Atis. I answer, no doubt but many of them are saved. How comes that to pass ? They revei'se their false grounds, and stick to those positive truths that they and we hold together ; they reject their own works, and help of saints, and go to Christ only ; for, as I said, popery is full of con- tradictions. Now a papist, when he comes to have his conscience awak- ened, he leaves the pope's indulgences, their five sacraments, justification by works, and then embraceth only Christ, and then he comes to our part. They live by their religion, and die by ours. So the question is, whether living or dying ? Luther saith, If they live and die peremptorily in all the points professed in the Tridentine Council, they cannot (»«.»). But no doubt many of them the Lord hath mercy on, to open their eyes to see the vanity of their works and of all their fooleries, which those that are wise and have their consciences enlightened turn olf then, and so may be saved, but it must be with reversing the grounds of their religion, and sticking to ours, which is agreeable to the word.
Nay, to speak a little more of it, I say, we do more safely believe. We are more safe, and on better groimds led into some less errors, than they do believe main truths. It may seem strange, but it is most true.
For if so be a sound protestant maintain an error, itjs because he thinks it is in the Scripture, that it is in the word ; if it be discovered out of the word of God to be an error, he leaves it. As St Cyprian and other fathers, blessed saints in heaven, they held some errors ; but if they saw the Scrip- ture held otherwise, they had prepared minds to believe otherwise. There- fore, holding the main fundamental truths, though they held particular errors, they were saved.
The papists maintain fundamental truths with us. They believe the word of God, they believe in Christ, and to be saved by mercy ; but upon what grounds ? They believe the truth upon heretical, devilish grounds. As upon what grounds do they believe the articles of the faith to be so, and the Scriptures to be so ? Because the church saith so. Who is the chm'ch but the pope ? And what man is the pope ofttimes ? A man, if we believe their own writers, led with a devilish spirit : some of them have been magicians. K they believe the truth, they do it not as divine truth. They believe the truth for matter ; but the grounds of believing those truths are human, nay, worse, many times devilish. For you know in the Revelation, the beast is inspired with the spirit of the dragon, with the spirit of the devil, and teacheth the doctrine of devils, 1 Tim. iv. 1. Now, to teach that which is materially true, upon reasons that are diabolical or human (at the best, it is but human), as the testimony of the church is, what an unsafe thing is this !
Nay, I say, it is the most horrible witchery, the most horrible abomi- nation that ever was since the beginning of the world, this principle, that their church cannot err : that is the reason of the believing of all divine truths. Hereupon they come to practise most abominable
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trciichorioR, hereupon they clofeiid lies, hereupon the}' kill prince;?, and dissolve the honds of allej^iiiuco that subjects owe to princes. And aU human and divine things, all the liglit of nature and Scripture, all becomes a nullity. Why ? Because the church cannot err. And this they have from their holy fiither the pope. He is above all councils and all, and cannot err. We know if principles be false, all other things are false. An error in principles is a dangerous error. An error in the ground is the worst thing in the world. As to maintain treason to be lawful, it is worse than to be a traitor ; for his judgment is convinced already ; but he that maintains a false principle, he is a dangerous man indeed. So, to have this abominable principle, that the church, that the pope cannot err, hence come all those dangerous practices in this commonwealth ever since the beginning of Queen Eh/abeth's time.
Who would have thought, but that God gave up bitter, proud, poisonful spirits, vain spirits that rejected the word of God, that men of parts and understanding should ever be so sotted to believe such a thing, that a wretched ignorant man should get into the chair, and he should judge infallibly of the truths that he never knew in his life, being of another profession, as some are canonists, and not divines ? But I leave that point.
To touch one thing more that borders a little upon this, that divine truth is of an inflexible nature, whatsoever men think of it. And that crosseth another rule of theirs, that they will give what sense they will of Scriptures, and the current of the present church must judge of all former councils. Now doth truth vary according to men's judgments, according to the present church ? Must we bring the rule to the crooked timber, or the timber and the things to be measured to the rule ? Shall the judg- ment of any man be the rule of truth ? shall it be the rule in one time, and not in another ? Shall present men interpret it thus, and say it is so now ; and others that succeed say, whatsoever it was now, thus it must be believed ?