his own private Judgment? How then have we been Teazed with that Question, Who shall be Judge? This anfwers all Objections with you; for begin at what Point of Popery we will, and bring Arguments never fo Convincing, we are always ftopt with this Queftion, Who shall be Fudge? And fo you refer all to the Authority of your Church. But when you Answer this as to your own Cafe, you will have Answered it as to us too.

If the Pope is Supreme Head of the Univer fal Church, he must have Power of Excommunication over all in his own Communion, that is, according to his Scheme, over all Chritians in the World. And to difpute the Validity of his Excommunication, is a total Denial of his Supremacy, and fetting up another Supreme above him. And who is that? Who is Judge whether his Excommunication is valid, or not? And by what Authority does he judge? It must be by fome Authority Superior to that of the Pope. And fo he is Supreme over the Supreme.

But if the Pope's Excommunication lands (without which his Supremacy falls) we may fay, who then can be faved: All the Chriftian

Kings and Princes that are or ever were in the World, even thofe of his own Communion, particularly in England, as well before the Reformation as fince, are all together Curfed and Anathematized to the Pit of Hell, by the Bulla in Cana; and with them, all their Bishops, Divines, Parliaments, Judges, Lawyers, Clerks, Printers and Publishers, or any others who have any manner of way been Aiding, Affifting, or Confenting, though tacitly, to the Contravention of their Princes to any Part of this Bull, that is, as I faid before, almost every one above the Condition of a Ploughman, are hereby all Damn'd, by all the Authority the Pope has. Therefore have a Care of giving him too much, for he will take all any body will give. He accepted this from

De Rom. Pont. 1. 4. C. 5.

Decret. part 1.

Bellarmin, that if the Pope fhould Command the Practice of Vice, and forbid Virtue, the Church were bound to believe Vice to be good, and Virtue to be wicked. Nay his own Canon Law faith, That if the Pope were fo wicked, as to carry with him innumerable People by Troops dif 40.can. 6. as Slaves to Hell, to be with bimfelf for ever Tormented; yet no Mortal Man whatever must prefume here to reprove his Faults, because he is Judge of all, and himself to be judged of none. So then they must keep their Reproofs, and not endeavour to stop the Career till they are with Him in Hell, for then I fuppofe his Supremacy ceales! Behold the Machine, of Hu

Si. Papa.

mane

mane Invention, which God never thought of, nor ever once mentioned, of Climbing to Heaven by a fort of Mechanism, upon a Ladder of Popes, Cardinals, Councils, &c. And though we fee them leading us by Troops into Hell, we must give no Obftruction, because it would break the Machine of their being our Infallible Guides to Heaven!

(23.) L. But after all, if you could find an Infallible Guide, whom you believed to be fo, it would give you much Ease, and be a Comfort to you..

G. But I must have fome Reason to believe him to be fuch a Guide. And I could not be more fure of it, than of the Truth of that Reason upon which I did believe it. So that all Recurs upon my own Reason ftill. And if my Reafon mifleads me in this, it is the most fatal Delusion, because it stops all Methods of Recovery, when I have once given to another the Dominion over my Faith. But this the Apostles difclaimed, for when they Exhorted the Churches, they faid, Not for that we have Dominion over 2 Cor. I. 24. your Faith, but are Helpers of your

Foy: For by Faith ye ftand, that is, by your own Faith. And if we, or an Angel from Heaven preach any other Gospel unto you, let him be accurfed. Did

Gal. I. 8.

not this make them Judges, whether any New Gospel or Doctrine was Preached unto them? And our Saviour bids them stick to

« 上一页继续 »